On Saturday morning, Bernice and I made our way to Busan, on the South Coast of South Korea. Busan is the second largest city in Korea, after Seoul. And it is also very foreigner-friendly. The closest comparison I can make is... think of Seoul as Johannesburg, and Busan as Cape Town. Almost every sign/notice was in both Korean AND English. And for a change, we saw more than just Korean-made cars! There were BMW's, Chevrolets, VW's, etc. In my neck of the woods (Daegu and surrounding areas, all you see are Hyundai and Kia!)
After checking into our motel, we took a 5min stroll and were at Haeundae Beach, the most popular beach in Korea among tourists. It's like a cross between Camps Bay and the Durban Promenade.
We visited Busan Aquarium, which is not very big, although it took us a good 3 hours to see everything, including a ride in a glass-bottomed boat in the shark tank. All the displays were clearly marked and all the sea creatures appeared to be healthy and well-taken care of. All the tanks contained crystal-clear water. The water in the shark tank looked so inviting, that I was sorely tempted to accidentally fall in, just to be closer to my beloved sharks :) I must say, that this was the most number of sharks I've ever seen in a shark tank... there were at least 10 big sharks, besides the smaller sand sharks.
Slaves to fashion: high heels at the beach!
Busan Aquarium
We visited Busan Aquarium, which is not very big, although it took us a good 3 hours to see everything, including a ride in a glass-bottomed boat in the shark tank. All the displays were clearly marked and all the sea creatures appeared to be healthy and well-taken care of. All the tanks contained crystal-clear water. The water in the shark tank looked so inviting, that I was sorely tempted to accidentally fall in, just to be closer to my beloved sharks :) I must say, that this was the most number of sharks I've ever seen in a shark tank... there were at least 10 big sharks, besides the smaller sand sharks.
View from the glass-bottomed boat.
By the time we were done, the rest of the Party Troopers had arrived in Busan and
were waiting for us at a bar called The Fuzzy Navel. A quick stop at the beach to soak up some salty air and off we went to dilute the salting.
were waiting for us at a bar called The Fuzzy Navel. A quick stop at the beach to soak up some salty air and off we went to dilute the salting.
We spent the next couple of hours eating, drinking and being merry and a tad bit raucous. Andrew nipped out for a few minutes and came back with an African-themed ice-cream cake, birthday candles and all! Too precious! Then we all went back to my motel room to change and chill while we waited for the club scene to warm up.
Next was another pub called The Rock and Roll Bar on something like the 27th floor of a beachfront building, with an awesome view of the beach/harbour/bridge all lit up with night lights. My friends were on a mission to get me sloshed. They had the pub hostess play the very-Korean birthday song for me "CONGRATULATIONS, and celebrations.....!" The hostess gave me a big hug and my first drink on the house. (Didn't I say Busan is foreigner-friendly? You won't easily find a foreigner-hugging-Korean anywhere else in Korea! Not when you're strangers.)
Next was a very interesting club concept.....a BOOKING CLUB. At a booking club, you book a table or a private room with your group of friends. It seems that groups of girls OR guys go out, book a table, and if you see someone you like, or would like to spend some time with, you alert one of the hosts, who will then go and inform that guy/girl that someone is interested. Once you give your consent, they escort you to the table, where you can chat and get to know one another. It's akin to the Speed-dating concept. It was just a bit weird to see these hosts holding girls at the wrist, and marching them very quickly along to meet whoever requested their presence. It actually looked like the girls were being dragged.
The club itself was huge, with a lovely big dance floor, and some live performances, including a strip show, some guys singing and dancing sans shirts, and some interesting stage effects. The funny thing about the dance floor was the space arrangement. Girls and guys stood in parallel lines, at a safe distance from one another, and danced. So, there was no bumping, or stepping on toes, which was a nice change from some of the very cramped dance floors I've experienced elsewhere. Naturally, us foreigners broke things up quite a bit, by doing the circle thing. But instead of getting irritated with us, many Koreans joined in and we all had a good time.
The music arrangement was another story, though. The DJ would play dance music for perhaps 10-15min or so, and follow it with a slow-dance (or jazz) song. The very instant the music changed to a slow song, everyone turned and immediately left the floor to return to their seats. I took advantage of this, and ended up being the only one dancing (with a partner, of course) on the floor to an audience of Koreans! It was my birthday party, after all! So I thoroughly enjoyed being in the limelight, twirling away on a big dance floor, just me and my dance partner! We became such a hit, that eventually, people started applauding us :)
And so we danced the night away until 6 in the morning! It was a great birthday celebration! I enjoyed every moment of it, and it all worked out just the way I wanted it to :)
All in all, I'm a Happy Chappy :)
No comments:
Post a Comment