Day Trips

We have gotten pretty good at getting ourselves around the area.  We recently took the slow train to the Busan International Motor Show.  The country side and then good views of the sea were so pretty.  It only took 50 minutes, which is probably faster than by car.  There is saying here about there never being traffic jams with trains and subways.  I was open to however long Michael wanted to stay, which turned out to be 2 ½ hours or so.  There was lots of fairly loud music and very pretty young ladies modeling with the cars.  Our favorite part turned out to be the buses.  There were some glitzy interiors, and the driver’s console looked like a fancy car.  I headed to Busan on my own a week or so later and went to the Sand Festival at Haeundae Beach (Michael was at a sleepover).  Shortly after the festival, the million (well, it looks like a million) umbrellas go up for the summer.  There are a LOT of festivals in Korea.  Every weekend seems to bring an opportunity to celebrate something.

An even more adventurous trip was to Pohang.  We have been joking about seeing the “Hands of Harmony,” two large statues of hands facing each other; one is in the sea.  We took the intercity bus to Pohang (1 ½ hours), then a local bus from the bus station (30 minutes) to the outskirts of town and then another bus (20 minutes).  We said it’s a good thing we think ½ the fun is getting there.  Pohang is home to one of the world’s largest steel factories, and it is huge and not so pretty.  But I told Michael some place has to have it or the rest of us couldn’t drive cars or fly in airplanes.  The grounds where the hands are was quite nice.  There is a lighthouse museum and also a building with an observation deck.  We weren’t there a long time before we headed back.  The mid-point bus stop is in the midst of a small harbor and the street has at least 10 crab restaurants.  They all basically have the same menu and a large plastic crab above the entrance.  Michael was a bit leery (we have seen some pretty funky seafood at fish markets), but then a door opened to one place and it was full of people.  I said, “Come on.  I guarantee you will like crab.  It’s like shrimp; everyone likes it.”  I was right!!  (I don’t guarantee often, but so far I have always been correct J).  The people were so nice to us too … showing us that I was using the tool the wrong way, for example.  The rice is served mixed with various crab innards and served in the crab’s back shell.  It was a great meal and experience.