Busan, South Korea

First of all, allow me to introduce our dining mates. Margaret and Murray from Australia, of course, you may already recognize. Sandy and Jim, the third couple at our table, are from Toronto, Canada. I quickly connected with them, as Jim has a very similar background to mine in the late 1960s and early 1970s with regard to large IBM systems support. On top of that, Sandy was then his IBM systems engineer. We shared lots of stories about that time period but have gone on to discuss much more.

Busan is South Korea's second largest city--3.6 million people--and is the world's fifth busiest seaport for cargo tonnage. The city was definitely bustling when we were there. Korea felt very, very different to us from Japan. Koreans didn't seem quite as polite. There was much more aggressiveness by drivers on the streets, all of whom (including even our shuttle bus drivers) seemed to be constantly playing dodgeball with each other--lots of horn honking and darting in front of each other. Motorized scooters freely roamed walkways and were similarly aggressive, even with the pedestrians. There was little acknowledgement of each other. Eye contact was minimal, and there were few shared smiles. Everything just seemed edgier. After Japan, this all seemed more noticeable. Of course, this is only an initial impression based on only a few hours of strolling the city.

We did not take an official tour this day. Instead, we figured out, after some work, how to navigate the subway system and went to an area with a lively outdoor market, including a fascinating fish market.

There were all kinds of fascinating foods available. These seemed to be some type of egg dish.

Lots of foods are offered on skewers so that you can eat them while walking about.

Potatoes were spiral cut and deep fried on skewers.

The fish market was fun. Lots of fresh cuts and many live offerings that could be cleaned and prepared for you on the spot (not a good idea for cruise ship guests, however). Many of the things we saw were completely unknown to us. How about these bundles of tentacles, for example?

Tanks full of fresh, cold water had everything from crabs of different kinds to eels to fish.

The vendors who offered cleaning were efficient, fast, and clever in their filleting or other cutting.

These were various kinds of seaweed.

And, I'm sure everyone would like to take a few of these home.