the next chapter of my korean vacation was jeju island. i’d heard it was the “hawaii of korea” and even if that was only a little bit true, it sounded like a great way to relax after a few days of hitting the pavement hard in seoul.
it’s a very easy flight from seoul to jeju – about $20 at its cheapest and roughly an hour flight time – but i thought it would be fun to see a little more of the korean countryside, so i took the ktx from seoul to busan. it was fun to see the gradual change of the countryside – a little more agriculture, a little more green, a few more flowering trees.
i had originally thought of staying in busan for a couple of days, but a variety of sources indicated that those extra days would be better spent in seoul or jeju. i’m still not sure – jin tae says busan is the new hot place – but i’m glad i had the five hour layover i did to check it out. i made a really quick stop at one of the traditional markets and then decided to spend my remaining time at the fish market. it was fun to wander around and see the amazing fish and seafood but the market is clearly a b2b set up, so i left pretty quickly and went to find some good b2c food. i followed a few sketchy signs up a staircase that was supposed to lead to “raw fish slices”. sure enough, it let to an almost empty room (i’m sure that’s not true on a busy weekend) with a lot of fish tanks and a lot of tables. i wasn’t sure they were even open and started to leave when one of the women asked if i’d like a menu. after a quick browse showed nothing for one person under $50, i explained that i was sure it was worth it, but i wasn’t $50 hungry. she offered to do a small size for $30 – yay! the fish was obviously fresh, the side dishes were delicious – definitely worth the busan layover!
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after lunch it was off to the airport via the ktx station, where i’d left my monster bag. the transfer from busan’s ktx station to it’s airport isn’t as easy as seoul. after staring at my phone for about 15 minutes in the subway stop, trying to figure out which combination of buses and subways with my 50 lb bag would be the easiest, a sweet man with information asked me if he could help. whew – angels in disguise! he gave me a circled map and sent me off towards the elevator, which really beat lugging my bag up and down another set of steps!
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busan was warm and sunny when i left but a very quick flight truly was enough to change korea into hawaii! flying over the island, you could see the lush, tropical vegetation and warm humid air and palm trees were right outside of the airport. i’m looking forward to a couple of mellow days before the flight home!
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