Busan

Monday, 8th April.

Taxis at 7:30 to the port for the high-speed ferry to Busan, South Korea. It’s a handsome giant trimaran, the slightly bizarrely-named Queen Beetle, that whizzed along at 42mph on a smooth 4 hour crossing. Port staff bowed and waved us off:

First views of Busan:

 

After landing and immigration we were guided to the metro by a very friendly man who even gave the girls a 1,000 won note:

We couldn’t check in until 4 o’clock so we left our bags at the hotel reception we headed out for coffee and cake at a nearby cafe. Later we went in search of supper at a gimbabap restaurant. Small point of detail: here they eat with metal chopsticks. Lots of narrow alleys full of brightly lit and loud food outlets.

Tuesday, 9th April

Much-needed lie-ins all round then by bus to the Children’s Grand Park, whose name hardly does it justice as it’s an enormous area of forest rails that wind up the creek , with playground attractions on the way. A and L were almost the only children, apart from a school class, but there were lots of seniors walking and exercising energetically. Apparently Busan has the second lowest fertility rate in South Korea which, in turn, has the lowest rate globally. 21% of the population is over 65.