Sydney, Tokyo, London...Pusan

Our apartment is in a located in a part of Busan known as Haeundae-ku, on Dalmaji Hill. Someone told me the other day that Haeundae is the "Miami Beach of Korea," and that Dalmaji Hill is the "Montmartre of Korea." Somehow I think that might be an exaggeration (although the narrow, curving streets on our hill has reminded me of Europe at times). Haeundae does, however, have a nice beach. I hear that in the summer, the beach is literally packed with people. Check back in the summer for a posting on that topic.

Meanwhile, here's are a few shots of the scenes between our apartment and the beach and boardwalk.

Its only a stone's throw down the hill to the beach, less than a 5 minute walk. Getting there requires crossing only one busy street, and it has a safety island mid-way. Sometimes cars park in the island. An orange vendor hawks his oranges from this island, too (darn good oranges that are grown in the USA, by the way).

This doesn't look like much of a downward slope, but it IS a hike getting back up it when time comes to go home.

Walking along the beach down the boardwalk (reminds me of Seaside in a general way, although food vendors in Seaside don't sell crunchy boiled and seasoned silk worm pupae for a snack) we realize that Pusan is on par with the great cities of the world: London, Paris, Tokyo...or does Pusan just have an elevated self-image?

Looking back on the boardwalk, toward our apartment. Dalmaji Hill is in the background. This area's culinary specialty is raw seafood. The raw seafood restaurants along the boardwalk all have large tanks filled with live potential dinner specimens.

Eventually we arrive at the "American" corner: Starbucks, TGI Friday's, Bennigans, and Outback Steakhouse (who knew you could get a bloomin' onion in Korea??). As with everything we have experienced so far, even the familiar is unfamiliar here: At the Outback Steakhouse, kim-chee is served with meals.