Cherry Blossoms in Busan
What better way to spend Easter Sunday than to take a little train trip from Seoul to Busan? Busan is right at the other end of South Korea so I thought a journey through the countryside would be a great use of my limited time here. I managed to make my way to Seoul Central Station, purchased tickets and get myself on what was the right train.
My return ticket, unfortunately, is for standing only and is on the slow train, taking 5 hours to return to Seoul. The only alternative was going to get me back to central station after midnight, which is when public transport stops for the night. I'm glad I rested my feet yesterday!
Train to Busan
The 3 hour trip was great. There's plenty of construction going on throughout the country with lots of agriculture and 'small cities' of likely millions of people. To me, many of the towering skyscraper residential towers are reminiscent of soviet architecture. It's hard not to contrast South Korea with North Korea (where I visited in 2018) as the landscape is very similar, although far less developed in the north.
South Korean Countyside
North Korean Countyside
I decided to spend my time in Busan at Huinnyeoul Village. It has a beautiful walk along the ocean with cute colourful little cottages and handicraft stores. It really was a perfect day. The weather was crisp but not too cold and the sun felt nice on my skin.
Huinnyeoul Village
Deciding to stop at a little cafe for lunch, I bravely ordered something or other from the limited menu and was quite excited to see what I was presented with. I also ordered what I thought might be iced lemon tea but suspect is some sort of soju (potent Korean liquor). I hoped that I could find my way back home to Seoul again.
A most tasty lunch
OMG! The food was bloody delicious!!! I can be a little timid when it comes to trying new foods but I've promised myself I would partake in sampling the local cuisines during my travels (as long as it isn't raw seafood). This was cold thick noodles accompanied by a soft-centred egg cooked in a crispy light batter, tasty shredded beef, kimchi and a few other unidentified ingredients. It was an amazing combination of different flavours that made my tongue sing.
After a good wander through the village, I made my way back to Busan train station without a worry and began to mentally prepare myself for my interminable standing only train ride. I was envisioning an empty carriage bereft of anywhere at all to sit for us poor souls who booked at the last minute. But wait...it was a standard carriage with actual real live seats! Maybe it's a free-for-all?
I met a fellow standee, Kyle from San Fransisco, on the platform and by mutual consensus we decided to just go for it and sit down. What's the worst thing that could happen? We have to move?
The first little bit went well. There was a bit of shuffling of seats when people with actual tickets boarded, but we were up there with the big kids sitting like we've been sitting in seats all our lives.
But it was all a bluff - we had gotten cocky and the fall was going to be hard... Stop by stop the train began to fill to capacity until we found ourselves - wait for it - standing at the end of the carriage.
That first hour was a killer. Bumping and jostling as our emotions soared when commuters left the train only to plummet as they were immediately replaced by those who had the sense to purchase tickets in advance.
You see, there is a trick to all this that we were slow to catch on to. If you were quick and in the know you could perch yourself of the steps leading to the carriage doors. Never mind that you had to stand and move out of the way whenever the train arrived at a stop. The reprieve for our feet was heaven.
View from my step
Kyle wandered off in search of his own step and I managed to snag my own. Now, 5 hours of up and down, side to side, was an experience. Fortunately I made friends with a gorgeous Thai pharmacist, Sine, and our conversation staved away our boredom and discomfort for a bit of the time.
Finally arriving back in Seoul was rather momentous. I'd had a great day but it was so nice to be in vicinity of my bed for the night. It turns out Kyle had booked into Snowflower Guesthouse also so it was nice to have someone to walk through the streets to the hostel seeing as it was night time.
I was most joyous once I was horizontal in my tiny little cubicle room and grateful for having another fabulous and successful day of travel.
Notice to self : Book ahead !!