The Adventures of Team Daniels: Jingle All The Way To Busan

We had a fun trip to Singapore planned over Christmas. There is a special travel bubble that eliminates quarantining between the two countries. But, Covid. Because of the Omicron variant Singapore added new restrictions, including testing daily; if you test positive you have to go into government facilities. If just Abe or I tested positive, the other adult could take the kids home and leave one man behind until they were released. But if a kid had to go into a government facility that could have been bad. Even worse, if both parents tested positive. So we cancelled the trip. 😭

Instead we made the best of things and went to Busan for a couple days.

Upon arrival we hit Blueline Park.

During the Japanese colonial period in 1935, the Donghae Nambu Railway connected Busan with Pohang to the north. As the downtown area expanded, there was no room for the railway and the line was rerouted in 2013.

Haendae Blueline Park was built as an echo-friendly redevelopment of the former Donghae Nambu Railway along the the East Sea South Line in 2020. It reuses the abandoned parts of the old line.

The Sky Capsule runs above the Beach Train. There are stops at several ports and a rainbow painted tunnel along the 4.8 kilometer park. A walking path and ecological park also run along the park.

Abe and Zeke were in the car in front of Daisy, Eli and me.

The 청사포다릣돌 Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk juts out over the water.

Usually wishes are written on locks and placed on fences. Here there are wooden fish to write your wish.

We were provided these slippers to put over our shoes so we would not scratch the glass on the skywalk. Like to many other activities, it is free to use the shoes and walk on the observation deck.

The Cheongsapo shore has five rocks peeking out of the water toward a lighthouse on the sea. The skywalk got its name daritdol from these rocks, which means stepping stones. Many haenyeo (the female skin divers who gather seafood) dive here in the early morning to catch abalone, sea squirt, sea cucumber, and sea urchins.

The sign says daritdol.

From here we boarded the train to get back.

We decided to try our luck at an escape room. We knew we had found the building from the sign outside.

Finding the right floor was another story. I impressed the hubs when I read the sign and knew it was on the 6th floor. /buh-ray-ee-kuh-a-uut-ee-suh-kay-ee-puh/ Duh.

We couldn't go all five of us at once, because, Covid. So first me and my boys went together. Our game was about a magician who turned bad. We made it out in time!

While Abe, Daisy and Zeke were taking their turn, Lijee and I found a burger place within walking distance.

After we met back up, we walked down to 군암로 Gunamro Square to see the Haeundae Lighting Festival. Usually there are carolers and festivities, but, Covid. These are the first Christmas lights we have seen in three years, so I loved it.

These trees are filled with wishes.

We did our part in adding to the trees.

It is said that many turtles have lived in Busan since ancient times. Haeundae Beach was a place where blue sea turtles spawned and hatched. The road where many turtles hatched and headed to sea is now Gunam-ro, which is why there are several turtle-themed light structures. Behind the turtle tree is turtle egg lighting, which expresses 150 eggs laid by a giant spiritual turtle.

A lit dome was above these lighted turtles on the ground. These large turtle sculptures symbolize hope and happiness.

These are in the turtle shaped rose garden.

This is called turtle gate sculpture. It expresses the appearance of a turtle and represents the enthronement of the beginning.

This sign says 8th annual Haeundae Beach Light Festival.

There are my people, walking amongst the crowd.

After checking into the hotel, the girl told us there was parking around the corner. There was a closed garage door with a cone in front. When I ran back in a questioned her, she asked what kind of car we had; she then told us to take two lefts and we would find a place to park. This is what we found. I took this picture and showed it to her, so see if we should take the spot where the kids are standing, or drive into that tiny parking garage behind that silver door on the right. Her response was, "Umm, I think it's better if you park there." So we squeezed into that tiny parking space.

Once daylight hit I realized that our hotel was actually located in a good tourist spot right in the 남포동 Nampo-dong District. Busan Tower was right outside our window.

Abe and I took a morning walk whilst the kids were still sleeping. We walked to BIFF Square.

This area is sort of like Hollywood. The Busan International Film Festival has been happening here each year since 1996. There are hand prints on the ground of Korean movie stars.

부평시장 Bupyeong Market was very close to our hotel, as well. Opening in the 1890s, it is one of the oldest traditional markets in Korea. Now it is more commonly referred to as 깡통시장 Kkangtong Market, or Tin-can Market. This moniker is derived from the canned goods brought over by American soldiers who were stationed in Busan. In addition to canned goods, it became a hotspot for many foreign goods, ranging from cosmetics and Japanese electronics to alcohol. Due to the vast amount of rare foreign goods sold here, many foreign refugees flocked the market as vendors to earn a living. This earned it the name 국제사장 Gukje International Market in 1950. The two markets sit across the street from each other. Bupyeong Kkangtong Market specialized in selling seafood, fruits, veg, grains and side dishes, while Gukje specializes in a variety of general merchandise such as clothes, lighting, shoes, hats, handbags, machinery, tools, kitchen utensils, etc. There are approximately 1600 merchants filling the many alleys in Tin-can Market today. A huge tin can proudly hangs in the center of the complex at the four-way intersection. Apparently a magic show and a guitar performance take place twice a day by the entrance and at this four-way intersection.

Once the children had time to sleep in a little, we all walked to 자갈치사장 Jagalchi Fish Market. The name originates from 자갈 jagal, or gravel, because of the gravel and stones nearby. The market sits on the edge of Nampo Port and Nampo-dong. Jagalchi is one of the largest fish markets in South Korea.

The fish market has a plethora or outdoor vendors selling various goods, plus seven floors inside, including a live fish market, raw fish restaurants, dried sea products stores, a spa, a 노래방 noraebang (karaoke) restaurant, a Korean restaurant, a seafood buffet, a convention hall, a guest house and a rooftop sky terrace. The market spans three kilometers.

I recently visited the Samcheonpo Fish Market. The two markets are basically the same thing, but this one is larger. You can find giant squids, sea cucumbers, whale meat, belt fish, lobster, crabs, squids, eels, sea urchin, oyster, mackerel, sea squirts, dehydrated anchovies, sea laver, shellfish, cooked fish, dried fish, baked fish, fried fish...the types of sea food and the amount of sea food is a little mind-boggling.

This market is known for its 자갈치아줌마 Jagalchi ajummas /ah-joo-mahs/. Ajumma means middle-aged or married woman (it is often thrown around like the word ma'am...supposed to be a respectful term but can sometimes be used not so respectively). These hard-working women provide bring home the bacon for their families. The name jalalchi ajumma references the post Korean War time when the women would sell their goods along the street. The men bring the fish in from the sea and these industrious women cut it up, dry it, fry it, display it and sell it.

There are hundreds of vendors selling hundreds of thousands of sea food items. Some of the stalls only sell fish but some of them also have small restaurants in the back. Of course you can pick your live fish and have it sent up to the restaurants upstairs, too.

The vendors near the market sells all kinds of fishing gear.

Now we're talking Daisy's love language--the mall.

This is called Lotte Department Store Aqua Mall because they have an 'aquatique show.'

You are looking at the world's largest indoor aquatic show listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

It is the word's largest fountain show with a floor-to-ceiling height of 18 meters. There are jets that create two circular water curtains that create a choreography of figures sculpted directly into the water, mixed with a tornado fountain of 50 water jets arranged in a star. It is all synchronized to either K-Pop or classical music.

Apparently I set the bar a little high for the word's largest fountain show, as it was not a impressive as I thought it would be. Bu at the end they spell out 'Lotte' in the water, and that was pretty cool.

Being near the international market and international film festival site, there was a lot of international cuisine at the food court. It had one of those cool sushi conveyor belts. I did not grab my lunch as it so smoothly wheeled past because, covid. And also because, sushi. 😝

On the 11th floor of the mall is the Rooftop Park, which is the largest in Korea.

Daisy wrote a postcard for us and they will mail it for us.

The 12th floor boasts an Observation Deck where you can get a good look at the city and the harbor.

Busan Tower is within walking distance.

We strolled the streets of Nampo shopping district on the way back to the hotel.

Everywhere throughout Korea you will see delivery driver speeding by, weaving through traffic and ignoring laws to get the food delivered while it is still hot. I think it's kinda funny that they have built-in gloves on the handles to keep thier hands warm.

As you drive along the port you see so many ships with their cargo.

Our next stop was the aquarium. Lijee really likes aquariums.

We got a photo taken upon entry. I could digitally download it with many different backgrounds, as you will notice.

The Busan Sea Life boasts to be one of Korea's top aquariums with over 250 marine species and 10,000 aquatic animals, fish, algae, reptiles and amphibians on display. The underground facility covers an area of 36,000 square meters over 3 underground levels, including several different zoned theme areas.

Behind the jackass penguin habitat was a cool interactive dancing penguin exhibit. The penguins projected on the wall mirrored our dance moves.

~Underwater Artist Zone~

~Fashion Zone~

We loved touching the sea stars and hermit crabs at the interactive rock pool.

Eli is gently holding a hermit crab.

Hang ten!

The aquarium has a lot of interactive experiences.

~Sea At Night Zone~

This big octopus was cool to watch.

Sea Life has one of the largest breeding programs in the world.

Some of the fish in the tank behind us were huge.

Some of the rays were huge, too. Sea Life also has a successful sting ray breeding program.

The 260-foot underwater tunnel experience is made feel as if you are walking along the ocean floor with the sea creatures swimming above.

This big ole guy is missing a fin. I read that he likes to photobomb people; he certainly enjoyed watching Eli.

Twice a day divers hand-feed these sharks.

I'm not 'lion,' these are some cool fish! (Lyin' and lion fish...see what I did there? When you have to explain your joke, it's probably not funny. 😬 )

~Bingo Zone~

I'm not sure why the call the arctic area the bingo zone??

The Daiser and I wandered the busy Gwangbok-ro shopping area by our hotel at night.

The Busan Christmas Tree Cultural Festival was scheduled. In addition to the lights, there are usually concerts and performances, but, covid.

There's my Daisy in front of the tree.

We found a quaint little shop and treated ourselves to a snack and a hot chocolate.

On the walk back we walked through the Night Market at Kkangtong Market. In 2013 a night market was added to the area to increase foot traffic. In the past, about 30 mobile stalls line the night market alley, which stretches 110m, but, covid. A few stalls were open, but it was not hustling and bustling like pictures that I saw.

I knew we were almost home when I spotted the tin can.

The Busan Tower view by night...

and by morning.

Abe and I took another walk while the children were still sleeping. This time we went to the tower and 용두산 공원Yongdusan Park.

The icon of Busan is a 120m-high tower built in 1973. Beside it sets the three-story 팔각정 Palgakjeong, which means Octagonal Pavilion.

Proudly standing at 12m high in front of the tower is General Yi Sun sin.

Yongdusan Park gets its name from Yongdu Mountain. Yongdu means dragon's head and san means mountain. It is said that the peak resembles a dragon's head, protecting the area from foreign sea invaders. Yongdu Mountain is one of Busan's three famous mountains. This statue is called 청동용탑Cheongdongyongtap, or Bronze Dragon tower and stands 4 meters high.

The top of Busan Tower was modeled after the 다보탑 Dabotap Pagoda in 불국사 Bulguksa Temple located in 경주 Gyeongju. The Bell of the Citizens Pavilion stands in front of the tower.

The flower clock creates a colorful base for Yi Sun sin and the tower at 5m in diameter.

We decided to give the pop culture 'The Running Man Thematic Experience Center' a go. There is a Korean TV show which would be classified as urban action variety called The Running Man, in which the characters complete missions around cities to win races. Ironically, we have not seen the show, but we thought it sounded like a fun experience. The center aims to recreate the excitement of the variety show.

Yet once again, I felt like I was competing in Squid Game.

We had 50 minutes to earn as many points as we could by completing tasks.

Some of the tasks were physical, some were fine motor, and some were mental. They included things like shooting basketballs, a mirror maze, hitting lighted up buttons, memory, riding a stationery bike, and other rando things.

At first we were all in it for ourselves, but as the hour went on, we began helping each other.

I was the loser of the group. Wanna know what's sad? I was actually trying hard.

I have mentioned that Koreans are not shy when it comes to bodily functions. There are poop cafes, restaurants, and museums. Poo Poo Land was at the same location at The Running Man; they used the same cash register for both places. I have never had the desire to go to Poo Poo Land, but when in Rome, and since we were right there...

I just discovered the reason for the poo fascination. In South Korea, poop has been a popular icon, way before the cute little emoji. 💩 An old superstition states that a person will be prosperous and have great riches if they dream of poo. So there you have it.

We could see these buttocks with the red hand when we entered The Running Man. Daisy was the first in a placed her hand right on the cheek. She jumped back in surprise when a fart blew out on her.

Poo Poo Land has a lot of poop and flatulence throughout. After being greeted with a fart blowing in your face and several pile of dung on the ground, I didn't have very high hopes for this experience. To be fair, it is actually an educational experience. When I translated the signs on the dung piles, they were talking about the color of your bowel movements and what was healthy.

The first room was Insta worthy, full of photo ops. However, the kids were given a booklet full of questions, and many of the answers were written in this room.

The kids were writing their answers, so I guess they were actually learning.

Pretty classy, huh?

After lots of pictures and answering some educational questions, you enter the giant's mouth. The premise is that you get eaten by this giant, and as we travel down his throat, into the stomach, along the intestines and finally exit his body, we learn about the digestive process.

The descriptions on the website were as follows:

Go into the mouth and leave as poop!

Experience a new kind of maze escape with digestive organs, including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine!

Experience the 'Poo Photo Zone,' going through the small and large intestines of 'Dynamic Digestion Maze,' a maze recreated to reflect the process of digestion as visitors pass through various obstacle courses.

This is traveling past the uvula at the back of your throat.

Many facts were posted along the way under these cute little butt cheeks. Honestly I did not stop to translate them, but I'm sure I would have learned a lot if I had.