Busan

After more than one year of living in Seoul I was curious about the rest of Korea. However two little kids are not the best companions for traveling long distances. Besides a couple of journeys, until August I had not yet seen most of the country. I really wanted to visit Busan, its city beaches, enjoy its nightlife and visit the its fish market, the greatest in Korea. And I was curious about Sokcho, the city right on the other side of the peninsula, on the same parallel of Seoul. But I had never the chance to visit them.

So, when Fabio and Manuele told me that they wanted to remain one week after the Jeju conference, I thought that this was my chance! I proposed them to travel around Korea on the road, first along the eastern coast, on the East Sea, and after that back to Seoul,  passing over the mountains, all in 4 days. So we flew from Jeju to Busan, rented a car and followed the ocean road up north. 

Although potentially a great plan, things turned to be very different from my dreams. The problem was that the Jeju meeting was planned at the end of Summer, still in the raining season. Not that in Korea it always rains in Summer, but when it starts raining it can continue for a week and be really cold, which is exactly what happened.

But first I want to introduce my friends. The first is Manuele, who spent one week in Seoul before going to Jeju... 

...and the second is Fabio, who came just in time for getting all the rain in Jeju, around Korea and finally in Seoul!

As I wrote, until we were in Jeju, the weather was nice, although occasionally it was already wet...

...but it became horrible as soon as we arrived in Busan. You can see the joy and the astonishment in in the eyes of Fabio while watching Busan for the first time... 

So, what to do with such a weather!? We decided that the only option was to go to the fishmarket and have a great lunch. But before that, we explored the long lines of fisheries, where you could find any kind of fish. It was really impressive!

Finally lunch. We were a bit disappointed by the difficult start...

...but eager to try the korean fish soup.

After, a last look at the famous landscape of the small houses of Busan (through the rain)... 

...and the harbor of Busan...

...before leaving for the next adventure!