Looking out of our window first thing this morning, we could see a line of people with umbrellas walking along the shoreline. It looked like the inspiration for a Jack Vettriano painting!
We had a text this morning to say that BK wasn’t well, so our guide would be Linda. There has to be a joke about an assignation with a strange woman outside a brewery …
Anyway, she was there before us along with a written plan of what we were going to do today. But she doesn’t drive, so we trotted off to find our driver, who was in a very fancy Kia. It looked new and I’m not sure he knew what all the controls were for yet.
Our first port of call was over the diamond bridge again, and we found out why they call it that. At night, it is all lit up with white lights and it sparkles like a diamond.
We stopped off at Oryukdo Island, which means five or six. Depending on which side you look at them from, you can see either five islands or six. I could only see two! This is the point where the East Sea meets the South sea, and the start of walking trails that follow the coast all the way to the border.
There’s a platform that allows you to walk out over the ocean, with a floor made of bulletproof glass. They make you put on soft overshoes so that you don’t damage the bulletproof glass! It was really quite disconcerting standing 35 metres over the waves; you can’t do it for long. On a sunny day, you can see Japan, assuming you’re not looking down.
Looking back towards Busan, we could also see the area that our hotel is in. It is near the X the SKY, the second tallest tower block in Korea at 411.6 metres. There’s an observatory on the 100th floor and a Starbucks on the 98th, making it the highest Starbucks in the world.
From there we came back over the Diamond bridge, around X the SKY and ended up at Cheongsapo station. This is where one end of the Sky Capsule is located, the other end being Mipo station at Blue Line Park. The sky capsule is a little elevated track that follows the path of the Blue Line Railway but 10 metres above it. You ride in cute little cars that look a bit like ancient cable cars. It is quite a peaceful way to spend half an hour.
And that was it as far as our tour was concerned. We spent some time wandering around the Haeundae beach area, dined on bibimbap and got ourselves packed. Tomorrow we’re off to Japan!
Things we’ve learned about Korea.
- There is no fourth floor in most hotels, public building and – especially – hospitals. Four is considered to be an unlucky number.
- All restaurant tables have either a drawer or box containing napkins, chopsticks and spoons.
- Even Bicester can’t compete with the number of coffee shops per square metre. Korea is the third largest coffee market in the world.
- All the hotels we’ve been to and a number of other places have toilets that will wash and dry you. If you can understand the controls, they are very effective.
- Most public car parks have a pink zone exclusively for women.
- Just about everywhere we’ve been to has been destroyed by the Chinese, Japanese, Manchus or other Koreans. They’ve all been restored.
- The country is generally much cleaner and safer than anywhere we’ve been to, and there are no (visible) homeless.
- I’ve never seen so many selfie sticks!
Steve and Diane on Tour 