We spent a couple weeks in July 2018 exploring Busan, a dense coastal city full of museums, beaches and flame-grilled pork. Lots and lots of of Korean barbeques which were fun and delicious! Especially one particular little back alley one close to our airbnb, where they just kept bringing us amazing things....and charging accordingly it turned out :-) We left fuller in stomach, lighter in wallet, and happy. It was fun to be in a city that spoke so little English unlike the dozen or so countries we had visited prior in 2018, where it wasn't difficult to move around or find what we needed. Far less so in Busan - no Google maps nor any English local equivalent (that we could discern, anyway). But as I say, that added to the fun.
Busan has multiple centres due to the mountainous mountains so that streets and avenues wind around themselves, tying themselves into steep knots. The result is a feeling like there are three very close cities, all on the water and all only an Uber ride away, literally bridging the gaps between the headlands.
Being on the south coast, sadly for the Koreans, they have endured endless invasions from nearby powers such as Japan and China. The museum of Busan is quite amazing as it shows how so many annexations have occured in its history. We have been told that this means Busanians are suspicious of outsiders and we did find this to be true, although having only visited Busan (and not, say, Seoul) we are not sure if this is just Busan or South Korea as a whole! However, there were several individuals we met who were exceptionally friendly and helpful so we must remember our experience is just a sliver of time in a single, large cityscape.
We look forward to exploring more of South Korea in future! Especially the island of Jeju with all their rich tea history. For now we must wistfully cast our minds back to our (quickly finished) bag of second flush Jeju green tea.
So please enjoy! There is no link off-blog now, so the best way to view is to click on the first image in the gallery below and tap [F11] on your keyboard (for a larger full-screen view). Then just use your arrow keys or the mouse to move forward. Enjoy!!
~ Vientiene
P.S. For anyone that uses 500px, you can see the gallery here too: https://500px.com/vientiene/galleries/busan-south-korea-2018
P.P.S. For any photography enthusiasts or professionals reading: I use a Panasonic G5 (micro four-thirds), a 20mm f1.7 pancake and 42.5mm f1.7 portrait lens (that's a 40mm 1.7 FF and 85mm 1.7 FF equivalent respectively). Previously, from 2013-2017, I mostly used a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens and a 45-200mm f4-5.6 OIS (FF equivalent 28-84mm and 90-400mm respectively). It was in early 2017 when I replaced the kit lens with the much faster 20mm prime, and due to weight and size I abandoned the telescopic behind in 2018 when I added the oh-so-small portrait lens with its razor thin depth of field. Such a great travel camera kit - the best camera (and lens!) is the one you have with you!