1. There are bathrooms everywhere. On most hikes there are bathrooms at regular intervals and even drinking fountains on some. I applaud this.
2. I was warned about this on the plane ride over by a young american in the military, but it still really surprises me. Everywhere you go, whether city or smaller town, the sewers smell really bad, and it hits you randomly all throughout the towns and cities. I have not encountered this anywhere else that I can think of.
We took an intercity bus and then the train that turned into a subway to reach Busan. We actually stayed in Nampo, south of Busan, because that had more things of interest to me. On the ride down, I explained to Miles that I had been sticking to food that is familiar to him, but that in Busan there were foods that I would like to try, such as a noodle dish with a black bean sauce that had been recommended to me. His response was memorable.
"Usually when they put black beans in the sauce, they put something else on the others." In other words, to him, any restaurant that would taint spaghetti by putting something so foreign on top of it, must also be messing with their other dishes to make them unpalatable to him.
We arrived at our hotel, which is the nicest one so far. Its elevators have two odd, lit up buttons. One speaks of an antivirus handrail and one says anti bug. I do not know if either of these work.
Before heading out to the wetlands, we went to eat at a local Indian restaurant. Miles bravely had a taco on a literal swing. I don't know why the put the tacos on swings, but he liked it. On our way back we encountered a truck with a guy that was speaking into a microphone. I used google translate at the time to get a rough translation, but I went and asked the front desk to ask for a translation and all three of them burst out laughing. They explained that the guy referred to the current president of South Korea and that he should be shipped out. As I read in the book on the plane, South Korea has a healthy tradition of political protest and speech.
We left for the Nakdong Estuary Eco Center to walk the trails and do some bird photography. The eco center was very cute, with bird shaped binoculars and live video on the screen of the birds behind the building.
Unfortunately, when we went to walk the trails, there was a giant lock on the doors. When we returned to inquire about it, we were told that you could only go with a tour. They directed us to a circular road along the side. Unfortunately, with the sun in the direction of the birds on one side, and a hill with trees on the other, we were unable to see much. Additionally, planes were constantly flying overhead toward Busan airport.
The next day we left early to hike the circular trail at the Taejongdae park. There were some beautiful flowers in front of one of the temples along the side. Crows flew about, from tree to tree.
About halfway through the loop, we reached steps leading down to a lighthouse. We walked down countless flights of steps until the lighthouse was within sight. At the very bottom, we walked near the water and first spotted a few insectlike looking creatures near the water. Then, Miles spotted one crab and then another two. The wind was absolutely raging, but we still stayed there for quite a while watching the life.
We finished the loop with a hazy view of some of the surrounding city and said hello to some of the resident cats.
To be continued...
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