Korea, Day 6
Busan started to liven up as people got back from Chuseok. We continued to sort of relax, partly due to the weather - we had originally planned for some hiking while we were in Busan, but it was still a bit too hot and humid to be comfortable.
In the morning we checked out Beomeosa temple. Yep, it's a temple. It seemed to actively be in use as a temple (e.g. people were coming and praying), in contrast to many of the temples we visited in the past (which tended to be more empty and touristy).
After that we went to Haeundae beach. I've been to nicer beaches, but despite some small amount of litter it was still a pretty good beach (and in the middle of a major city). We had briefly been there the previous day, when it was nearly empty, but today there were people. It wasn't up to the level of densely packed crowds you see when you read about Haeundae, more along the lines of what I would consider normal beach density. The water was comfortable at this time of year.
One of my favorite things about visiting new places is seeing the local snacks - there will usually be tasty things unlike those at home. I think one of the best places to go for this is a large grocery store (though convenience stores or dollar stores also work). So at my request, we stopped by E-mart. It and the similar chain HomePlus are the Korean equivalents of K-mart or Walmart.
On checking out with my basket of hopefully exciting things to munch on, I was very confused when the cashier handed me back my receipt and what looked like a ₩1,000 note. I paid with a credit card, why was she giving me back money? If it was a discount, wouldn't it be simpler to reduce the total? She tried to explain it to me, but as a dumb foreigner with no Korean ability, I was only able to blankly stare back in return.
It took until we got to the subway for me to turn it over and realize it was probably a store credit voucher. I might have realized this sooner if I had been handling money on a regular basis, but my credit-only strategy hadn't prepared me to know what currency looked like.
Like Haeundae beach, Gwangalli beach is in the middle of the city. As a side note, neither beach is like the Starcraft maps they inspired - the rush distance is much larger in real life, the scale is all off, and I saw absolutely no minerals or gas anywhere.
Anyway, dinner was at a restaurant suggested by W, near Gwangalli beach. We had a meal similar to Tuesday's dinner, grilled beef. This time around, a waitress cooked everything in front of us instead of us cooking our own food. Through some combination of the location (being a block away from the beach must be prime real estate), the service, the lack of proximity to a meat market, and possibly other unknown factors, it was about twice as much as Tuesday's dinner for IMHO an inferior meal.
In the morning we checked out Beomeosa temple. Yep, it's a temple. It seemed to actively be in use as a temple (e.g. people were coming and praying), in contrast to many of the temples we visited in the past (which tended to be more empty and touristy).
After that we went to Haeundae beach. I've been to nicer beaches, but despite some small amount of litter it was still a pretty good beach (and in the middle of a major city). We had briefly been there the previous day, when it was nearly empty, but today there were people. It wasn't up to the level of densely packed crowds you see when you read about Haeundae, more along the lines of what I would consider normal beach density. The water was comfortable at this time of year.
One of my favorite things about visiting new places is seeing the local snacks - there will usually be tasty things unlike those at home. I think one of the best places to go for this is a large grocery store (though convenience stores or dollar stores also work). So at my request, we stopped by E-mart. It and the similar chain HomePlus are the Korean equivalents of K-mart or Walmart.
On checking out with my basket of hopefully exciting things to munch on, I was very confused when the cashier handed me back my receipt and what looked like a ₩1,000 note. I paid with a credit card, why was she giving me back money? If it was a discount, wouldn't it be simpler to reduce the total? She tried to explain it to me, but as a dumb foreigner with no Korean ability, I was only able to blankly stare back in return.
It took until we got to the subway for me to turn it over and realize it was probably a store credit voucher. I might have realized this sooner if I had been handling money on a regular basis, but my credit-only strategy hadn't prepared me to know what currency looked like.
Like Haeundae beach, Gwangalli beach is in the middle of the city. As a side note, neither beach is like the Starcraft maps they inspired - the rush distance is much larger in real life, the scale is all off, and I saw absolutely no minerals or gas anywhere.
Anyway, dinner was at a restaurant suggested by W, near Gwangalli beach. We had a meal similar to Tuesday's dinner, grilled beef. This time around, a waitress cooked everything in front of us instead of us cooking our own food. Through some combination of the location (being a block away from the beach must be prime real estate), the service, the lack of proximity to a meat market, and possibly other unknown factors, it was about twice as much as Tuesday's dinner for IMHO an inferior meal.