Both cafes we wanted were closed this morning so we got a coffee from a composer at Compose Coffee, and we couldn’t find a nearby breakfast restaurant either so we went back through the subway tunnel to the noodle restaurant across the street for dumplings and jjajangmyeon, noodles with black bean sauce. It was again packed when we got there and we waited a minute for a table. In Korea, and Asia in general, there's no such thing as breakfast food or dinner food. It's just food, so you may find yourself eating beef broth soup at 8 am.
We took a train and a bus to the Sky Cruise to take a cable car to a nearby peninsula, where we had almost ended up after our cooking class. The views from the cable car were very beautiful. This was a clear sunny day and we saw many ships in the sea.
The top station of the cable car has a terrace dedicated to the Little Prince (from the book.) This isn't the first time we saw Little Prince related art/attractions in this area of Busan and I don't know why. Was the little prince Korean? We saw a cute short-tailed tabby cat before we headed to the cloud bridge, but she was busy being fed treats by another tourist.
The peninsula has a small island connected to it by a small suspension bridge called cloud bridge. After paying the 1000 won each we walked down the bridge to take some panoramic pictures. We walked up and down the bridge and took some photos and videos. It's a really nice attraction, and crowded with people taking photos: the 1000 won is not enough to keep out the riff-raff.
Returning from the bridge we spotted a chubby tricolour kitty who flopped on the ground and clearly belonged on a couch somewhere. There were several other plump kitties near the top cable car station and they had a little house with food and water in it. There were also three puppies chasing each other and playing at the start of a trail.
We continued up that trail into the woods. There was a ramp after not very long that switchbacked steeply up to what looked like a picnic spot, but kept going… and going… all the way up to the top of the hill, above the trees, where we could see the bay on one side and the ocean on the other. We stopped at a gazebo to check in to our flight to Jeju and enjoy the view. Then we continued hiking past a couple of little stages, where Leia gave impromptu oratory to me and the woodland creatures. We found some confusing maps and signposts in Korean, none of the trails colored or numbered consistently, yet managed by miracle and wit to find the trail by which we wanted to return. This one led down many wooden stairs which led to a narrow path hugging the cliff with rope railing.
By then we were hungry so we took the cable car back and decided to get some fish nearby. Guy insisted we play laser tag in the lower cable car station, despite Leia’s protests. He urged her to use that anger in the game. Leia thought that game sucked, and she charged at and shot Guy while he was down tying his shoelaces.
We ate an okay meal of raw fish at the one beachside place whose owner didn’t hound us to come in and eat there as we walked by. Outside the restaurant we walked on a free bridge along the beach to look at sunset views of the city lights. For free. Did I mention this bridge cost no money? Yeah. Free. The bridge didn't lead anywhere but followed the beach like an elevated boardwalk, which was kind of interesting.
We took the bus back downtown to BIFF market, which is a night food market where the Busan International Film Festival was held. It's fairly small in size compared to the ones in Seoul. There was also a row of fortune tellers who were of no interest to us. Guy ate tteokbokki, big rice pasta with fishcake simmered in a spicy red gravy. Leia ate raindrop cake also known as mizu shingen mochi, a wobbly fruit jelly with syrup and sweet kinako (roasted soy bean powder) crumbles on top. We ate bungeoppang cookies shaped like fish filled with red bean paste, and liked them so much we returned for seconds after Guy ate a course of sushi at an indoor restaurant.
We took the train from there to our hotel. Before going to bed we walked to the whiskey bar to give the bartender there a Glencairn glass etched with the Flatirons that had stowed away in my backpack, as a gift. He was surprised to receive a gift, and even more surprised that was all we came for.
No comments:
Post a Comment