The Todds, Luke and Shelby: Our Second Day in Busan

We started our day with coffee and muffins...and a good read!

Then we set out to find the tourist ferry dock. We found a cheap one hour cruise; it took us out where the big ships were, around a beautiful island with cliffs, and ended by going right through the largest port in Korea! It was just us and a Korean family having some sort of reunion. They hugged us, and we tried to get to know each other. It was so fun, the family was singing and feeding seagulls.

When we got back to the dock, this was the group waiting to get on next! Someone was putting up a poster of Buddha on the boat and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized as I got off the boat and walked through the large crowd, that most of the people waiting to get on were monks...

After our boat ride, Luke and I found Gukje Market, a large outdoor area where vendors were selling all kinds of things. It was packed with locals, and we spent sometime squeezing our way through the crowded streets. It was amazing!

One of the things we'll miss most about Korea: The BEST stuffed pancakes EVER!!!

Having lunch at a food cart.

And of course we couldn't refuse a sausage from this masked man...!?

With Luke's height and my hair color, even in a crowd, we don't have to worry about losing each other here...

After the market we headed over to the Jagalchi fish market. ENORMOUS!

At the fish market, this jolly man walked up, gave us hugs and high fives, and quickly started feeding Luke some kind of raw sea creature. As you can tell by the look on Luke's face...it was hardly edible. He said you couldn't even chew through it! Luke tried to be polite; so he hid the thing in his cheek, gave the man another hug, told him "kamsahamnida" ("thank you"), and we found a place for him to spit it out. Fun memory!

After the busy markets, we decided to find a place that was a bit more spacious, so we could hike and get some fresh air. This trail was in Amnam Park on one of the peninsulas.

We went from the park to Songdo Beach on a neat walking path. We passed many local fisherman on the way.

When we made it to the beach, we noticed many people throwing beautiful home-made goodies and fresh fruit into the water while they bowed and hit a drum. This was part of the full moon ceremonies...paying homage to ancestors.

Hundreds of people were gathering for the festivities. When the moon came up, fireworks went off, and they lit a giant tree structure made with bamboo and conifer trees. The fire was so big that people had to get out of the way of large pieces of ash falling from the sky (on the other side of the beach).