While Not Working

Songdo Beach is a man-made beach in Busan, created in 1913 and was a popular tourist destination in the 60s and 70s with a cable car from the beach to a small island just off shore. It suffered over the years from pollution, general neglect, and typhoons which destroyed the cable car. Lucky for me, a new cable car (the Songdo Air Cruise) opened in 2017 connecting Songdo Beach to Amnan Park headland and providing thrills for people who like to dangle high over the ocean in gondolas. Looks like fun! Off we went to cruise the air. Roger decided to take the risk of being struck midair by an earthquake and came too, although he drew the line at getting into a gondola with a transparent floor. Not looking down. Looking back. The ride took long enough to take heaps of photos and still have time to sit back and count the cargo ships out in the Korean Strait. And to regret buying a return trip Air Cruise because otherwise I could have walked back on this awesome boardwalk around the cliffs. Get...

One minute I was in a quiet park, cherry blossoms drifting like snow to the ground, a few locals taking blossom photos and a temple cat dozing in the sun. Two minutes, a staircase, and a blind begger away I was blasted with noise, light, smell, and the frenetic energy of a million people all eating and talking and walking and cooking and selling and buying and... you get the picture. That was at the end of the day, mind you.  All was quiet when I ventured out into Busan in the early morning, seeking breakfast. Sunlight filtered through a laneway of cherry blossoms just around the corner from our hotel. The street stalls were all shut, the streets deserted apart from one bicycle wobbling along under an enormous load of cardboard.   After breakfast we wandered through crowded back streets crammed with little shops selling all sorts of nuts and bolts, and then through market stalls of spices, ceramics, and fish.  Utility bicycle. These were everywhere. Waiting to be eaten. O...