Japan Day 28: Travel on Boats

-
The last day in Japan started with a proper Japanese breakfast buffet, although I must confess that neither of us chose the fermented soy beans.

I met a young man from Iceland at the ferry terminal. He had completed two weeks in South Korea, riding his bicycle from top to bottom, and had just arrived on the ferry to start another two weeks riding around Japan.

"I met a girl from Australia," he said. "She was freezing, complaining about the cold in Korea. I said what freezing? I'm from Iceland. This is my perfect summer!"  He gave us 8000 Korean won in coin: "It's too heavy to carry around." We retaliated by offloading our remaining yen and as we waited in line for our ferry tickets he pedaled off into Japan. I hope he survived the sweltering forecast 22C.

The white boat near Roger's elbow is ours. The red one could gave been ours, but it's broken. Broken boats aren't allowed to be ferries.



The ferry to Busan collected a motley crew of Caucasian tourists and a crowd of Japanese/Korean/Chinese who were clearly old hands at the 6 hour trip and patiently put up with us tourists bumbling around not knowing how to work the vending machines*. We travelled second class in a room shared with 10 other people, Japanese style. 


Goodbye, Japan.

The sea was flat and smooth with no swell to speak of. Roger, having collected plastic bags in anticipation of violent sea sickness, felt confident enough after an hour to settle down at a table with two-minute noodles and whiskey.

The machine was cranky. It wouldn't let him have beer.

Then he had an ice cream, followed by another one because the first one was disgusting. If that didn't tell you that the sea was flat, I don't know what would.

A bird played in currents of air over the water, swooping and wheeling, effortlessly pacing us for at least an hour. The ship bundled past Japan's outlying islands through waters littered with shipping. By the time we passed the furthest out island the Korean Peninsula was in sight. The decks filled with tourists oohing and aahing and taking photos while the locals rolled their eyes and settled back onto their pillows. 

Hello Korea.


We were last in line to get off the boat, having stayed topside to supervise the docking process.

Im sure the captain appreciated our oversight.

Busan International Ferry Terminal was big and, by the time we got through customs, empty.


The train station was busier than the regional Japanese stations of recent weeks. The streets through which we walked to our hotel were alive with noise, traffic, and street stalls winding up for the night.  


The foyer of the Busan Business Hotel was suitably shiny with a collection of deliciously weird artwork to boot.

I still can't get my tongue around 'hello' and 'thank you' in Korean but at least the chopsticks work the same.

See you tomorrow.

*I have not forgiven the vending machine. It gobbled up my Y1000 and did not give noodles in exchange.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Not To Be A Serious Cyclist

-
Image
All these years I've been riding a bicycle and trying to preserve the illusion that I am a Very Serious Cyclist, tracking my kilometers, always aiming to beat my PB (personal best, but Serious Cyclists use acronyms) and racing to be KOM (King of the Mountain, because acronyms).  Well, that illusion has been shattered now. Today I lost my Serious Cyclist credentials for good. Today I went cycling carrying a full sized thermos, two insulated coffee mugs, and the required accoutrements including chilled milk. Sadly I forgot a spoon, which meant that although disqualified as a Serious Cyclist I did not quite qualify as a Mad Picnicking Cyclist either. I blame Myponie Road for my fall in cycling status. I had such a lovely time cycling along there a week ago that I wanted Roger to enjoy it too. I even had an answer when he expressed a certain reluctance to cycle into a fresh southerly breeze. "I'll drive up to the other end and cycle into the wind! Then you can drive home....
Read more

Boat-related Excitement on Wallaroo Waters

-
Image
 Morning coffee at The Shores Eatery is never dull.  Last time we were there we were privy to the saga of the men in wet suits working to remove some unidentified but obviously well-buried item from the sand at the bottom of the swimming enclosure.  This time around we sat outside with the brunch crowd, minding our own business and commenting on how every weekend brings more people to Wallaroo as the summer gets under way.  Prawn trawlers and crab boats littered the far horizon of the bay, the pre-Christmas prawn season having started a couple of days ago. My resident Man With Binoculars keeps a close eye on the working movements of the prawn trawlers. As we sipped our coffee (in my case, tea) it became clear that one of the trawlers was motoring purposefully toward the jetty.  The brunch crowd perked up and, as one, shuffled their chairs around for a better view, because the prawn trawlers usually headed over toward the marina which was nowhere near the jetty. ...
Read more

South Korea Day 5: The Simplicity Descending Life Line.

-
Image
Turns out trains work the same anywhere, even if the ticketing can be quite confusing. Pointing at a map worked wonders for communication and we ended up on the right train at the right time, which was a relief. On this crowded train Mr Sniffles had to come sit right behind us to cough and sneeze for the entire 2 hour trip. We followed one river or another away from the coast, with the occasional tunnel to mix things up. Rural(ish) Korea spooled past outside. Bridge. The blossoms had largely gone, the hills dressed now in bright Spring foliage. Green houses. More blossoms, this time on trees tended for fruit not flowers. Farming village tucked into the space between arable flat land and mountainside. In Daegu we discovered that our hotel lay in an urban desert, out in a technology park squashed between two huge stadiums.  Baseball is big in South Korea. The Daegu Lions are apparently South Korea's 'most prolific' team. I'm not sure what that means. Vibrant street life w...
Read more