South Korea Day 4: Up In The Air.

On my first day in Korea I went up the top of the Sky Tower.

On my second day in Korea I rode the Air Cruise.

On my third day in Korea I walked to the highest point in Gamcheon (okay, it wasn't very high but it still had a nice view).

On my fourth day in Korea I went to Haeundae Beach which, at a paltry 1.2km, was touted as the longest beach in South Korea. There was a very tall building at the end of Haeundae Beach.

"That's a very tall building", said Roger, just in case no one had noticed. He stood for a minute pointing at the building and muttering to himself. "98 floors! How the heck does that stand-up in an earthquake?"  He's got earthquakes on the mind, my husband.

"98 floors?" I said. "Someone should put an observatory floor on that."

Turns out the building was X Sky and for a price anyone could ride the lift all the way to floor 100 and look out the window. One could even have coffee at Starbucks on the 99th floor were one of a mind to support an American franchise selling expensive coffee, which I'm not. I was of a mind to look out the window though, so up I went leaving Roger seeking coffee at sea level.

I enjoyed spectacular views over Busan.

Pity about the smog.

When I had finished looking at views I walked over a Sky bridge with a transparent floor to the other wing of the X.

100 floors. Straight down.

I have to admit I held on tight to the handrail for the first step or two, even though I knew the floor was very unlikely to disappear. Then once I'd crossed over once I went back and did it a couple more times just for fun.

One high-altitude not-Starbucks icecream later and I jumped into the lift back to the real world. Roger had given up waiting for me and gone for a walk beside the Sky Train, an old railway repurposed as a tourist ride. It looked like fun, but it was twice the price of the Air Cruise and I figured I could get the same views by walking, so walk I did.

Past the old parts of Haeundae Beach, where fishing boats lay waiting for the night's work.

Past old houses tucked in folds between skyscrapers, where landowners tilled every available piece of land for vegetables to sell at markets, and an old man harvested seaweed near the shore.

I caught up with Roger. Little railway cars rattled past above us,

and a single small tree, covered in exuberant blossom, stood watch by the sea.

Lo and behold, what was at the end of our walk but another Sky walk? This one even had a transparent floor so Roger didn't miss out on the thrill, not that wild elephants would have gotten him to stand on it.

Out on the edge of his comfort zone.

Before being distracted by the X Sky building we'd already walked the length of Gwangalli Beach and met a really cute sea serpent.

And we'd walked the length of Haeundae Beach which, apart from having a very tall building at one end, had a freeway out to sea. Yep, Busan had run out of room to build a freeway and rather than go to all the bother of resuming buildings and flattening mountains they just built a freeway down the middle of the river and out beyond the beach to bypass all the difficult bits altogether. I imagine it's quite satisfying to loll on the beach and watch the traffic jams on the freeway, although the reverse might be a different story.

Beach tranquillity.

That was the end of our last full day in Busan. Home we went to pit our collective brains against the intricacies of the Korean intercity rail network.

Wish me luck.