An aquarium and a mermaid

This morning the unthinkable happened: I awoke at 7am without even the aid of an alarm. And not just one of those wake-ups where you roll over, grunt at the clock, and go back to sleep either. I was wide awake, on what was (in Daegu, anyway) a sunny Saturday morning. So, what to do? I decided to pop down to Busan. While I’ve been to Busan before, the last time I was there was in 2004, so I figured it was about time I went back. I decided to take the bus down instead of the train in order to save a few bucks (you know, what with mortgage payments and all), but what I didn’t realize was that Busan’s “central bus terminal” isn’t central at all – it’s at the northern ass-end of the city. In contrast, the train drops you off downtown near the port. The bus station is, however, only one subway stop away from Busan’s famous Beomeosa Temple. At first I thought I might go to Beomeosa, but then I took a look at the sky. In contrast to the sunny morning I’d left behind in Daegu, Busan was overcast and dreary. I’ve been to Beomeosa once before before (back in 2001), and it was overcast and drizzly then too. I figured I’d put off temples and other outdoorsy things for a better day, and I headed instead towards the Busan Aquarium on Haeundae Beach. Unfortunately, from the Nopodong Stubway station (next to the horribly misnamed Central Bus Terminal), it was over an hour to Haeundae Beach. (Of course, Haeundae isn’t anywhere near the downtown train station either, so it probably would have taken me about the same amount of time either way.) I went to the Busan Aquarium back in 2004, and was quite impressed. I enjoyed the aquarium just as much this time around. The complex is located underground, so it doesn’t look too impressive from the outside… but trust me, it’s worth it, if you’re into that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn’t great for taking pictures, so I had a hard time getting decent shots. (I really must get a camera with image stabilization! Not like that would have solved the problem of fishies darting in and out of my photos, but….)

One of the tanks


Zebra Eels are my newest favorite aquatic creatures.


Watch a short video clip of Zebra Eels.
(Click here if you can't get the video to play.)


Most of the tanks were designed to look like natural habitats
except for this poor guy, who was stuck in the
"Year of the Golden Pig" tank.


Giant Octopus!


Shark Attack!!


Using a mirror, there's a picture of me and a shark :-)


Check out the sharks and huge fish in the shark tank.
(Click here if you can't get the video to play.)


Jellyfish are fabulous. As long as they're not stinging me.


More jellyfish.

After spending a few hours inside the aquarium, I emerged to find Haeundae Beach colder and drearier than it had been when I had descended into the aquarium.

Haeundae Beach (the "Korean Riviera") was very dreary today.


It's the Grand Hotel Haeundae. Hard to believe that I once
stayed there as a VIP. What a lifetime ago.

Nonetheless, I decided to make my way out to my favorite spot on Haeundae Beach: the mermaid located at the tip of Dongbaek Island (well, it’s called an island, although it’s connected by a manmade isthmus). If you stand on Haeundae Beach facing the water, the mermaid’s at that tip of land to your right. The closest I’ve ever found as to an explanation of *why* the mermaid is there is this:

At the seashore underneath the rock wall sits the statue of a mermaid. It represents the legendary heart breaking love story of the princess of Topaz from the Naranda country beyond the Sea. In this country lived a mermaid who was married to the King of Mungungnara. She shed many tears longing for her homeland and reflected on the topaz bead given by her grandmother-in-law. A monument for the song "Come back to Busan Port" (sung by Jo Yong-pil) stands at the flower garden of the shore protection roadside of Haeundae Beach. [from here]

The Mermaid


Up close and personal

Anyway, I scrambled over the rocks to get all the way out to the mermaid to take some pictures, and then decided it was about time to head back to Daegu. My body had suddenly realized it was operating on too few hours of sleep.

On my way back to the subway station, I ran into a Korean woman with a group of elementary school girls. Apparently, she was their English teacher, and they were out on a quest to find English speaking foreigners to practice with. After asking if I’d chat for a little while, she then asked if she could film the conversation. Um, okay. The kids asked me a lot of simple questions (What is your name? Where are you from? How old are you? Do you like kimchi?) and the woman asked me if I would ever consider falling in love with a Korean man. Um, okay, sure. Yep, I’m on film saying this, although sadly she wasn’t offering any ;-) When the “interview” was concluded, the kids gave me chocolate! Awesome.

I would just like to point out that I'm sporting hot pink, orange and lime green.

Then I made my way back to Nopodong and hopped a bus back to Daegu. I was asleep before the bus left the parking lot. Didn’t wake up until we pulled back into Daegu.