A Trippy Taste of Busan

Above is the morning sky after the storm had passed

A couple of weeks ago I persuaded John, Keith and MinJong to accompany me to Busan for a long weekend of fun. We headed down on the midnight bus Thursday night. When we arrived on Friday morning, at 5:30am, we were assaulted by a heavy downpour chockfull of wind. We hailed a cab, all of us in varying stages of fatigue (me being the grumpiest, I admit) and headed out to SeongJong beach. The cab driver was crazy! We hydroplaned all the way to the beach, a harrowing 15 minutes of pure terror. I would keep asking him to slow down, which he would do for about 30 seconds and then proceed to speed up just as the highway was drowned in several inches of water. I still can't believe we arrived there without being killed.

We stayed in this Minbak, a one-room apartment complete with kitchen for us to share.

After a two-hour nap, in the early afternoon, we headed off for some food. We found a quaint restaurant on the beach with tables set out beneath a pine tree, over-looking the bay. We had fantastic raw fish and enjoyed our soju-coke cocktails as well. Deee-lish!

After lunch we walked over to a beautiful oceanside temple called Yong Gung Sa. This Buddha's belly is black from all the rubbing!

Yong means dragon, so how fitting that there was one greeting us upon arrival!

That night we had a barbeque on the rooftop of the Minbak. We bought all the ingredients and here is MinJong posing for a glamorous shot of our dinner!

The next day, on Jong In's recommendation (she is from Busan), we went to a famous Mul Hwe restaurant. It's a spicy raw fish dish served cold.

This is how it looks after you've mixed in the spicy sauce. It was really good!

After our lunch we headed out to TaeJongDae, a cliff famous for its views. On the bus ride over, we spotted a shipbuilding yard. Korea has the most advanced and successful shipbuilding business in the world, and Busan is it's capital; appropriate because it's on the South-East coast of Korea.

On the way up, we spotted a tree with a "Caution" sign posted in red. I attempted to look as though I hit myself against it.

One perspective from the lookout at TaeJongDae

On our way back to the city, we stopped by a Bondeggi stand. Being a fairly curious person, I have seen this dish all over Korea and having been wanting to try it for two years. The problem is the smell! It's horrendous! Bondeggi is silkworm larvae, enjoyed by children, most particularly. I've been too chicken to eat it in the past and without any people around me to encourage. But time was running out on my stay in Korea, so I resolved to finally try it.

Bondeggi in all its glory



Here is an image of myself, after the taste had permeated my mouth.


 Intrigued? You want to see the video? Scroll down.

Beware, this image may disturb you!

After this experience, I had everyone smell it to try to assess how to describe it to you. I usually think I'm pretty good with describing things, but this time I was at a loss for words. The best I can say is it is salty and bitter. It's quite juicy and I could feel the legs as I was crunching down on the one worm I had. A foul-tasting delicacy? Who knows. I just know it wasn't for me.

John described the smell as funky socks.

Keith did pretty well and said it smelled like mushrooms growing in rotten wood as well as wet dog.

MinJong, the only one who likes Bondeggi

(and incidentally ate the rest of it for me) probably hit the nail on the head with the description of cat pee.

Try this at your own risk ladies and gentlemen!

Whale meat food stands

Later on that evening we headed to Jagalchi Fish Market, a gorgeous modern building full of every kind of seafood you can imagine. Out front, we spotted all of these stands selling whale meat. I hesitated, interested in what it could possibly taste like, but reason set in. I've made a promise to myself that I would not eat endangered species.

John and I had four king prawns (the man is holding it in his arm) and they were so awesome! Grilled to perfection and dipped in a sweet and spicy sauce. Heaven!

That night we headed off to Gwangalli beach, a place my friend Steve had recommended. The pictures didn't come out great but it was beautiful. Tons of restaurants and bars were right on the boardwalk and they had blocked off the street and put tables and chairs out. We could see the ocean from our seats. In the distance, a large bridge was lit and changed into the colors of the rainbow every few seconds.

Unfortunately, the picture was not a success, but I hope you will go there one day. It was wonderful!

We stayed out both nights, testing out some night clubs and bars, the guys proving to be much more the party animals than us girls, who left earlier. All in all, though, it was a great trip. Relaxing, flavorful and exciting.

Goodbye Busan! Til next time!