Busan-Hanjin Yantian in Busan (29th September)

The Elsukdo nature reserve had been one of my pre-trip discoveries and we thought we at least had to visit it while we were in Busan. It’s allegedly one of the best and most famous natural wetlands in the world (well that’s what they write in their brochure). Located on an island in the estuary of the Nakdong River it is an important site for migrating birds and winter visitors. We got the subway to Hadang and then the (1500W) bus 58-1 one stop across the river. It was hard to tell where we were allowed to walk, which we thought was because we didn’t know where the path was, but actually was because there aren’t any paths. This is the kind of conservation where you have a reserve, but you don’t really allow they people in to see it. Obviously it’s good for the birds, but it might keep people interested if they could actually see something!

We walked along the tarmac road to the end of the island seeing a lot of Great Egrets, Great Herons and Little Egrets. There were also some magpies, birds of prey and the most interesting were the suicidal fish that kept leaping out the water and walloping back into it. At the end of the road was a hide, so far from the water that you’d need a super-duper telescope to see anything. There was no other path so we just had to return back the way we came. We did get greeted enthusiastically by the people fixing the lawn mowers though and were given yet more Korean offerings (chestnuts and sweets this time) from passing cyclists. Seeing as we were there we went and had a look around the visitor centre, which was gratis and quite nice. The building wouldn’t look out of place at the Expo and at the back it was even possible to see some birds out on the water.

We then went and did some shopping for tofu, fruit, vegetables and snacks in case there’s no decent food on the freighter and all we’re offered for 11 days are potatoes (apparently they don't cater for vegetarians).

Upon returning to the hostel we were told that our man from Busan (port) had phoned twice and that is was urgent that we phoned him. Apparently the Hanjin Yantian was going to arrive earlier than expected and leave at about 10a.m. on the 30^th, so we could either get up early or board today. I said we’d be willing to get on today. So we had all of one hour to pack our bags, not post our postcards, book hostels and train tickets for America, phone the parents, write some emails and do or not do anything else we had time for. At 4.30 p.m. he came and picked us up just down the road from the hostel and drove for about 40 minutes to the Busan new port. He was not a man of many words (to us) or much information. His manoeuvring skills through the freight lorries whilst laughing heartily down his mobile phone where pretty impressive though. Somewhere he stopped, took our passports with him and locked us in the van. This we were later told was to get our immigration stamp. Looked like we didn’t actually have to be present for our passports to be looked at. He then proceeded to the departure area, driving at breakneck speed and then walking almost as fast through the corridors, with us running along behind him. Here he left us in the ‘Waiting Room for Sailor’s Families’ where there was internet access and noodle making facilities (warm water).

At about 6.30p.m., with the boat due in a 7.00 p.m., another smartly attired man came to pick us up in his car. Our possessions were scattered everywhere and we hastily packed them and proceeded to chase him through the corridors to his car. With all this haste we expected to find the Hanjin Yantian docked and ready for us to board. The dock was empty but for a few men standing around and the freighter was turning around in the port. As it came closer, the dockside became a hive of activity with trucks driving everywhere and the workers getting ready to spring into further action. As the A of Hanjin pulled up next to us we realised just how huge the ship was. It took some time before the walkway was pulled to the ground through a combination of human and minivan powered effort. A man came down and the two smartly dressed men waiting bowed to him. We later came to realise that he must have been the pilot who had guided the ship in. It was then our turn to get on and we were rushed up the steep steps by rushing Korean man number two. The rail was covered in black grime and I made the bad move of looking down while going up the rickety steps. Up some more steps we came to the command room from where we were then taken with the lift to our room on deck F. The rushing Korean man with Jenny’s rucksack in tow disappeared, but Stewie the steward found it and the two were reunited.

Our accommodation in the purser cabin, the cheapest passenger cabin aboard the Hanjin Yantian, is rather salubrious by our standards. There is a living room area with television and DVD player, small fridge, telephone, radio/CD player, three lamps (that

are firmly fixed to the furniture and not going anywhere), a splendid bouquet of plastic flowers, two paintings, a sofa, a table, four chairs, a dresser and a lot more cupboards with storage space. In a drawer is an elastic cord that we can tie round all the chairs and the table when the sea gets choppy. Round the corner is our bed and next to it the bathroom with four toilet rolls, two bars of soap and a box of washing powder. There is even a nifty little pull-out washing line.

Looking out our window onto all the cargo being loaded and unloaded while in Busan was rather interesting. There were big red constructions on the dockside with arms that came to rest over the ship. A yellow thing, similar to those grabbers you find at amusement arcades, would zip along the arm and move the containers one by one onto the waiting lorries. If the amusement arcade models were as good precision tools as this grabber there would be a lot of pink panthers and fluffy piggies in the world. Right in front of us the containers were being taken off and there were a lot of them. When they’d emptied up to the level of the floor we’d entered on we thought they were finished, but then they just lifted the floor off, stored it on the dockside and continued to pull out even more containers below. They had been stacked 8 deep below the floor and 7 above. And that’s just one column of a row of 16 and there are about 48 of these rows.

Sometime in the evening Martin, who was given the task of looking after our safety and getting us to fill in paperwork, came to our room to talk to us about safety procedures. We were each given a lifejacket and a red teletubbie-like suit, which keeps you warm in an emergency. At some point we’ll have to try these on and take a few amusing pictures. The lifejackets are equipped with small flashing lights and whistles, which we have been informed are of little use when you’re a small floating object in the middle of the vast Pacific.

Busan and Beomeosa temple (28th September)

Today's destination was the Beomeosa temple and the surrounding mountains. On the way to the bus stop from Beomeosa metro station we purchased some food in a small shop where the owner also gave us some biscuits as a gift.

First we set off on a short circular walk near the temple, where we spotted a snake swimming up the stream and then a black squirrel with a white front. We sat down for a little rest to allow the troop of people behind us to overtake, but the group of ladies sat down on the bench and the rocks next to us. They then offered us ‘Korean Candy’ forcing Jenny to take the largest bit. It was rock hard, looking a bit like nougat with a coating of a floury substance which may have been derived from beans.

We had hardly had the chance to start hacking our teeth into it before another one of the ladies forced us to accept her chocolate digestive biscuits. This was very generous, but we thought we’d best get going before they came and offered us something else. The temple was made up of a lot of small very nicely decorated buildings, some a bit worse for wear, and we felt a bit bad not bowing at all of them like the locals did.

Any worries we might have had regarding freighter travel and the possibility of developing malaria whilst on the high seas should have been eradicated after a Korean lady came running up to me with a four leaf clover. Handing it over she told me it would bring me luck and then gave me a hug. Down the hill a man selling sweets got us feeding peanuts to a tame bird. After our temple visit we wanted to walk around the coast of one of the islands. Not having realised beforehand that it would have been about a 15km walk to where I wanted to start the walk we gave up pretty quickly. Inside the Lotte department store (no sweet Estonian animated character here, just a red lettered brand name) there was a huge fountain where every hour an ‘aquashow’ to music is held. The water came down and spurted up to classical music and the Koreans looked on in awe.

Qingdao-Seoul (24th/25th September)

We were meant to make ourselves known at the ferry terminal quite a lot of hours before the ferry departed. But first we took a short stroll (all I could manage with my cold) to look at the very European looking catholic church. We found a bizarre scene of many photographers taking photos of couples in wedding outfits. This was either some mass post wedding photo shoot or something for a magazine. We couldn't quite work it out, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself taking pictures of the bemusing scene as did a few other onlookers.

Our accommodation in the ferry was not in the cheapest option (mattresses on the floor), but bunked in a room with about twenty other people. The beds had curtains around them and were pretty cosy. Outside the ship was coated in a layer of salt and there were lots of small fish swimming in Qingdao's waters. We tried to figure out where we had walked in the previous days as the city lights faded into the horizon. Walking around we bumped into the bagpipe playing Korean who we'd already met in the hostel, and had lamented about the Korean education system (Korean children are pushed a lot and sleep very little). In the evening a spectacular ring of light (moonbow) formed around the moon and Jenny forced me out of bed to see it. No-one else seemed interested.

In the morning the Koreans were up really early watching television and making a lot of noise. Jenny was up too, looking at all the islands drifting past, while I festered in bed. We had to fill some embarkation forms in about our health, with questions such as have you had a headache, sore throat, cough, fever or been sick in the past week or 48 hours.

After much encouragement I made it to the deck to look at the islands drifting past and as we neared Incheon we had to go through a form of lock and past a cargo ship loading Kias. At some point I stopped looking, walked into the side of the ship and pretty much passed out. Shaking and queasy I lay in bed as all the passengers started disembarking. With my paracetamol in my backpack, which at the time found itself in a cargo container in the ferry’s hold, it was pretty hard to imagine how we’d get ourselves off the ferry and to the terminal, without even thinking about the health declaration form. I had now experienced almost every one of the ailments in the last few days.

Fortunately the Koreans didn't even look at our forms and they probably can't differentiate between a healthy looking white person and an extremely pale faced one. After sitting for quite a while at the port we tottered (although it was mostly me that did the tottering) around Incheon in search of a cash machine, the supermarket and then the metro station. The supermarket was very clean and decidedly more European looking than in China. Unfortunately there was no English on the labels and the food seemed pretty expensive. The metro ride to the hostel in Seoul was long, Jenny soaked in the Koreaness while I slept.