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May 2024
After getting lost in Jeju, I was excited and relieved when Masahiro (from my team) invited me to join a group of people who were going out together in Busan. I was even more excited when I found out that Rachel would be part of that group! Rachel is the Future Cruise Consultant and she is from Busan. There is nothing better than being shown around by a local! A group chat was formed, where it was confirmed that everyone was okay with spicy food. We were going to try Dak-galbi, a popular South Korean dish of spicy stir-fried chicken.
On the shuttle into town, Kosuke (also on my team) started getting anxious – he couldn’t read any of the signs on the buildings we passed! I laughed and told him that that’s how I felt all of the time. I pointed out the infrequent and often non-descriptive signs in English, and those made him feel much better.
As we wove through the crowds I gave up on orienting myself enough to find my way back on my own and focused on keeping up with our guides- we were in a hurry because Rachel had to get back to the ship to meet some guests. We found the restaurant which was up a flight of stairs off the street.
Our party was so big we had to take over two tables, so we made sure there was a Korean at each table. I sat with Masa, Kosuke and Kim, who is from Seoul Korea, and works in the Casino.
Once we were seated, we went to the bar where we could get all the little Korean side dishes – kimchi, pickled something, salad. I was happy to see so many vegetables go into the pan where the food was cooked right there on the table.
We discovered that the Koreans and Japanese hold chopsticks in a slightly different way. I was holding mine in the Korean way, so I figured I’d wait until I was back in Japan to see if I could hold them in the Japanese way.
Here the food is cooked:
This watery stuff turns into a sweet scrambled egg that is incredible! Kim said she doesn’t even know how to make the eggs like this at home.
The cooked egg:
Then when I thought things couldn’t get any better, they came and draped the meal in cheese:
Then they added some rice to fry in the pan and mixed in what had been left of the cheesy chicken & vegetables.
Here’s Rachel, our very local guide:
This place was so good that I came back with my friend Kotoha, one of the Resident Guest entertainers. Those pictures are below.
If you find yourself in Busan, this link might take you there:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vFtV41tiZpT2iyiX6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
After lunch, Rachel took us to a local fancy dessert place.
Rachel tried to describe this dessert to us – it’s not ice cream, it’s shaved ice. After tasting it, I still don’t think I could describe it any better. She ordered two flavors for the table to share.
The one on the left has a traditional red bean topping, and the one on the right has mango, blocks of cream cheese and a scoop of ice cream on top.
Before we dug in, we were stopped! They needed to drizzle some frosting on top!
This shaved ice was creamy, but not quite as creamy as ice cream. It had flavors and textures that made me appreciate that I was somewhere far away from home.
After dessert, Rachel had to go back to the ship, so our group wandered around the shops, and Kim helped interpret for us as we looked for cheap skincare products that you can’t find in Japan and local delicacies.
Kim insisted that we go to a photo booth because it was a very Korean thing to do.
There were more photo shops than there were anything else! These were places where you could borrow accessories and take photos like we have photo booths in the states, but this is a much bigger operation. They even gave you a video of the group posing for the photos.
June 2024
A couple of cruises later Masa organized another group and Rachel took us to a different place in Busan. This time, instead of taking the ship’s shuttle, Rachel organized for us to take taxis to the beach. Rachel ordered the taxis, and then Mimi called her and she told the driver where we wanted to go over the phone. Mimi commented that a couple of years ago she wouldn’t have been able to do something like this because she wouldn’t have known how to get around in a place where she didn’t know the language or where she was going.
This was a place that had a special kind of Korean BBQ. I just sat back and let Rachel order for our group.
We also shared a cheesy egg thing
And some cold noodles
I loved eating with a big group where we could order absolutely everything and everyone could have a taste. We were the only ones in the restaurant, so we teased Rachel that either this place must not be very good (if no one else was there) or maybe she had reserved the whole restaurant just for us. I was seated next to David Aiken, another Guest Entertainer who was on the ship to do his juggling show. When he noticed that everyone around me was speaking Japanese, he struck up a conversation with me. I told him how I came to work on ships, and we discovered that he lives in Canada very close to my mom. Since we first met here at this lunch, David has come on the ship a few more times. His show is very entertaining and he does a great job engaging an audience of different cultures and languages. Shortly after he met my mom when she came to stay with me on the ship, we booked a trip to go visit David and his brewery during my next vacation.
Of course, after lunch we visited the beach as well as another photo booth.
July 2024
On another trip to Busan, my friend and Japanese guide Kotoha, a resident Guest Entertainer from Japan, and I were looking for a good place for lunch, and we managed to find the place that we had gone to with Rachel on the first trip!
Of course I had to order the Kelly Beer!
The next time I was off in Busan, I went exploring with my fourth Cruise Director, my friend, Andi. I’ll tell you more about my history with Andi in another post, but I’ll include this day here since we’re on the topic of Busan.
Andi and I took the shuttle into town and wandered around the Busan International Film Festival grounds which is right by where the shuttle drops us off.
We went in search of Korean BBQ. Andi doesn’t like spicy food so I didn’t want to take him to the place I had been to before. Andi was so happy to be in Korea. He noticed all of the cool sculptures.
We didn’t know what the Film Festival involved, but we were happy to be on the festival grounds.
After wandering around in circles, Andi suggested we ask someone for a recommendation for Korean BBQ. The place that was recommended was full of crew from the ship (so we knew it would be good) and we were seated right next to a fun family of guests that Andi had met on a train in a previous port. They pointed out what their local guide had suggested to order and we ordered the same.
We grilled the meat right there on the table and had a great time chatting with the family next to us.
I have a friend who didn’t believe me when I told him that Kelly Beer was all over the place in Korea, so I had to get some photo evidence.
After lunch, I took Andi to the shaved ice place because it was a local specialty. He wasn’t a fan, but I complimented him for being courageous enough to try the local food.
After that, Andi and I found the underground market and we browsed the stalls as we caught up on each other’s lives over the last 5 years since we had last seen each other.
Busan is a great port with lots of good food and I love that we go there so often on this itinerary.