Goodbye Jeju, Hello Busan

Thursday - We had a little goodbye Jeju Island party last night in our hotel. We hired a Norebang room (karoke) for a couple of hours, and we all had a blast singing along to various songs. The kids had a ball – top requests were Michael Jackson, Abba, Queen and even YMCA got a look-in! Luckily the words were in English as well as Korean. We missed you Charlie and Kim (although there were comments made that at least we all got a turn on the microphone!).

The resort we have stayed in at Jeju is quite good – large rooms, little kitchen, a small supermarket, a bakery, restaurant, and laundry – everything a traveller needs!

We left our hotel at 8.20am for the airport and took a one hour flight back to the mainland to the city of Busan. The airport is in a suburb called Gimhae – which is my son Sam’s birthplace. We boarded our 10.30am flight out of Jeju and landed in Busan about 35 minutes later -  a quick flight.

As we flew in, I looked out the window, and took in the beauty of the landscape. White high rise buildings seemingly growing out of the ancient mountain ranges. All of a sudden I found myself wiping away tears, as I thought about the fact that this was where my curly haired little boy was born, and this was his birthplace, the place where his birth mother had carried him around for 9 months, given birth to him, and given him up, so I could have the privilege of being a mother. I didn’t expect to feel so emotional, but I couldn’t help wonder if she was down there somewhere, among the buildings, perhaps even thinking about her child that she gave up, almost 7 years ago to the day.

As we left the airport, and caught the bus into the centre of Busan, we passed through Gimhae. It is a beautiful city, adorned with blooming pink cherry blossoms, brilliant pink camellias and azaleas everywhere we looked. The steep green hillsides were dotted with blossoms, and every street seems to be lined with blossoms and camellias. We drove to our accommodation for the next two nights, The Novotel at Hyundai Beach. In the foyer we met up with Jill & Michael (aged 13) Stemp from Australia, who are also joining us on our trip. Hugs all round!

A quick drop off of our bags, and then we were off to a nearby restaurant for some Japanese influenced lunch. Strips of either pork or fish coated in a crunchy coating, served with a cabbage salad, kimchi and rice. Very tasty. Dessert was a creamy vanilla ice cream coated with ground white beans – very nice too.

Off for a quick rest in the hotel before we head off to the largest shopping centre in the world. We had a couple of hours to wander around, and then we had dinner in a ‘western’ restaurant there which was a bit hilarious. We had cheese pizza (with honey on top), potato salad (instead of mayonnaise we swear they used melted icecream), and lots of other nice foods. It was a buffet, so we could pick and choose the good stuff!

After dropping off the hubbies and kids at the hotel, the mums (and Bill & Paul) headed off to Home Plus – a huge multi storey 24 hour department store (like Kmart on steroids). We bought lots of books, kids pjamas, pororo little girls knickers (an essential item!), cute stationery items and a few other things. A cheap taxi ride back to the hotel (only about $4 for 15 mins) and off to bed. While we shopped, the other dads took the kids to the hotel pool for a swim. Swimming caps are essential for most pools in Korea – but are available to buy cheaply everywhere. It was great to chat to Lindy Bok on the phone – we are catching up with her and the Roland family tomorrow.

Now, readers, my fellow travel companions ask me every day at breakfast “has there been any comments or messages for us on the blog”?  So where are your comments people? Is anyone out there reading this?