Train travel to Busan

Day 5 – Train travel to Busan

Monday, 9 April 2012

Today we travelled by train from Jeonju to Busan. The most eventful part was having to catch a taxi when we changed trains. Lucky we had an hour between train – enough time for a quick lunch of sushi and rice noodle broth!

At Busan we were again surprised at the kindness of strangers. We had help getting our metro tickets to Oncheonjang. On arrival we were approached by a couple asking where we we heading. We said that we were staying at the Hotel Nongshim and we thought we should catch a taxi. They said they were walking that way. We were certainly suspicious at first but followed them up and over an overpass and down streets without footpaths. It turned out that they are musicians who are currently working at the Nongshim!

Our accommodation is an ondol style room on the second floor. The hotel is huge with many restaurants and bars and connected to the largest hot spring spa in Asia.

We decided on Japanese banquet for dinner. It was delicious – predominantly fish but heaps of dishes. We sat at the bar and had a fantastic view of the sashimi chef in action.

After dinner I took advantage of 50% spa discount for hotel members to try out the hot springs. Suffice to say that it is quite an experience, different yet similar to Japanese bath houses. The scariest thing is stripping off and parading nude in front of many other women, all Korean. I was the only grey haired lady there! But very relaxing once you’re covered in water!

I met Anthony at one of the cafes afterwards for a green tea late. Delicious!