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I met Frank, an American who had been in Pusan for 17 months teaching English and he helped me try to find a Lonely Planet Korea. We went to two bookstores--other countries, yes-Korea, No. So, I went back to the hotel for a nap and then found an internet cafe and decided to do Korea without "the book". I even printed off a copy of handy phrases. On the web I tracked down and interesting backpacker near Gyeongju(www. travelhall.com/rainbow) , the historical capital of the thousand-year Silla Dynasty. I went by bus and at the bus station took another taxi (this time the charge was fair) to the Rainbow Backpacker. When I arrived I was met by the owner, Mr. Park. Since I was the only guest, he gave me a single room at dormitory prices and we talked until late at night about our backpacking experiences. I took a picture of Mr. Park and his dog, Alphonso. He wanted to email the pic to some friends. I loaded up my camera and web page software and we sent of the email. He took me for a walk through the grounds of the tomb of King Muyeol and then we had a great dinner and some makgeolli (a milky, effervescent rice wine). His job is driving a taxi but his hobby is operating the backpacker hostel. He says, " when I can't travel, the world comes to see me". He really loves to talk about Korea and is a fount of knowledge. He's taking a couple of weeks off so, the next day he took me on the grand tour of the historical sights including Bunhwangsa Pagoda and the National Museum. And we had some good Korean food along the way and enjoyed his "taxi driver" discount. I took the train to Seoul and rested up for a few days before flying to Biejing. ¡¡ |
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08-14APR2005 The ferry stopped off Pusan harbour at dawn and I took
some photos. I disembarked and began my search for a hostel. I found
one nearby and took a taxi, or should I say a taxi took me. I kept
pointing to where I wanted to go and he kept going. I finally communicated
that I wanted to go back near where I started but by then the meter read 12,000
won. I directed the driver using my my and at last arrived at the
hotel. I only paid him 5,000 (about twice what it should have
been). 