Rememberance Day...

So Wednesday here in Korea was a holiday - Rememberance Day to remember those who died in the Korean War - from both sides..... and as with the stat days at home, that meant that we were closed for business and free to explore....

I had been planning to go to the United Nations Memorial Park with Park, but he thought it would be a bit too formal and stuffy with the politicians around doing the formal memorial thing.... Park was going to be my guide, so we flagged it and I started to think about what else I might do....

Park and Ki Tae had to go to Busan for a meeting with the President who had just returned from Canada, so I decided to tag along for the drive and then head out into Busan for the day.

Of course we started with tea on arrival and a quick run down in rapid Korean of the highlights of the World Champs. The President sang the praises of Mr Banicevich and the 2011 bid team, Master McPhail and of course Mr Van Roon who he was wrapped to find speaking some Korean :-)

After several cups of tea I was asked politely what I was planning to do for the day, so I took the hint and headed out....

One of Mr Brown's students - Jennifer, an English Teacher from Canada - had said to give her a call if I was in town, so I did. We decided to head to Busan Tower which neither of us had seen yet.

It had to be one of the most hot and humid days I can remember so far, and not surprising that the streets and subway were packed, although I think the subway might have been packed because it's airconditioned.....

We arrived at Nampodong and made our way to the street entrance to the tower. Luckily they've installed a series of escalators reminiscent of the Hong Kong Water Park, otherwise we might have flagged the visit and just headed for somewhere cool, but the esclators made the trip up the hill incredibly easy and we were back out in the sunshine in no time.....

At the base of the tower are more sculpted gardens, and today at least, hundreds of people sitting around the edge of the park in the shade of the Gingko trees which who unfortunately you can't see because of the way I took my photos.... Jennifer is a blonde which makes her the star attraction of the day - I thought I got some double takes as a western woman, they just plain stared and pointed at Jennifer!!!!

Anyway - here are some photos of the gardens etc at the base of the tower.....

Busan Tower...

I'd tell you why this bell was here, but all the signs were in Korean....

It was huge and looked cool though... :-)

Another statue of Admiral Yi - he's everywhere! I love this dragon, Jennifer thought he was creepy....

We stepped out of the elevator to a spectacular view.... Mr Brown and I wondered occasionally how the shopkeepers in Busan actually made any money as there seemed to be so many shops selling the same thing over and over and over again no matter where you went..... Well, one look at the view from the tower and you understand how they make their money.... There's 4 million people out there...... And Busan is just a small town...... Ok - so here's the 360 degree view....