Searching for "Love" in Busan

The plan was always to try to find a cheap "Love Motel" in Busan, because, well, we need to be cheap if we are going to make it all the way around the world. This plan has wavered here and there, but after yesterday in Seoul visiting Deoksygung Palace and REALLY getting to try out my Sony DSLR camera, viewing the art of Lee Il-Sung at the National Museum of Art (on the Palace grounds- thank you God for air conditioning!), and hiking it to see the Seoul Musem of History (very interesting view points on the occupations of Japan in Korea) we took the KTX bullet train down to Busan.  It was almost 10 pm before we even got out of the station, so pickin's were slim when it came to really trying to find a motel. We settled for one right outside the Busan train station, which was conveniently nestled between the gigantic neon "Welcome to Busan" sign, the homeless guys sleeping under it, and the prostitutes mingling in the shadows. All that said, the Toyoko Hotel in Busan (it's Japanese!)- not so terrible. It was less than $70 a night, which was way more than I wanted to pay, but it was nice, seemed safe, and this morning had a nice view of Busan shipping harbor.

After we dined on Japanese style breakfast of rice, rice and more rice, we repacked our overstuffed backpacks and headed out on the subway to get to a more desirable section of town.  Seomyeon is sort of the hub of Busan, so I knew there would be plenty of places to choose from, I just had no idea where.  These are the parts of my personality that I'm not sure Ryan really has taken on, because even though he says he loves to go with the flow, I think a serious bought of culture shock has taken hold, because we decided that he might do better sitting in a Starbucks with our backpacks while I went on a motel hunt. This was probably a better idea than trampsing all over the place in a VERY foreign world looking for a cheap place to sleep. Give him a mocha and a hug, and most problems were solved. Actually, he wanted to try Kiwi juice, but he seemed content for the moment.

Off I went looking for the famed Love Motels of Korea. Now, most young people live with their parents until they are married here, so the Love Motels can be rented hourly or nightly.  They rarely are rented for several days, but I've stayed in many that are very nice, on trips I took when I lived in Korea. I would never hate on a Love Motel, but some are more acceptable than others. I was on the hunt for one that looked decent, didn't have a large porno collection near the check in window, and was willing to let me see a room.  Don't get me wrong, I like wandering around, and there are parts of Korea that I have definitely missed, but in 90 degree weather, with pretty much no idea where I was going, I had to muster up the courage to keep going on this one. At one point I may have emplored the Lord for some guidance.  I found a really cool outdoor market selling loads and loads of all sorts of fresh fish, little old Korean ladies sitting on the side of the street selling onions, and a few really really shady love motels. Several I just walked by. I was truly hoping I wouldn't have to just give up and go to the Lotte Hotel on the main drag, because I knew it cost over $200 a night. Not happening. I needed to make my husband proud and not scared of Korea, so I kept going!

Finally, I saw a promising 모 달 sign in the sky (I think I mispelled it in Korean, oh well). I went in and the lady was very nice to me. She let me see the room, it had a big bathroom, a huge bed (ha, go figure), and seemed very clean (EXTREMELY important in these types of places).  So, I decided to go fetch my Ryan. I used the Lotte Hotel as the landmark, and when I got back to the main road, I sorta started to panic because I couldn't quite remember where I left him. I rememered Starbucks, but...um..where was that. I found a map, and started walking in the direction I thought it was. I had to cross more streets than I thought I needed to, then I had to eventually go back down to the subway station, when I remembered we got out of Exit 8! Awesome- problem solved! However, exit 8 was way harder to find than I thought (so much for sequential order!), but eventually I did, and even though it looked different than the first time we exited, I was so greatful when I saw the Starbuck's sign appear as I walked up the stairs! I found him! Hurrah!

Of course I came in, all out of breath, sweaty, and happy that I'd finally relocated him, and he's all like "I wasn't worried at all!". Typical. We made it back to Hotel Nix, located above a large fish restaurant, and we chilled out for a bit. Found the Korean fishing station on TV, which Ryan watched in honor of his father. It has a computer too, so I am able to log on. We've been relying mostly on WiFi for our phones, but this is nice.

Today is sort of a more relaxed day than we had in Seoul. At first we were going to go to a Korean Spa for the day, but after the Love Motel fiasco, we decided to lay low. However, we did get up and go over to Lotte Department Store. If you read my previous post about Lotte Mart, imagine that, but 100 times bigger. Like, Macy's, that you might find in heaven. It's so cool. They sell stone beds. We went there for the Korean food court for lunch, checked to see if there are any good movies playing at the Lotte Cinema (yeah, Lotte owns everything in Korea) and the only thing that caught Ryan's attention was the Korean version of some sort of Top Gun-esque movie. So, it's about military, flying and it's in Korean? I'll pass. We decided to check out some of the 8 other floors in this MegaMall. It's quite amazing.

As of now, we are back in our motel resting. My Korean friend Billy, who was my Korean tutor when I lived in Busan is going to meet us for dinner tonight. Good times with old friends. That's it for now! We found Love in Busan! Phew!