Busan & Russians

Ever since I got to Korea I've heard great things about Busan. Its a port city on the east coast famous for its beaches and fish market. After planning the trip, we found out that the StarCraft finals were going to be in Busan the same weekend. I also found out that there is a section of Busan called 'Texas Street' with a bunch of Russian shops and restaurants to cater to Russian sailors. After these two bits of news, going to Busan on that weekend was pretty much set in stone.

Our first task was to visit Busan's most popular attraction, Haeundae Beach. One of the neat things is that it's located just on the edge of the city, so there's lots of shopping and restaurants right next to the beach. There were people walking among the umbrellas selling boxes of fried chicken, iced coffee, etc.

After spending most of the day relaxing, we headed to another beach (life is hard) to watch the StarCraft Final. I thought the semifinal game we watched in Seoul was insane, but this completely blew that one out of the water. (beach pun)

The screens and chairs were set up on Gwangalli Beach with a really nice view of the Busan skyline and Gwangan Bridge. An incredible amount of people showed up. We managed to get seats this time, but it was packed, and there was overflow seating with extra screens. Again, all of this is broadcast live on tv.

This time there were also cheerleaders. Cheerleaders. At a video game event. Ridiculous. There is something amazingly awesome about a country in which gamers get coaches, mascots, and cheerleaders.

The next day we went to the strangely named Texas Street which has all of the shops catering to Russian sailors. Texas Street is part of a place called the "Choryang Foreigner Shopping District" which is really just China Town. Some of the folks in the shops definitely looked Russian, but then some people looked Korean, but spoke perfect, fluent Russian. It was kind of strange.

I asked around to find a good restaurant where we decided to grab lunch. They had all the classic Russian dishes and everything was really good. (But, I should note, not as good as my mom makes it.) We decided to order a bunch of different dishes so that everybody could get a good idea of what Russian food was like. We had: Борщ (Borsch): Cabbage and beet soup, Koтлеты (Kotlety): Pan fried pork meat balls, Пельмен (Pelmeni): Russian pork dumplings,  Плов (Plov): Rice pilaf with beef, Голубцы (Galupsi): Cabbage roll filled with minced pork and rice, and Квас (Kvas): A fermented drink made from bread.

Surprisingly, everybody seemed to like Borsch, but the favorite was Plov. It was really good Plov. After the meal, we tried unsuccessfully to take a picture with the owner. Those Russians sure are stubborn. We ended the weekend with a trip to the Jagalchi Seafood Market. Lots of crazy stuff here. If it lives in the ocean, its being sold here.

We saw some octopuses trying and succeeding to escape. It must happen quite a bit because the vendors casually walked over, picked them up, and threw them back in. Here's the video.

Before heading to the train station, we stopped by a food court to get some refreshments. Lindsay and Daniel spotted a crepe stand with some crazy crepes. I couldn't pass up a place like this so I bought a crepe filled with whipped creme, an entire slice of cheesecake, strawberries, and ice cream. I think this is something that could catch on in America.

For the complete photo album of everything in this post go here: 

Busan & Russians

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