Korea

Busan

Grey, low cloud, close & damp, unlovely buildings clambering up the sides of the hills, as if Genova had been built in the 60s and 70s.  An inauspicious welcome to our holiday.  But reaching Haeundae, the air clears and gives way to a gentle breeze off the sea, the sun begins to light the endless jewels carried by the waves, and the scent of maritime pines and salt water blow away the heavy grime of Shanghai.

Familiar sights and smells resurrect pleasant old memories as we stroll through the local market.  We sit down to a cleansing bowl of handmade guksu noodles in a clear delicious broth, served by a friendly elderly couple, proud of their fare and very concerned that we don’t add too much chilli sauce and spoil their flavours. We feel renewed afterwards.

I’d forgotten about the US Army presence - there are off-duty soldiers everywhere, some of the most unsoldierly looking men you could see, wandering, beers in hand, headphones de rigeur somewhere about the head, looking for “real food”.

Shinsegae Department Store, certified as the largest in the world, full of top brands at suitably large prices and shoppers keen to show they know what’s what.  How incongruous then to see four Buddhist nuns, with their shaven heads and kind, gentle expressions, in trademark pale grey tunics topped by simple wide-brimmed straw hats, shopping for treats, probably gifts, a small expensive, immaculately wrapped parcel or two already in their grasp.