Across the Big Bridge

This past weekend we headed to the big city...Busan. The main reason for our trip was to hit up Costco. I went to Costco when we first got here with a friend but this was our first time to navigate by ourselves. I whipped out my Korean language skills (thanks to the missionaries who are teaching us...and of course Google Translate) and figured out how to work the Korean GPS on my phone. Worked like a charm! I'm not sure how we would ever get around without that. Busan is much, much larger than our little towns on the island. I'm glad we ended up living where we are!

To get to Busan we cross a new bridge from the island to the mainland. Part of the bridge goes under water to allow ships to cross. Pretty amazing. Amazing enough that it costs about $10 to cross the bridge each way. That being said, for the money it takes to get there and back we wanted to enjoy more of Busan than just Costco.

We heard the aquarium was nice so we went to check it out. It was great. E loved looking at all the fish, penguins, sharks, turtles, etc. They had a great glass tunnel you could go through and watch the fish swim overhead. Made for a great morning adventure.

The aquarium is located on Haeundae Beach which is Busan's famous beach. It was hilarious because you couldn't even see the sand with all the umbrella's set up. Korean's don't like the sun on their skin. They try to be a pale as possible. That is why they swim in the ocean fully clothed and walk around in full body coverage. Totally opposite of us American's! While we were standing there looking at the beach a guy asked if we needed an umbrella...yes, we're tourists. How could they tell?

At Costco we are a freak show. Korean's go to Costco as a normal grocery store and buy 3 or 4 things. When we go we overfill an entire cart. But we have to...we are stocking up for several months. It is great to watch the Koreans faces as they walk past our cart...they are truly appalled at how much stuff we have. We got a great laugh at that. Then the poor cashier has to deal with ringing us up...and did I mention they only take cash? So we spend somewhere in the ballpark of $700 (US) and Korean bills are mainly $10 (or lower) with a few $50 as the largest bill (the $50 is much harder to find). It's great carrying a wad of cash then trying to count it out. Despite all the hassle it sure is nice to walk in there...I feel so at home!