2 June 2022
To Busan I go on a train
Daegu to Busan on the KTX
I did all I could above to not mention the title of a popular movie I will never see due to the fact it is celebrated universally for its extreme violence. Whenever I say Busan, you say train to? and I say, never seen it, never will.
The journey is all of 45 minutes from Daegu, and a lot of it is inside tunnels. The train was pretty empty. As usual, you do not need a ticket of any kind, no one checks anything, nothing gets scanned, just the honour system.
I did mess about a bit in Daegu before going to the station as you shall see.
Once arriving in Busan, the station is a bit out of the way, and as I am too early to check in it is a good excuse to waste time again with some shots in and around the station, as I will be leaving by a different station in 7 nights time.
That is correct, I am staying in Busan 7 nights, that is a long time for me to stay in one place. Prior to COVID that would have been a long time for me to stay in one place including my actual home. It is a good thing then my hotel is in an excellent location, very chaotic outside. My hotel is also very nice. Also the weather seems cold here, people are getting around in jackets. It was very hot when I left Daegu just an hour prior just up the road.
Now assume the brace position for some particularly procedural photos.
Before leaving Daegu, I took an early walk around the city. Here is a cafe, with seating, and no staff. You pay and use the machine, clean up after yourself. It is open all night. Can you imagine the homeless people that would destroy this place immediately in Australia? If anyone is offended by what I said, please feel free to join me on a tour of Melbourne one morning.
Korean shoe shop. Kind of looks like what I said above but in the form of shoes.
This rather bad photo is just to show the smoking area. You cannot smoke in the streets in Korean cities, just like Japan, only in the designated smoking shame area. The area here is actually in the middle of the road.
My Daegu hotel was in a street full of shops selling loud karaoke gear. It seems they rented it all out to election trucks. Election over, hundreds of little trucks are being dismantled and their karaoke speakers are being re packaged to be exported in as new condition.
Daegu station. I was early of course.
Inside Daegu station. Thrilling. Actually it is large and quite nice, but not as nice as the store next door.
Basement 3 of the station Shinsegae store. I should probably have come here one night to explore.
If you think the outside of the store is huge from this angle, look at the next pic.
It continues over a series of highways connected by a giant footbridge. Photo is not really doing the scale any favours here.
I went down to the platforms early too, so here is some train tracks.
Inside of the train pic is the same as the last inside of the train pic, only less people.
Busan station interior. My next leg will not depart from here as I am taking a very slow coastal train. So if you want pics of Busan station, this is your only chance.
I presume this will become another enormous Shinsagae store soon.
Busan station from the outside, on this side there is not a lot to see.
However the other side is pretty interesting with buildings going up the hill.
My hotel seems excellent, the bed is western style and actually has a mattress rather than a slab of slate. Deceiving pic as the entrance I am standing in is quite large, and there is more room going around the corner off the left edge of the screen.
And finally, to keep my mother happy, full bathroom picture, with full bath.