A visit to the glittering city of Pusan

[B]PUSAN, South Korea[/B]—I met up with Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, the 10 students, and chaperones Marian Dlg. Tudela and Joe C. Tenorio from the Saipan Mayor’s Office at the Saipan International Airport at 1:30am for the 16th Annual CNMI Students Cultural Exchange Program. Apparently, the group was already waiting for me before boarding.

In the plane, I had an entire row to myself, which made my four-and-a-half-hour plane ride to our destination as comfortable as one could possibly get in a long plane ride. Everything was exactly the way I liked it, except for the food. No comment on the plane food.

It was at 7:30am when we finally arrived at the newly built Kimhae International Airport in Pusan, Korea. There we met up with Junior Chamber International members Nicky Kim and Jae Kim and Saipan delegation president Yong Chul Jang. The trip was under the sponsorship of the Junior Chamber International Pacific Saipan Inc.

Before hitting the road on what will be one of our long bus rides during our trip there, the JCI members treated the group to a bit of breakfast at Popeye’s, which was located right inside the airport. How nifty, I thought.

An hour later, our bus driver, whom all of us called “Mr. Park”, helped us pack our luggage and bags at the bottom of the bus. Mr. Park was great with the students but none of them could understand any of his jokes as all he spoke was Korean. Interestingly, even the JCI members could not understand what he was saying.

Jae Kim said it was difficult to understand him because, although Mr. Park spoke Korean, his accent was countryside.

It was at least an hour and a half until we reached our very first destination, the Yandusan Park in Nampodong, to visit the 120-meter high Busan Tower. The group filled two elevators going up to the tower but once there, we were flabbergasted at the amazing view.

The Busan Tower gives a bird’s eye view of most of Pusan’s metropolitan area and beyond. Up there, one can easily spot the bustling activity of the Pusan Harbor, which is said to be Korea’s second busiest port. One can also spot Oyugdo, a famous Pusan landmark, which looks like five or six little islands depending on the tide.

We spent a good 30 minutes in the tower when the group started dissipating to go back down.

I met up with the rest of the group downstairs next to the traditional style Korean Bell. There, the students were having fun feeding the local pigeons with chips from a nearby snack vendor.

After taking our group pictures at the site, we headed back to the bus to do more sightseeing. About an hour and a half in our bus ride, we passed by the Busan Cooperative Fish Market, the largest fish market in Korea.

The group wanted to stop by and ogle the different types of fish they were selling there. Although not on our itinerary, the JCI members were kind enough to go ahead and make our next stop there.

The Busan Fish Market sells a vast number of different kinds of sea life—hundreds of varieties of fishes, shellfish, crustaceans, seaweeds, etc.—and they were so fresh that all were still alive.

The market takes up 64,257 meters, of which about 10 percent is a refrigerated working area. More than 30 percent of the country’s fish production passes through the market.

After our one-hour tour of the fish market, it was about lunch time and the group was starting to get a little bit hungry. We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and had fresh Korean sashimi.

Lunch was incredible. Mr. Jang said the fish that was prepared for us was one of the live fishes sold at the fish market and that the restaurant chef had gutted it and prepared it especially for us. How lovely.

Our next stop in the agenda was Daegu University, which was at least a two-hour drive.

The 1,000-acre campus and 500-acre Muncheonji Lake, which comprised the entire Daegu University, is home to thousands of students on campus.

The group toured the huge campus but what was especially memorable was the tour inside the Daegu School for the Blind. There, books were published in Braille for the blind people of Korea.

After a nearly a two-hour tour of the university, the group met up with the university’s president, Dr. Yong Doo Lee, and his staff who gave us the warmest welcome we needed to get through the 70-degree weather.

The Daegu University staff prepared a nice dinner buffet and presented each visitor with Daegu University souvenirs. Mayor Tudela presented Dr. Lee with a DVD of Saipan and an information packet from the Marianas Visitors Authority. After the little gift exchange, we all took group pictures outside.

It was about 5pm when we finally left the university and called it a day. Almost the entire group was snoring during the long bus ride to the hotel.

[B][I]To be continued.[/I][/B]