Japan day 8, Korea day 1

I'm not sad to see Japan go. Not because we didn't enjoy it, we did, but you do feel limited by the place. Besides, we were going to Korea next, an altogether more "fun" place to visit. The actual leaving process deserves a mention. We were going to be going by Beetle, a hydrofoil ship that cuts the journey from Japan to Busan in South Korea from 9 hours (conventional ferry) to 3. We opted to walk to the ferry terminal which was about an hour away but the experience upon arrival was akin to something you'd experience in the US, where you feel everyone is trying to get a piece of your hard earned cash. First of all, the Beetle is not cheap, about $200 each for a one way crossing of 90 miles. When you get to the ferry terminal you go through a check-in, similar in every way to an airport but sans baggage weigh in. However, while checking in the check-in clerk asks for additional wonga. The first sum is for fuel, something that you'd have expected them to have calculated as part of the fare. Let's face it, you don't get in a cab and expect the driver to pop to the nearest petrol station to use your credit card on the way, or get to an airport and have the pilot suggest that the pump they used is more expensive than normal so stump up some readies. Next, once you've overcome the shock of the fare not including a charge for fuel, there is a second charge to enter the waiting lounge. Now, I hear you think that perhaps the waiting lounge was state of the art with complimetary beverages, perhaps some dancing, a movie to watch, entertainment of some kind. Nope, just some seats, like a bus terminal. Anyway, before you could enter the waiting area you had to purchase a ticket called a "use of the ferry terminal ticket". Personally, I just want to get on the boat, the fact you've made me go through a waiting room to get to it is the suppliers concern, not mine. There wasn't even airconditioning, so you could complain, or you could just stand, looking sweaty and agitated (we'd walked for an hour with our packs remember) and bring out the plastic. There also appeared to be different stages of waiting room. Check in is on the ground floor, then you can proceed to the 2nd floor (once you've bought your waiting room ticket). There's not much there though so you can proceed back down another set of stairs to another waiting room, which you'd have to go through anyway. Once there a pretty spartan area with the exception of a few vending machines greets you before you can opt to head to another upstairs waiting room and the final entrance to the embarkation line, but not before passing through another waiting area. We gave the last one a miss.
The boat is small, holds probably 400 passengers and played a Japanese movie about a soldier coming home to see his family. I'm guessing he's been fighting somewhere because the majority of the movie seemed to be about how glad everyone was to see him. Long 10 minute monologues with tears, screams of joy (easily confused with screams of grief) and hugging. I am sure it was moving but few of the other passengers bore witness to the Oscar winning melodramatics as the majority of them proceeded to drink the hostess's trolley dry of cans of Asahi and Suntory beer.

Our first impressions of Korea were favourable....more on that later. The arrival was fun though, all smiles and giggles. Clearing immigration was a breeze and the only issue was had was getting to our hotel. We were waiting for a cab at the terminal but they appeared to be few and far between, plus there were a few folks in front of us. Intrepid is our name and we left the terminal in search of our own. The cab driver knew of our hotel and we were to find out why later in the trip but overall, viewing downtown Busan for the first time was a plus for Korea. We were not expecting much, it is a very busy port and the reviews were of teh drab variety, but the Lonely Planet guide had mentioned a number of unmissables if one found ones self there.
Did I mention the port - biggest bleeding port I've ever seen.






And that's not even an a squidgeon of it.