Busan and Asian Dining

Busan at night

Last week I visited Busan and I think it will become one of my favorite places in Korea. After just a 30 minute bus ride, we took the subway straight to Haeundae Beach. It's a fairly popular place even in winter: very clean, mountainous islands stretching off into the ocean, and it was snowing. Haeundae never looks especially appealing in photos, but it's actually a very pretty place. There are numerous other beaches, too - many of them just as nice. It was the first time I'd ever been to a beach in winter and I liked the city so much that I stayed even after my friends left.

I've had an interesting variety of culinary experiences recently, as well.

• After being asked to leave a Korean restaurant because we aren't Korean (this happens regularly), a friend and I went to the place next door. Everyone was much friendlier, but Madame (Why "Madame"? We wondered too.) didn't speak English and her menu didn't have photos to accommodate illiterate patrons. She called over one of the bar regulars who chose food for us and stayed to chat for a few minutes. He came back shortly with a "gift", which happened to be a very large plate full of kimchi and plain sliced tofu. Lovely. Good thing Madame makes the best kimchi I've eaten so far, because usually I hate it. And I'm not sure exactly who eats raw, sliced tofu, but we did. Another few minutes later, the man came back with a teenage girl - his daughter. He made her to come to the bar so that she could sit with us and practice her English. She was moritified, but a good time was had by all.

• Whole and organic foods aren't common in Korea and people don't eat many fruits or vegetables. Meats are always sliced into very thin strips and beef is usually both sub-par and expensive. As luck would have it, there's an organic restaurant in Changwon that has Australian beef. We ate shabu-shabu, a Japanese meal that starts with a pot of boiling broth where you cook beef, greens, and mushrooms (mushrooms here are incredible), then eat them with various sauces. When the meat and vegetables are gone, you cook udong noodles in the broth. After the noodle course, you finally pour a rice mixture into the liquid to make porridge. It was the first truly fresh-tasting food I've had here.

• Indian food. There are several Indian restaurants in Changwon and I went to one over the weekend. Best tandoori chicken I've ever tasted. It could very well be that anything not prepared by my own hands seems excellent by comparison, but I prefer to allow that the chicken was exceptional.