Korea via the fishmarket

We got the Joey and Suzy's apartment at about 4 am after a 18 hour plane trip and a 5 hour bus ride and a taxi ride which was half as long as it should have been due to the fact that the driver was going about 100 mph the whole way.

We woke up the same day a few hours later and went with Mrs. Lee (a wonderful woman who Suzy tutors and has become good friends with) around Busan. She drove us to some of the most famous beaches in Korea, some great views over the coast and then to a fishermans port. There were huge amounts of anchovies everywhere - hundreds of people were marinating them in huge buckets. Apparently they are used for seasoning in a lot of different foods. The best part was watching the fisherman get the anchovies out of their nets. They were on the dock near the boat pulling out the net and shaking it in unison while chanting. The anchovies would fall out into a net that they had set up below. These fish were flying all over the place - the men were covered in fish parts. The side of the boat was covered by fish parts, the road was covered by flying fish parts, even Suzy almost ate one of the anchovies when it hit her in the lip. One also hit Andrea's cheek.

Harvesting the anchovies

Anchovies!

The next day we went to the World Famous Jagalchi Fish Market. It is a huge place with fish stalls. They sell just about every type of fish you could want. The most interesting was all the squid, octopus, and shellfish. They had stuff that we had never seen before. A lot of the fish were still living in tanks. We got to see some pretty amazing stuff. Andrea enjoyed picking up the live fish and squeezing them to see what would happen.

Squid

Andrea squeezing her sea squirt

We whimped out and didn't eat the eel. Just about every stand had a tank full of eels. When you get hungry, they take an eel out of the tank, skin it alive, let it drain for a few minutes and then chop it into pieces for you to eat. I think it is supposed to be moving when it hits your mouth. The eel was definitely in motion for quite a while after being chopped into scrumptous bite sized pieces. Joey will report to us when he tries it...Another appetizing meal that we saw being served consisted of seawood and moving octopus tentacles. These guys were definitely supposed to be in motion - the waitress couldn't get them to the customer fast enough. Yum!

Freshly skinned Eel - YUM!

We are now in Gyeongju - a city which is a museum without walls. A very historic place in Korea - we will report back more later when we actually see more of this beautiful place....we just got here today and tomorrow will do most of our exploring.