Busan was a very unexpected surprise! Prior to this trip, I hadn’t heard much on Busan, but it actually makes a lot of” top world” lists. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, and it has a skyline that is truly impressive.  We flew in at dark from Jeju, and the lights, buildings, and bridges were stunning. You should check out Google’s images of it: http://bit.ly/TqKhLA. There is no true city center, but there are very large pockets of activity all along the coastline. We used Starwood points, and headed to the Westin. The location was amazing as it was directly on Haeundae Beach, a beautiful and popular stretch of coastline. I enjoyed resting a bit because I was quite tired from the last week or so of being on the move. We spent the morning at the beach and walked along some cool walking trails near the hotel. The beach was holding a sand festival, and all different countries were building sandcastles.

The second night we were updated to a suite (thanks for the status, Jacob!), and I slept on the little couch.

We took Adam out for his first ever taste of India food. I absolutely love Indian food.

One of the days along the beach, we all had aches and pains from our journey, we came across a public foot spa where a lot of Koreans were soaking their feet. It was free, so we thought, WHY NOT? The water snaked through the fountain. The closer you were to the origin, the hotter the water, and nobody was at the origin. When people would take their feet out of the water, it looked like they had a disease because their feet were so purple. We enjoyed hanging out there for awhile, even with the grumpy old Korean man harping on us the entire time. On that note, I’ve found it fascinating how much Koreans seem to respect their elders in different scenarios. I think that America could learn a lot from it.

On the beach one night, we also came up on something flashy and flying in the air. We weren’t sure what it was, but from a distance it was awesome. Jacob and Adam were immediately fascinated. A local guy had made his own battery-powered giant flying and flashing bird. It was IMPRESSIVE!

I completely enjoyed my time in Busan and could spend a lot more time there, but I have so many others places still to see. From Busan, we headed off to the northeast region of South Korea (where the next winter Olympics will take place).