Day 79 — Busan to Shimonoseki - Tom and Marilee Retire to the Road

November 20, 2025

Day 79 — Busan to Shimonoseki

T’was day 2 of our Korean holiday, which was also the last day, as our goal was to return to Japan with renewed visas and complete the north-south crossing of Japan.

The hotel had upgraded us to a suite on the 14th floor, so we felt like we really didn’t want to leave the hotel, so we lolled around feeling like rich people for a while in the morning. Though I guess most rich people don’t hang tents in their hotel room closets to keep the mildew at bay.

We did sashay out for coffees and pastries when our stomachs made it known we had lolled too long. It’s remarkable how many coffee shops Busan had compared to Japan. Even more remarkable, they were open in the morning!

We spent the rest of the morning wandering through a local park, then down to the BIFF Square area of town (Busan International Film Festival), which has endless fancy stores along a pedestrian mall, and the Gotje Market area which has endless storefronts of STUFF nearby. Mostly clothes and housewares, but also liquor and cigarettes etc etc. Just SO MUCH STUFF. For lunch we partook of available street food — chicken skewers and hotteok (filled fried hot pockets — mine was honey and cheese), then had the briefest tour of Yongdusan Park possible, then scurried back to the hotel to gather up the bikes and head over to the ferry terminal.

The balcony that was too chilly to linger on

The entrance to the park was via escalator, adorned with neon signs

Bikes, patiently waiting, and enjoying some art, as they like to do

It was a long weekend, so the ferry was absolutely packed. We were unable to book a cabin as they were all sold out, so ended up in the second class rooms, which were Japanese style dorm rooms, accommodating up to 10 people. We sat and chatted as best we could via Google translate with a couple of our roommates, a couple from Seoul.

When the dinner announcement came there was a mad crush for the cafeteria — the complete opposite of the Japanese ferry. We didn’t brave that crush, and settled for microwave meals from the small store on board. Our dorm mates gave us one of their gimbap rolls, which was a welcome and lovely gesture. When we could bear the sounds of the on board karaoke no longer, we went to bed, only to have a very fitful sleep, as none of us could figure out how to get the lights off. It also turned out our new friend from Seoul was a prodigious snorer. At least the seas were calmer so we weren’t fighting incipient queasiness.

Anyhoo, thus ends our brief Korean sojourn.

On board poster, let’s not make animals sad by giving them foreign diseases.

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