There, we had about a 40 minute wait until the Hikari Rail Star came for us.
Cinnamon is demonstrating how she feels about being in Shin-Osaka. We have a bit of a grudge against Osaka dating back to the last time we were there. If it says "Loop Line," it should go in a loop!
We grabbed some food (but not from here... this was just next to where we were standing), and waited.
The train we were waiting for is the Hikari Rail Star 553. I never chronicled Osaka in our last blog, but let me explain here why we hate the Rail Star. Normally, the shinkansens running between Tokyo and either Shin-Osaka or Hiroshima (sometimes Okayama), of which we take the regular Hikari, are 15 cars long. The first 5 cars are free seating, meaning you don't need a reservation in order to ride. Of those five cars, one of them (car 3) is a smoking car. We always try to show up early so we'll be able to get a seat. This has never been a problem on a Hikari train.
However, the Hikari doesn't run past Hiroshima for some reason. Instead, you get the Hikari Rail Star. It's only an 8 car train, of which 3 cars are for non-reserved seating (with car 2 being the smoking car). When we were in Japan last time, we had to go from Shin-Kobe to Hiroshima, and the only trains that were coming within the hour were the Rail Stars. Long story short, Cinnamon found a seat on the train, and there were none left for me, so I had to stand between the smoking and non-smoking cars with about 7 other people for 45 minutes until a seat finally became available. It was not fun. This is why we decided to pick up the train where it begins its route... and it's a good thing, because it was already overfull by the time we left Shin-Osaka!
About 3 hours later, we made it to Fukuoka. We needed to get to the international ferry terminal, and Cinnamon knew you could get there by bus. Only we couldn't find the right bus, so we ended up taking a taxi. That cost us roughly $12 for about a 10 minute ride. But at least we got there--and with plenty of time to spare!
It's a very unimpressive place.
When we got there, it was about 12:45, and we couldn't check in until 2:15, so we sat and ate the snacks we bought in Osaka.
I had a peanut sandwich (as if that wasn't obvious). I think these things are awesome. Sure, it's kind of a waste of bread, but you never have to worry about things sliding out of your sandwich. This one was made of Cinnamon's favorite--peanut cream. It doesn't have the stickiness of peanut butter. Instead, it has the texture of whipped frosting or mousse or something. I like it, though.
Cinnamon here is explaining how the ferry works, what with its fancy-shmancy jetfoil and all. (Please consult this link to the official ferry site if you want to learn just what that is). "It's all 'shhhpshhhhh!,'" she says.
It takes just 2 hours and 55 minutes to go from Fukuoka, Japan, to Busan, South Korea! It felt like we had to wait that long just to check in, but finally, the time came! Then we got to go upstairs and wait to board... with about 30 old Korean ladies returning from a tour of Japan. They were loud.
I've got all my stuff ready: boarding pass, passport, customs form and disembarkation card for Korea! Let's get this show on the road!
Finally, they let us go through the boarding gate. ...Which only led to another waiting area, and a place where you could buy duty-free goods. Half an hour later, we were allowed to board the ferry at last!
You can tell we're running on very little sleep, can't you? Also, there wasn't really anywhere to put your luggage, so it's all piled up around our feet, but at least there was ample legroom for it.
Here's the view from the window, looking out on the port. And on the left is Hakata Port Tower (not to be confused with Fukuoka Tower).
In about the time it took me to take the previous two pictures, Cinnamon went from smiling... to this. And she would continue to look like this for the next 3 hours. It was not a good ride at all. Every account we had read about the ferry said that due to the jetfoil design, you could hardly feel the motions of the boat, so it was a very smooth ride.
Lies. All lies.
We must have chosen the worst possible day to take the ferry, because the ride was very choppy and bumpy, and you could feel every little swaying motion of the boat. For three hours. Cinnamon, who was already not feeling very well that day, was pretty nauseous, and even I had my moments when I didn't feel so great. Needless to say, we were very glad when we finally made it to Busan!
Just like an airport, once we got there, we had to go through immigration (which went rather quickly, as the majority of the people on the ferry were Korean and thus in a different line than we were), then security, then customs.
Finally, we were officially in South Korea... which meant we had to hit up the ATM in the ferry terminal so we could get some won. Korean won is worth nothing. 10,000 won (which was their highest denomination bill until the 50,000 was introduced about a year ago) is worth about $10. So if you want to take out about $100 from the ATM, you get 10 10,000 won bills. As you can imagine, their change isn't worth much (especially their 1 won coins).
There was some kind of older (maybe mid-30s) woman who offered to help us find where we wanted to go, since we apparently looked lost (though I highly doubt it). We were supposed to meet Ashley at the subway station nearest the ferry terminal, but this lady had no idea which station was the closest... despite saying she lived in Busan. Needless to say, we declined her help and managed to make it to the station very easily, after only about an 8 minute walk.
This sign was pretty helpful! Except this "meeting place" was located right between two exits, which put us in a cold crosswind.
We're at Jungang-dong station. It should be noted that I can't read nor understand a word of Korean.
This station (all of them, actually) had turnstiles, which was very strange to us. (Japan's ticket gates look like these). While we were waiting for Ashley to show up, we saw at least two people duck underneath them to get through. It was kind of hilarious.
At long last, she showed up, and we got to ride the subway to Myeongnyun-dong station, where she lives. There were quite a few differences between Japan's subway system and Korea's, but I won't get into that here. If you're at all curious, (which you probably aren't), you can always ask. And after putting our stuff down at Ashley's place, we headed back out and took the bus to... possibly Nampo-dong, where we were eager to try some Korean yakiniku, called bulgogi.
These are the prices for the food, but I couldn't tell you what kinds of food they're offering here.
Unlike with Japanese yakiniku, you automatically get all these little side dishes. There was some sort of sauce, a spicy salad, kimchi, a non-spicy (possibly mayo-based) salad, onions in some sort of sauce, daikon radish slices, and in the basket, romaine lettuce and sesame leaves.
Here's Ashley, putting our meat on the grill! Oh, and about 15 cloves of garlic!
They give you a pair of kitchen shears with the meat so you can cut it up into smaller bits as it cooks.
I think this is technically what you're supposed to do with it... or something close to it, anyway. It was pretty good, but I still prefer Japanese yakiniku. I did, however, discover I am not a fan of kimchi. Too spicy and pungent for me. Then again, I don't like cabbage when it's not soaked in sauce and fermented, so that was probably a no-brainer.
The most amazing thing was this entire meal (including 3 bowls of rice and a small pot of soup not pictured) cost roughly $12. No, that's not a typo. All three of us ate our fill for just twelve dollars. It's outrageous!
Afterward, we braved the rain (as it seems to follow us wherever we go--even when we leave the country) and headed to Cold Stone for dessert. Yes, they have those in both Japan and Korea. By the time we finished, it was about 11:30pm.
On the way back to Ashley's place, we stopped by a 7eleven attached to her building, and I bought this Chilsung Cider. (They call it cider, but it's pretty much exactly like Sprite). Back at her place, we tried to plan out our Saturday in advance. In the end, we were up until 2am, and we didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but we were tired, so it was off to bed!
Up next, Gyeongju!
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