Korea get any worse?

Well, we've finally hit a city that hit back. Busan is a huge port city, with skyscrapers and unending potential. Unfortunatly, it is everything that Japan is not. Gone are the smiling and helpful faces, we are only left with mild disgraces. The first night, we end up at a full hostel where one of us has to sleep on the floor (good news=heated floors, better news=it wasn't me). Things are still looking OK. Then we step out onto the street. Immediatly greeted by two nice older gentlemen, they insist on buying us a drink and practicing their English. No problem, we learn some Korean, drink a huge pitcher with them and head to another bar district. We soon realize this is the same part of town we've been trying in vain our whole trip to avoid. Since we've resisted thus far, we succum to the allures of the "hostess bar." For those of you not familiar, this is an establishment where attractive women will chat you up with broken English for money. When the money stops, so does the conversation. What a dreary experience. I have never seen so many unhappy women in my life. It's hard to believe we even finished our first and only beer. There they were...lined up on the wall, perched upon varying height stools and chairs just staring at us. It was like looking at a bunch of angry cats. Not a one would crack a smile. So, being the smart-asses that we are...we stared back, only with stupid shit eating grins on our faces. The seconds ticked away like hours, try as we might not a single girl would even crack a sneer. Unbelievable!

So, after high-tailing it out of there, we met our Korean friends on the street again. They hopped in our cab and we were off for a legit bar accross town. Little did we know that these crafty dogs actually highjacked our ride, convinced the cab driver to drop them off and then stuck us with the fare! What a life-lesson that was. We were just outwitted by men old enough to be our fathers and it felt just as harsh!

Eating is even more difficult. It seems that restaurants are only open for 2 hours at lunch and a few more at dinner...finding food is impossible. Also gone are the wonderous picture menues of Japan. We enter a restaurant, first thing out of the nice lady's mouth is "picture?" "Yes, yes" we say. Promptly two beers are returned to our table and she walks away. Hmph. I guess we could start drinking again...but we need a menu. She returns, we again try to order by pointing blindly at a Korean english menu, she explains rather poorly the kitchen is closed and we obviosly don't understand there are only set times to eat. As the days pass we have since discovered the wonders of peanut butter, and grocery stores have become easier to find.

Today we find ourselves sightseeing in Geongju, Korea. There are many shrines, buddhas and burial temples. This is "tourist-town, Korea" meaning we can find ourselves a decent meal, internet cafe and a place to sleep. We now have with us in tow an Austrian named Richard. As he was the only other white person we've seen in three days...naturally we pounced on him and he's been with us ever since. He is quite the nomadic character, with a strange sense of the world...but I suppose that's what makes him interesting.

Stepping outside this time of year in Korea is bitterly chilling. Josh and I are both lamenting the cold and discussions abound on what to do about it....