Revisit Korea 2011: The Place Called Busan Station.

03.13.2012 – The arrival at Busan was a rough one and I was a cranky passenger trying to get my bearings straight as the plane made its decent. As I step out of the plane the cold was mild comparing it already to Baguio’s weather and I wasn’t in that place since the 1990s. Until the cold had caught on me wearing only the casual wear and the adidas jacket that was thick enough for tropical weather that can only make you warm while you reach Tagaytay. The airport bus or what they call a limousine took us to the main airport.

There we stood in line at the immigration as each was thoroughly been interviewed and my lack of thought to convey myself to a Korean immigrant officer was like I was deaf trying to get the words right.

The young immigrant officer looked like she’s one of those girly band members with a big smile on her face. If you’re planning to travel like Korea or Japan a piece of advice is to be a professional. They don’t like swaggers who just think who can walk in any country they want mostly people who are “Happy Go Lucky” on cloud nine high.

My first step in to a country that requires a visa is not like winning a contest and getting to Korea is not like a place that you’re going to waltz in there to show off. I was there on a business trip and not entirely leisure one as some originally knew.



When we stepped out of the airport a long time Korean friend picked us up and drove us all the way to our overnight hotel. Busan (some still prefer to call it Pusan) like any city is busy even at night where cars you don’t see in Manila’s street is the most common in another form.

After we got off to our hotel and into our room we went out to find a place to eat. The climate did not take its toll on me until I started breathing cold air. This is not ANY cold place it was really different as I was never been into a country that would have such indescribable temperatures. There we went to Busan station a subway station that had places to eat.

Most of the places I saw are slight different from what the Philippines have. There’s a Chevy Spark dressed in Korean Police colors that caught my eye. Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee & Bagel is not like our DD place that has a similar feel to Starbucks here.


Outside Busan station there’s a huge open area more of a park and there’s this sculptures that reminds me of the TV series and science fiction movie in Stargate. The Busan night life is filled with cold winds and a lot of sight seeing but we didn’t much stay long as some of the shops are closed. There was a place for fellow Filipinos to stay and hangout just around the corner in the other side of the street.

The people around are fashionably living up to the climate and I was just a geek who had a newly worn Flash shirt who is stuck in the cold with no idea what I was supposed to do.

We found a place to eat where there are too much new things to explore specially the soup we had and the only side dish I’m familiar about is the Kimchi that was truly an original compared to the one being made or bought back in Manila.