Well we are just over half way on our cruise. After a day and night at sea with some strong winds and a bit of a swell, we arrived at Busan in South Korea. This is only al little north of Japan but is very different.

They drive on the 'wrong' side of the road have a different language and a different alphabet which was developed to be much simpler and easier for everybody to learn than Chinese or Japanese.

Our first visit was to the UN Remembrance cemetery in Busan. The Korean War lasted from 1950/53 and was the first time that a UN force comprising 22 nations was used. This cemetery is the only UN cemetery in the world and is maintained immaculately by Korea. The UN flag is raised in a ceremony at 10.00 every morning. We arrived at 10.05 so we missed it!

We were then taken into the centre of Busan and visited the fish market where the stalls are mainly operated by women. The translation of their title from Korean is ‘middle aged ladies’! The fish is all live and ranges from flat fish, to shell fish of every conceivable type and, quite popularly, sea urchins. Then across the road to the ‘international market’ which is a number of streets with stalls selling pretty much everything. We went to to pharmacy because Andy has a cold and a sore throat. We asked if he had anything for a sore throat and the first thing he hid was to put a mask on! We did get a packet of tablets although having translated the instructions and side effects (thanks to Google Translate) I think it unlikely that we will take them!!

Our return to the ship on the coach was slightly delayed because a lady had lost her husband - there’s always one!

After a show by Korean dancers and musicians on the dockside (right below our cabin (sorry, stateroom) we set sail again. Tomorrow is another day at sea before we arrive back in Japan at Hakodate.

That’s all for now

A&L xx