Welcome to Busan, South Korea. Mexico City - Dallas - Tokyo - Busan. It was a lot of flying but made somewhat more comfortable thanks to my upgrade to Premium Economy from American Airlines. My friend Megan met me at the airport and the 45 minute trip to her apartment gave me my first taste of Busan's subway system. And it's good. Fast, comfortable, clean and cheap - about $2 for the trip. As I soon learn, any standard trip is 1300Won ($1.70) and longer trips are 1500 Won ($1.90) Without doubt it is the way to get around Busan.

Busan is Sth Korea's 2nd largest city, with a population of just under 4 million people. It's a modern, clean city located on the south east coast. Megan lives in Haeundae, which is the most eastern suburb/neighbourhood, of Busan. Having reputedly the best beach in SK, it's quite popular with tourists, both Korean and foreigners. Two days of orientation gives me a reasonably good overview of where I will be spending my next 5 weeks, and how to survive. Subway, buses, taxis, supermarket, eating options. We covered it all. Oh, and most importantly, Theo the cat. Day 3 of the planned orientation is spent at home due to Typhoon Prapiroon making her presence felt. A bit too wet and windy to venture outside.

My first solo trip to the supermarket is an interesting experience. First lesson, don't get in the way of a Korean woman and her shopping trolley. You will come off 2nd best. And patience is a must. You either wait while 3 of them decide which noodles to buy or you just move to another aisle. It's not that difficult! Fresh fruit and vegetable tend be sold in bulk. There's no such thing as buying a couple of onions (you clearly need a bag of 8) or a few apples (a bag of 10 is exactly what I was looking for). Fortunately Google Translate works fairly well when you can't quite decipher what the picture on the packet is really depicting. But I survived, and got most of what I was looking for, so it can only get better from here.

It is the rainy season here and the first couple of days lived up to that. Very Queensland sort of weather, warm and humid. My first foray out was a 20 minute subway trip to Seomyeon. This is a transfer station on the subway, so it's quite busy and it's also the location of a huge underground shopping complex. And I mean huge. Corridors that you can't see the end of, filled with shop after shop. Mainly clothing and accessories, but electronics, some food, a hotel, and a casino just in case you feel like a flutter between trains. I've never been very good in shopping centres so I found it oh so easy to get lost. I finally found an exit and soon popped out at street level. The traffic is probably not quite as chaotic as I have seen in other Asian cities, but driving is not for the feint hearted. I headed off in a random direction and soon found myself at the entrance to Bujeon Market. This is an enormous, mainly undercover market. Again, the variety of goods is extremely wide, although I seem to have entered the market in the food section. Being on the coast, Busan is famous for its seafood, and there was no shortage of quantity or variety here. Fish of all shapes and sizes, dead or alive, octopus, again dead or alive, eels, turtles and quite a few species of frog - the last 3 all being of the live variety. My purchases were confined to a bowl of red onions and half a kilo of peanuts. And like the underground shopping mall, I got lost - again.

One of the tourist brochures I had picked up recommended a walk along the Haeundae foreshore to the Busan Yacht Club. Saturday's weather looked ideal so off I headed. Even at mid morning and the temperature in the low to mid 20's the beach was filling up with people. Not so much swimming as sitting under umbrellas, paddling in the water or walking along the promenade that stretches the full length of the beach. At the end of the beach is Dongbaek Island (which it isn't). A well made boardwalk encircles the island, providing a good view back toward the beach and Haeundae. On the point of the island is Nurimaru APEC House, where the 2005 APEC Economic Leaders meeting was held. From what I can determine it was built specifically for that and appears not to have been used since. The meeting room is still set up as it was for the meeting and the rest of the building appears to be closed. It's a shame really, a very functional building sitting on a prime piece of real estate, essentially being used solely as tourist attraction.

From here the walk followed the harbour foreshore, which in this area is dominated by glass skyscrapers, which are either hotels or residential apartment blocks. The architecture is modern, impressive and very over the top in an Asian sort of way. Judging by the buildings and the cars on the road there is quite clearly some wealth in this area. Porsche, BMW, Maserati etc are all quite common. And then there is the Busan Yacht Club, which although looking a bit tired on the landside certainly plays home to some impressive seacraft.

The day finished with a trip to the Haeundae Traditional Market. This is a long, narrow alley, home to a vast assortment of stalls and shops selling very traditional Korean food. The sort of place where you can pick up food to eat as you stroll to the next place. Sort of like a progressive dinner on foot. Some very spicy fish curls, a delightfully tasty pancake (potato based - I think) and some chicken (maybe pork) covered in a sweet sticky sauce and served cold, constituted dinner. And the evening's entertainment was a fountain, located in the median strip of the main drag, with the water and light show choreographed to music. And all this was on Day 1! There is plenty to do and see here. I have a feeling my 5 weeks is going to fly by!