A very quick one hour bus ride from Gyeongju and I’m now in the southeastern corner of South Korea in it’s second largest city, Busan. I was surprised to learn just a few days ago that South Korea had it’s own professional baseball league. There are ten teams scattered around the country, three of which are in Seoul, but one of them happens to be in Busan, so I decided to take in a game on my first night. I watched the Busan Lotte Giants just barely get beat by the Suwon City KT Wiz 6-5. This was by far the loudest, most enthusiastic spectacle of a baseball game I’ve ever experienced. Each player had his own sort of theme song sung by the entire crowd while he was up to bat, and not just between pitches either, the noise and singing never stops the entire game. Most of them were American classics with the lyrics changed to Korean, all I could make out was a lot of “oh OH oh” and “Ohhh-kay” and then the players name. All this is being led by mascots and cheerleaders bouncing around in the front row the whole game. It’s crazy!

At one point they handed out red plastic bags to everyone. I couldn’t figure out what they were for, trash, souvenirs perhaps. Then I watched, confused, as everyone around me opened up the bags and tied them closed like balloons with the handles hanging loose. Then they put them on their heads and pulled the handles down around their ears… red plastic rally caps (shakes head). A bunch of Koreans drinking beer, eating fried chicken and sushi, singing, yelling, dancing, with red plastic bags blown up like balloons on their heads. Korean baseball fans set a new standard for whacky! (In a good way)

I had so much fun that I went back the next night too. Maybe it was because it was Saturday night and the Giants won 5-4 in extra innings, but the second game had twice as many people and was even crazier! I’ll probably try to go to a game in Seoul too when I get back there in a few weeks. Korean baseball… awesome!

I didn’t spend all my time at the baseball park. I also got out and explored the city a bit. I learned about how Busan really started as a port and gateway for Japanese invasion at the History Museum, but it’s always been the gateway to Korea even if it did start under less than ideal terms. I also made my way to Igidae Park for some amazing views of the harbor (see pic above) and rode to the top of Busan Tower for the birds eye view. The biggest tourist draw in Busan, however, seems to be the Gamcheon Culture Village. It used to be a slum, but some students decided to redecorate by painting the buildings bright colors and turning the whole neighborhood into an art space filled with cafes and souvenir shops. I get why they’re proud of it, but honestly, it was a bit of a let down for me.

The real reason I came to Busan, though, before I discovered Korean baseball that is, was to see and hike the Geumjeong Fortress. It’s not really a fortress, but more like the Great Wall of Korea. Built sometime in the 17th century to protect Korea’s south from another Japanese invasion, it’s the largest mountain fortress in Korea. I started north at Beomeosa Temple, hiked up to the top of the ridge to the North Gate, and then followed the ridge and the wall south, passing by the East Gate, the South Gate, and some lookout towers before descending down to Seokbulsa Temple. Hiking up high above the city through the pine forest was just awesome! It was about a ten mile trip in total. I was exhausted at the end of that one!

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Seokbulsa Temple was a really good way to end the day. It’s basically a grotto in the giant rocks on the mountainside with gargantuan Buddhist carvings on all sides. I had the whole thing to myself and took a long well deserved rest before going the rest of the way down for dinner.

This is where you’ll find all the pics from Busan

Well, it seems I’ve run out of room to the south, which means it’s time for me to start heading west. On to the next stop…