Masan, South Korea

Masan, South Korea
11/18 - 11/21/07

After anchoring for the night, due to a very busy port, we came along side the pier in Masan early Sunday morning. What a welcome sight to look out across the harbor at a nearby city of tall white buildings almost sparkling in the sunlight. Quite a change from the grey, dirty, dark ports of China. We're surrounded on three sides by mountains covered in fall colors and the air smells fresh and clean. Everything on the dock is neat and orderly with hundreds of multi-colored cars (Chevrolets) placed precisely in rows next to neat rows of Volvo earth movers. One problem is the language. Even the Captain and crew are having a hard time communicating with the agents and dock workers here as basically no one speaks or understands English, even though it's the language of this industry. The other countries we've visited had at least a few people who were fluent and most spoke at least a little English. We took a taxi into town and couldn't communicate at all with the driver. Luckily we planned ahead and had the local agent here write down where we wanted to go in Korean. He also wrote how to get back to the ship, which we've learned to always carry with us before going ashore in a foreign port. We were able to locate an ATM to get some local currency (Wan) and an internet cafe (where only Korean was spoken and the characters on the computer screen were in Korean). Luckily, the internet symbol is the universal big blue "e" so we could log on and access our email and my blog site. From there we walked through streets lined with small shops until we came to a mail road where we found a six-story, very modern department store (Lotte). It being Sunday, there were lots of family shopping together and young people - all very fashionably (western type clothing) dressed. The coffee shop was as good as any Starbuck's and the cosmetic and jewelry counters were the equivalent of Nordstroms or Neiman Marcus in the U.S. We'd already had lunch but the food court was very enticing with a variety of Korean, American, Chinese and Japanese offerings. Out on the street we hurried (it was very cold and windy) past food and souvenir vendors and located another large store called E-Mart which was like a K-Mart but with groceries as well. We found a book store but no magazines or books in English and a pharmacy section with no ibuprofen (the only things on our list). I had an idea to buy some Christmas cards which I could write on the long trip across the Pacific but couldn't locate anything like that. So much for our big shopping day, but we had a good time as usual.

We took a long walk in the afternoon and enjoyed being out in the fresh brisk air. Not much to see except factories and commercial ship docks but the exercise was good. After trying, unsuccessfully, to have the port agent arrange for a tour of the countryside so see some sights, we opted instead for an evening ashore for a nice dinner.
He called us a taxi and wrote (in Korean) the name and address of a restaurant in the city. That all went well and we enjoyed an authentic Korean barbecue cooked tableside with all the side dishes (including the hottest raw garlic I've ever put in my mouth), followed by a dessert of a fruit we couldn't quite identify. No one in the restaurant spoke even a little English so that was another interesting experience. What fun!

Having nothing else to do on our third day here, Martha and I set out in the direction of the city to see what we could see. It was an hour's walk before we came to any shops or people and we found ourselves in a charming little neighborhood. Like anyplace in the world at three in the afternoon, the children were returning home from school with their backpacks - little girls giggling and chatting, arm-in and little-arm, and little boys (some in Karate outfits) kicking at pidgeons and punching at each other. Some said "Hello" or "Thank you" and others stopped at bowed to us. Two little girls, about eight years old, stopped and one said "Hello, my name is Ying Sue Mung." Martha said "Hello, my name is Martha." They both said "Hello Marta!" I said "Hello, my name is Rebecca." One said "Rebecca is a nice name." As we walked away, they said "Have a nice day." Later, we saw them again and they posed and giggled for a photo. Perhaps in another ten years, shop workers will be speaking more English. By the time we returned to the ship, it was all we could do to walk up the gangway and up the five flights to our cabins. We could barely make it through a movie that night before falling into bed. I guess, from being on the ship for so long, we're not used to that much walking.

We still miss our former crew members but are getting to know the new ones. The Captain is quite chatty and seems to welcome our requests for help with going ashore and sending emails. He often gets into long discussions with us in the dining room after meals. The Chief Engineer is also quite friendly and his English is very good. The cook and stewards are helpful as well and busy getting the galley organized the way they want it, but the meals are not as good as with the other cook. No desserts yet other than jello and pudding or fruit but we're hoping when he's organized he'll do some baking. We miss Jonni's wonderful strudels and cakes.