The New Guy

My new co-worker, Greg, arrived this week. A fresh-faced lad of 22 from Colorado. He's on the ball and a decent sorta guy. There are lots of real arseholes in Korea teaching English. The majority of foreigners teaching here are pretty decent but the asshole and idiot population is disproportionately large compared to back in the west. Or maybe it's just that they stand out more here. Anyway, the new dude is pretty cool, which is a huge relief.

I took him on a 'random bus tour' to the southern end of the city. I sometimes get on a bus at random (even if I don't know where it goes) when I'm in the mood to see something different. It's usually amusing and, unlike the subway, you can watch the city roll by; an excellent way to have a really cheap adventure. I figured it would be an entertaining way for him to see how the transit systems work in Busan and get some entertainment out of it myself.

The south end of the city has a huge unspoiled beach, as an added bonus it was practically deserted. Haeundae, the main beach in Busan, is really touristy and built-up. The beach has almost become a kind of sandbox for hundreds of hotels. Dadaepo Beach, on the other hand, is practically unaltered. They say that it's full of pollution because the city's main industrial sector used to be in that area. But the city's water supply comes partly from the Nakdong River, right next to the beach, whereas the river nearest Haeundae practically releases raw sewage into the ocean. I'm willing to give Dadaepo Beach the benefit of the doubt.

It was a pretty windy day, so we just walked around a bit and caught the bus back to our end of town. We were pretty beat and we'd been on the go all day, home was a good idea.

Next time I'm down there I'll bring my camera and get some photos. As this adventure was totally off-the-cuff, I went out without my usual adventure accoutrements.