I am staying at a beachside hotel across the road from Songdo Beach. It is the Korean Thanksgiving holiday so I expect it was more crowded than normal. I am normally awake early every morning and today was no exception. Now that the sun was out, I decided to join the early morning locals at the beach.
Here's a video view from my room window on the 19th floor:
Busan is the second largest city in South Korea after Seoul. There are 3.5 million residents of the city, but that pales in comparison to the nearly 10 million in Seoul.
The people I encountered stayed in pretty good physical condition. The western culture has not caught up to their bellies yet! I think a lot of it is due to the amount of excercise they get. As you'll see in this post, they are quite active. I also noticed on my visits to the fitness center that it was quite busy. Normally I encounter few when I go.
Towering condos across the beach.
The pigeon lady starts early in South Korea.
I got a kick out of watching these ladies in the water. It's about 6:20 am and they're having a great time. I'll include a video clip:
Continuing my walk I entered on to the water walkway. This is a walkway over the water to allow better views of the Bay Area. Normally this would be quite crowded, but it was only shortly after 6 am so it was not so bad.
See what I mean about the excercise? This is shortly after 6 am and they're out for their early morning swim. No short distance either.
Notice these massive concrete triangulate structures used as a water break to prevent sea erosion at the beach. Those things were huge!
I'm really not sure if they're fishing or sleeping. My guess is they're doing both.
These divers are preparing for their dive this morning. Such active people!
I get the feeling the Korean people really know how to enjoy life.
I found it very hard to interact with the people here because so few speak English well. I found the same thing in Japan. It seems strange to me I have much less trouble in the less affluent countries like Thailand and Cambodia communicating in English than these richer countries. I'm not sure why that is.
When I do try to speak English, the normal response I would get was a quick shake of the head, no eye contact, and they quickly walked away. I don't think they are a rude people, but certainly reserved.
Some of my favorite pictures is the capturing of simple life events. Two ladies enjoying a morning conversation by the sea.
The best time of the day for me is early morning. I think that many in this country would agree with me. There was much activity in the early morning hour here compared to what I've experienced in other places.
I'll leave you with a last video:
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The walkway and rock formations are really nice. The cementpiec3s were unique how they used them as a barrier. I think early morning is such a great time to get up and do exercise. Very peaceful.