After a crazy day 1 I am up early again and ready for the Busan trip. We are going to a live basketball game of one of the 10 basketball teams in Korea, KT Sonics. One thing that is interesting about some of the teams in Korea is that they are owned by major conglomerates. Its not a sponsorship but rather a full on management of a sports team. We saw that with Samsung's Badminton team yesterday as well.
We made our way to the train station, Seoul Station to catch the 9.30am KTX bullet train to Busan. When i say bullet it is truly bullet, where we averaged 100 mph speed. These trains are very comfortable and they have free wifi for all the passengers. Plugging my music, I started my blog as I was looking at the landscape full of snow topped mountains. We traveled close to 3 hours to make it to Busan, south most tip of Korea. I still can't believe the bullet train doesn't exist in California. SF to LA would be nice trip if it takes 2-2.5 hours with train.
When we arrived to Busan it was sunny and warmer than Seoul. We made our way to the KT arena where the game was going to be played between KT Sonic and Samsung. We had a great tour of the arena by the employees of the team and I must say they were very entertaining even though they claim their English wasn't that good. It was opposite of the reserved Korean culture that i expected in the first meet. These guys weren't shy at all. Then again they are in entertainment biz and they were meeting people from U.S. I think there is enough reason to be relaxed and have fun :)
Gameday activities were quite interesting where chanting and loud music never stops during the game. I don't think any one of us will forget KT song with the glory glory hallelujah version :) Half time, timeout giveaways to fans they truly made the experience encompassing every fan from families youths to couples. The big banners inside the arena were used to block off the upper deck. The capacity is 14,000 and they were averaging 2-3,000 fans a game. We had a fun time even though the signs of jetlag was there.
After the game we had couple of hours to wonder around Busan to eat some food and sightseeing. We had fun time ordering in Korean and had a really interesting story that tells me alot about the Korean culture. I have tipped 1,000Won ($1) knowing that Koreans don't ask for tip. The girl at the cashier said no need and I just put that on the table instead of the bill. As we left the restaurant and walked couple of hundred feet away the girl came running to us with the $1. We said that it was her money and she was very thankful. I just couldn't believe the honesty of her to run down to catch us for a $1 bill that we clearly left it for her since you don't tip more than that in KR. Wow, quite the schock for me and i will never forget this incident. Koreans are overall honest and good people with alot of respect to give. Great culture that knows how to have fun as well.
On our way back we were killing time and played ping pong in Busan. Playing pingpong in Asia was a must and I have done that. Check :) I had the best sleep on the train ride back.
Tomorrow is a free day to explore the city! We'll start with the 49ers game!!
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