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South Korea’s second largest city, combines a backdrop of mountains
with frontage on deep, good harbor. Serving as Korea’s main port for
international cargo, Pusan is a fast-growing container center (which
means good rail connections), as well as a nexus for passenger
ferries to Japan and the international zone of Jeju (Cheju) Island.
The vigorous port city boasts almost 4 million folks, most of whom
seemed to be out strolling the streets and seeing the same sights we
wanted to visit.
To get to Pusan, we could have screamed south from Tokyo around the
craggy spine of Japan on a bullet train, and then jet-boated across
the waves, looking west as the “sun burned over China like thunder
cross the sea.” But, so much for romance; the plane was cheaper.
South Korea has recently begun its own fast-rail system and is
actively working toward opening the border to allow transit all the
way up through North Korea. Plans are to connect to the mainland and
route across and into the Trans-Siberian, all the way to the
Atlantic. It that comes to fruit, as one news blurb noted, “In the
not-too-distant future, we might be able to travel by high-speed
train from London all the way to Pusan... and perhaps by that time,
Korea and Japan will have built a tunnel between Pusan and Fukuoka
to connect their two countries.”
The news report goes on to note that, under these circumstances “the
United States, so desperate to remain anchored economically in Asia
that it pushed hard for the Asia-Pacific Economic Community in the
1990s, will find itself the odd continent out.” In any event, this
bustling port has become well-known for its seafood, its teeming
fish market, and its beaches.
Jagalchi, the famous Puson Fish Market next to Pusan Harbor, has two
main sections - one for fresh seafood, another for dried seafood and
related stuff. This area is named for jagal (small rocks) and ch’i
(a pure Korean word describing villages next to the seashore).
Although today a modern wharf and shipping facility have been built
and the landscape is lined with buildings, at one time a fishing
“village” and “small rocks” shoreline was very much in evidence. As
reminder every year, the Jagalchi Festival celebrates the area and
its products so, if you plan to visit and have any choice, it would
certainly be worthwhile to coordinate with this festive occasion.
As it is, Pusan is a muscular urban center, sprawling and energetic.
It may not be as packed with western “expats” soaking up high-end
education jobs as it was a decade ago, but it still bustles away.
The edges of the fish market feature smaller sales outlets,
sometimes just a single old woman with a plastic tub of her wares
and ice water; in cold weather the sellers huddle around braziers
stoked with black, perforated fuel disks. Inside the fish-market
building,
Live and freshly caught seafood of all kinds - crustaceans,
shellfish, finned fish of wild variety - gambol, float and bob in
big aquarium-like tanks. It might take an ichthyologist to identify
all these life forms, skinny and long, flat, multi-armed and
otherwise bizarre.
Except for what must be very unusual circumstances, fish and
shellfish are caught daily and sold fresh to consumers, virtually
right off the boat. Shoppers stroll along and hob-knob with the
stall keepers, gandering at the finny critters that flop about. Some
stall areas have workers preparing the seafood for long term
storage. You can watch as the fish get scaled, beheaded,
dis-entrailed, de-skinned, chopped up, and dumped in boxes of ice,
all in record time.
Jagalchi is also famous for, indeed proud of, its notorious ajumas
(tough married women) who work there. Considered to be a robust,
noble, no-bull breed, they do the dirty work of cleaning,
processing, and carrying about the seafood, while still being
resolutely devoted to their families. On our visit, they beamed with
friendliness and smiled as we took photographs, even though we were
obviously not on a buying spree. These hard-working ajumas are
responsible for developing the area into its present form, including
making it a welcoming place for tourists.
Much of the six-floor fish market hosts a cluster of foodcourt-like
restaurants. These Shindonga Markets sell sashimi practically off
the boat, along with the dried fish and related products. Outside,
in the surrounding neighborhood, are many pochang machas and stalls
which serve raw and cooked seafood. Close by, in the surrounding
streets and alleys along the main road in front of the market area,
it’s easy find other restaurants offering regular Korean food, for
those who might eventually get sick of fish.
If you are thinking about a swing through the Pacific Rim, give
Pusan a thought.
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