A week ago Friday, we decided to see a bit of the city we had not visited before.
By request I brought my camera to photograph "ordinary" scenes along the route of our afternoon walk so that I could let everyone see what I see along the way.
We decided to take our first walk along the Oncheoncheon, a stream that flows out of the mountains to the north and joins the Suyeonggang, a river that empties into the sea. We have seen the paths many times from the elevated train and from street level.
To get to the paths we headed first for the subway station, which near us is actually an elevated train. The Pusan National University Station is built over the stream bed. In fact, a good bit of the elevated tracks runs on pillars and follows the course of the stream. In this telescoped photo, the subway station is the long horizontal building in the center.
The long view from our balcony shows the distance we have to walk to get to the subway station. It takes 20 minutes down and 30 minutes to walk back.
This sunrise view from our balcony shows the station in the lower middle. The view straight down, the entry area to our hi-rise, looks like a movie still.
From our apartment we walk down through campus to the gate. These scenes show the campus at various points on our usual route. The building with the round solar panels at the top of this next picture is where we live.
From the gate it is a straight walk of six blocks to the subway. A look back at the front gates to the university shows campus buildings and the hillside behind it. Our rooms are at the top of the campus.
At one time, I am told, there were actual gates across the road, but no longer.
Unlike London and New York, where pedestrians dart across the street during gaps in the traffic, nearly everyone in Busan waits respectfully at crosswalks until the green man shows up. I lingered in several intersections to get action shots, much to the irritation of my companion pedestrian.
Yes, here I am on one of the stone bridges. The stream is about a foot deep.
The story of the river walk is that it is actually a very creative use of space. In addition to the walking and bicycle lanes, which are always busy, the river area has a host of exercise opportunities such as basketball hoops, badminton courts, and skating ovals. Here, urbanites, frequently seniors, make vigorous use of sturdy exercise and flexibility apparatus. It is brilliant use of otherwise difficult space, especially in areas of the city where parks are not available.
Friday evening, after maybe four hours on the river walk and dozens of pictures, I tried to put together my blog, only to find I was unhappy with the quality of the color in the photographs. OK, I know -- that is hard to figure given my photography skill. But, yes, I thought the pictures were fairly colorless, disappointing.
At that point I was also feeling what I thought were the effects of the sun, so I decided to return to the project in the morning. But on Saturday I felt worse and clearly it was not exposure to the sun I was suffering from.
By Sunday I was sleeping around the clock.
I tell you all this as a way of saying that the week slipped by quickly, first in sleeping and then in recovering. That, I hope, is the last of bad the news.
The good news is that I did not take any pictures.
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