One of the many things I love about South Korea is the free Wi-Fi, which is almost everywhere. If you’re in a coffee shop, butcher or even walking the streets of Seoul, you just turn on your Wi-Fi and boom you’re connected.
I can’t say the same for Fiji. You turn on your Wi-Fi and the kind first ‘Wifi-names’ you’ll for example are ‘don’t vaqara wifi’ or ‘qiri vei bu’.
The two-hour train ride from Seoul to Busan City had free Wi-Fi. And since this was my first ever train ride the journey was even sweeter.
My group friends and I were on our way to the 2023 Korea International Cooperation Conference on Oceans and Fisheries (KICCOF). I found it a fitting place to hold the conference since it links the Eurasian continents to the Pacific Ocean.
A little information about Busan – it is the second largest city and is located on the southeastern coast of South Korea.
It is also the country’s largest port city and the marine capital of Northeast Asia. KICCOF has been held annually since 2014 and this year it was held on May 30.
This year’s theme was ‘Cooperation towards a better future for Pacific Islands’ which encompassed climate change response, marine environment conservation, fisheries resource management, fisheries development, and policy directions for development cooperation by region.
I felt this conference was timely because World Oceans Day was celebrated on June 8 (a week after the conference). Since I wasn’t sitting near the window on the train ride, I dozed off to sleep three times.
I know I should’ve stayed awake to experience the scenery but that morning I woke up at 3am thinking it was 6am (I was still on Fiji time).
Sharing their first train-ride experience too werme was Mathew from PNG along with Eirenei and Joshua from Samoa.
The other journalists couldn’t believe us, so we had to explain to them that we Had no trains back in the Pacific Islands.
They did make us feel special though by ensuring that we got our pictures taken in the train and outside when we reached our destination.
At Busan, the weather was gloomy but this didn’t come as a surprise because we were informed prior to our trip.
It was past 7pm when we reached our hotel, so we quickly headed out for dinner after checking in. Dinner that night was a nice hot spicy fish soup, which quickly reminded me of home.
“You’re okay with spicy right,” asked one of the interpreters, Jisoo Hong. I said yes, even though that was a white lie.
Five minutes into eating,I started to have a runny nose. The initial plan was to film and do photography night views of Busan but since the weather wasn’t favorable, we all decided to have an early night.
KICCOF conference I was fortunate to have had a one-on-one interview with Korea’s Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Seunghwan Cho including Fiji’s Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, Kalaveti Ravu.
Discussions on the MOU signed by the two minsters on the establishment of a Korea-Fiji cooperation centre on oceans and fisheries in Fiji was brought up including the Korean Government’s funding of $5billion won ($F8m) for the reconstruction of the Makogai Mariculture Research Institute that was destroyed by TC Winston in 2016. KICCOF was my first out of the country conference and I think I did pretty good.
The day was completed with dinner on the 99th floor of the highest building in Busan – Busan X the Sky.
This building was somehow connected to the conference building. Which to me was mind blowing. The only other tallest building I’ve ever been on is the Sky Tower in New Zealand.
The view was amazing despite feeling a bit dizzy after the eleva tor ride. The steak and pasta I ordered was mouthwatering. As I look at the Maggi two minute noodles in my drawer, now that I am back in the grind in Fiji, I can’t help but fee regret because I didn’t finish my food that evening.
But at least I finally had the privilege to say, “dinner with a view.”
The ride back to the hotel was short and sweet and blaring through my earphones was the song Busan by Rai Han. Da-eum sigankkaji aleumdaun dosi Busan (Busan you beautifu city, till next time).
PART 3 NEXT WEEK
