Busan Chinatown

Opposite the train station is Busan's Chinatown. The sign on this entrance proclaims the Shanghai Gate. Another sign nearby proclaims Chinatown, partly to woo growing tourism from China. It was said to be a somewhat risque area but probably is tame these days.

A stroll along the street which is decorated with red lanterns. However one notices the Cyrillic characters on shops.

The big characters on the shop say Hua Qiao, meaning overseas Chinese.

It turns out that there are few Chinese left in these Chinatowns because many of them emigrated to Taiwan, US or elsewhere in search of better opportunities in the 60s or 70s. So these shops are likely run by Koreans.

However the Russians are arrivals after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not the white Russians we normally imagine but former people of the Koryo kingdom which covered more territory than the Korean peninsula and were included in the USSR, until that collapsed, and they were allowed to emmigrate. There is some anecdotal background information here.

The last post is an outlier. For dinner I scoured the nightlife area, not finding much to my fancy, until I spotted this Vietnamese eatery. The procedure was different, you paid at a vending machine you see near the entrance for the dish of your choice, gave them the ticket and collected your food later. It was alright but having had real Vietnamese noodles, it wouldn't compare.