"It [life in South Korea] seems all very shiny and people may look good, but it's all show. A lot of people are not very well off. They have small and similar apartments and often work for small wages. You don't have to go far to find bad housing and people scraping a living on the streets," Moon said.
Away from the administrative centers, business zones and shopping parks connected by extensive subway systems are the traditional markets, with their betting parlors, cheap karaoke rooms and love hotels.
This is where you will find good and cheap food served on stalls in the middle of pedestrian precincts. Dishes include giant mussels simply stewed in their own juices, sashimi, and traditional noodle or rice dishes. These are always served with kimchi.
It is also where you will find yogwan or "love hotels," which are often frantically well appointed -- Internet, water cooler, HD TV, jacuzzis, recessed lighting, condom machines and porn movies. Kitsch rules but hygiene prevails. While love hotels often cater for "lunchtime encounters" or couples otherwise engaged, they also provide cheap and clean accommodation at reasonable prices.
Jagalchi Market in Busan represents the old South Korea, where wizened souls snatch and pocket the octopi that have spilled from crates being lifted onto the docks from the corroded fishing boats below.
On one such occasion one of the overseers from the boats makes as if to strike one of the scavenging old ladies, but she scuttles off and gets just a snarl from the man.
Further down, a small but fierce old lady rushes at a Westerner with her broom and sweeps him out of the cafe, yelling and scolding as she advances.
He had only just been welcomed into the shop by what turned out to be the old woman's nephew. "Come in, come in, drink, yes?" he had shouted and beckoned for the Westerner to take a seat. Though preferring to record the street scene rather than engage in conversation along the lines of, "Where do you come from? Do you like South Korea?" the Westerner went in anyway.
He was asked where he came from and he replied England, at which point the old lady rushed at the bemused and then retreating man. The nephew caught up with the Westerner and explained why his aunt did not like foreigners.
"Russia, China and the United Nations were behind the split up of our country. In fact the Americans were behind the United Nations and the English and allies were behind the Americans. And the Japanese, well. ... She hates all foreigners because she thinks they're all the same," he said.
Though South Korea has had an image makeover in the last 20 years, the past is everywhere if you wish to find it, just don't forget the war.
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