I spent my student exchange programme in Seoul and went to Busan for a short getaway.
Here is a list of things to do in Busan (click on them to jump straight to my reviews):
- Gwangalli Beach
- Jagalchi Market
- Nampo
- Busan Aquarium
- Dalmaji-gil Road + Art Flea Market
- Nurimaru APEC House
- Haeundae Beach
- Gamcheon Culture Village
- Beomeosa Temple
Otherwise, read on for some narration of my trip and some ramblings.
Just back from Dance Class at Winners Dance School!
I went for Girls Hip Hop dance class with Sinlin, my very first Girls hip-hop class!
It was full of waves, hip movement. Not used to dancing sexily but i enjoyed the class, hehe, shake shake shake hips!
Shagged but today I’ll blog about my Busan trip before sleeping, hope i can finish before i fall asleep! 😀
I went to Busan for 3D2N from October 12-14th, where i stayed at HiKorea Hostel.
It was recommended by my friends and furthermore, its near Haeundae Beach! ( can watch sunrise/sunset!)
Thus i decided to stay there 🙂
I went Busan with my SNU Buddy friends, Yuni, Jenessa and Julie.
Getting Your KR Youth Pass
As we went for 3D2N, we bought the KR youth pass, 67700won for unlimited rides. But it can only be used for 3 days. Should we have bought the normal KTX fares, it would around 110k won for to and fro rides, so it was quite a huge saving!
But unfortunately, we went to reserve our seats too late, hence we couldn’t take the earlier rides like 8am/9am. We opted for the 11 am ride.
If you don’t know where to get your KR pass, here are the directions:
Don’t go to the travel centre. Get your KR pass at the counter on the left
hehe, me and my KR pass and our carriage! Jen was too lazy to come out to take a photo, I was the more hardworking traveller 😛
I love my colourful highlighters. I use different colours to differentiate parts of the readings. Yellow colour for the main title, red for the subtitle, green for main points.
After a 2-3hours ride, we finally reached Busan!
I was lugging my luggage bag while the rest carried their backpacks. Yes, we are only staying for 2 nights and yes i brought a small luggage bag.
It was such a hassle that for that period of time, all i can think of was to dump my luggage in our room before exploring Busan. And thus we made our way for our accommodation first before having our lunch.
our first meal, Lotteria. my tender grill chicken kept sliding everywhere. In the end, i gave up trying to hold it in the burger and just decided to eat it layer by layer.
Rating: average. the tendergrill chicken tasted like burger king’s tendergrill chicken. not much difference but its expensive!
A cute motel we saw, pretty creative!
1) Gwangalli Beach
Pardon the poor resolution as it was taken with the handphone.
This was the most comical moment. I wanted them to help me take an illusion of me holding onto the sun. And Yuni and Julie crouched down to take the photo. Jen couldn’t help laughing at us and snapped this photo. The BTS of an illusion shot.
We stayed at the beach for more than an hour, until the sun has set. The beach was gorgeous
Review of Gwangalli Beach
The beach was awesome. There was some performance nearby us but we didnt go because we weren’t keen on the music genre. It’s a good spot for couples and families. I saw quite a number of couples and families hanging out there. There are cafes and food nearby so you could enjoy your meals while watching the sunset/the beach view.
2) Jagalchi Market
After that, we took the metro and we went to the Jalgalchi Market as it was a tourist hotspot.
At that time i knew there was an event at Jagalchi but I thought that we wouldn’t be able to catch it but we did haha
until we saw this fish looking sign, then we were like, ‘ oh ok, so this is the market’.
There were many stalls selling fresh seafood, but we didnt quite like the fishy smell hence we didnt eat there, we only looked around to see what is so famous about this fish market, and as it turned out, the fresh seafood.
we chanced upon a performance, with the elderly singing oldies and dancing to it. Its always interesting to watch old ajussi and ahjummas dancing.
Jagalchi Market Review
If you are a seafood lover, you should come here to try the seafood because that’s what they are famous for. But if you aren’t, then the market wouldn’t interest you much. I’m neutral, so I came just to see. As for those fashionistas, please don’t wear expensive clothes or your favourite clothes, you don’t wanna get the fishy smell on your clothes nor step in fishy water in your shoes! (;
3) Nampo
We heard from our friends that the Nampo side has some shopping malls hence we decided to check it out. Then we chanced upon the film festival. Today was actually the last day of the film festival. But in the end, we couldn’t find the shopping mall, but nevermind, haha i shopped too much already ;p
the palms of all the film directors for the past decades
the cute mascot! ah hahaha, initially i didnt dare to take a photo with him, then i was thinking, its either now or never. so i summoned my courage and walked up to him, and gestured to him while speaking in smattering Korean and yay, he got what i mean.
We had our dinner at this heungkong banjeom. Recently i found out that its available near Seoul National University station too, just that they don’t sell my favourite jjm T_T
me and jen had jjm, it was jen’s first time trying jjm. julie and yuni tried another dish , icant remember what dish.
Ratings: 4/5
Its somewhat average, food in korea is always nice for me. the portion is small though hence i didnt give 5/5. i like the noodle and the sauce. the onions was nice. the taste of the sauce overtook the onions so thats why i dared to eat it. otherwise, i dont eat cuz i dont like onion taste.
here is another photo if youre looking for it. its in one of the small alleys. unforunately i cant remember the directions.
apparently because some korean shops wanna be cool, they use english, albeit, it turned out comical and sounded wrong. * if you know what i mean*
The table – Delicious love making just for you!
hmmm, i guess they meant to say they made the food with love for their customers? 😉
and omg saw this lorry filed to the brim with oranges.
we tried some 호떡 because we saw a long Q for it. Long Q always means popular for me and feeling hungry, i decided to try it. Apparently, they have been on TV before.
How they make the 호떡:
Ratings: 4/5
Although they were on TV but my 호떡, i like the ‘rice cake’ thingy ( idont know what it is made of), nice to chew. i like the nuts in it. But, they somehow didnt spread my brown sugar properly, it was all stuck at one corner or i didnt know im supposed to make it spreaded properly. So when i was finishing my 호떡, it became suddenly very sweet since only when i was finishing it, then my tongue got into contact with 70% of the sugar. But other than that, i like it.
after our snack, we decided to head back to our dorm to prepare for the long day ahead. Excited to travel and see new places! WHEEEEE!
Busan DAY 2
Gosh im so pissed with myself for not planning my trips in advance and being so last minute. No more jeonju trip tomorrow. so tomorrow and Saturday I have nothing to do, SIAN
But nevermind, i can go next time, maybe next week or during my graduation trip or something haha. *cheers up*
okayys, so today ill be blogging about my trip to Busan. Usually ill set the date of my blog post as the day i went for the trip. But today, ill just make an exception. I went Busan a few weeks ago, and only till now, then i have the time to blog. Yes, thanks to my 1mth plus of mid terms. Engineering mod takes up a lot of time. Its like if you dont study, you really cant do any question. And even if you study, you probably also cant do much unless u memorise. Yeah, reality kicks in.
I had a great sleep on the first night, gosh the bed was so firm and the pillow was a bit hard, but with a snuzzy blanket, I had a good sleep. I wanted to watch the sunrise at the Haeundae Beach but when Yuni asked sleepily,’ Are you sure you wanna go?’ then i was like, ok everyone so tired, we will go tomorrow instead.
and I went back to sleep. After that, we finally woke up to get ready for breakfast. Previously at Seoulwise guesthouse, we never really made it for breakfast. But for Busan trip, hehe we woke up early for breakfast!
Busan Aquarium
lunch at the beef porridge
Dalmaji-gil Road + Art Flea Market
Nurimaru APEC House
Haeundae Beach
Dinner at Shinsegae
4) Busan Aquarium
Beautiful view
Funny thing is, we saw tarantula at the aquarium. We were quite puzzled because its supposed to be the AQUARIUM, unless tarantula CAN survive in the sea, which im quite sceptical.
Busan Aquarium Review: 2/5
As i have visited Sentosa’s Sea Aquarium before, i was rather disappointed by the Busan Aquarium as it is way smaller than Singapore’s. The aquarium was not as grand as i assumed, it was quite boring. Its like substandard which i wasn’t expecting that. Maybe that’s the reason why they had to give a discount to attract people to go there. #justsaying
Directions:
Approximately 1.4km from Nurimaru APEC House along Haeundae Beach (25-minute walk)
For us, as the hostel we stayed at provided directions to all the places of interest, hence if you are staying a the HiKorea Hostel, you can just refer to the directions that they provide.
Here are some photos of the aquarium if you are still interested in it despite my poor review on it:
Haeundae Wonjo Halmae Gukbap (Best Beef Soup)
Haeundae Wonjo Halmae Gukbap Review:
Ratings: 4/5
It was nice. the soup was not very spicy, first time i ever finish drinking my stew. usually its too spicy for me and i always end up choking on it. but the serving isnt big. not enough to satisfy my huge stomach. i minus 1 point cuz of small serving. the beef was ok.
Address:
Gukbap Alley
48-nyeon Jeontong Haeundae Wonjo Halmae Gukbap (The Original 48-year-old Traditional Haeundae Granny Gukbap):
612-2 U-1-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan (부산해운대구우1동 612-12)
+82 51 746 0387
5) Dalmaji-Girl Road and Art Flea Market
Dalmaji-Gil Road and Art Flea Market Review:
Rating: 4/5
The view while we walked down the Dalmaji-Gil Road was awesome, but at the top, the Pavilion and art flea market were the only attractions. Other than that, there was nothing much. We spent less than an hour on Dalmaji-Gil Road. As mentioned earlier, I think we came at the wrong timing hence the view of the pavilion wasn’t very good. So if you are intending to come here, it would be better to come at evening to take photos of the awesome view while you climb up the Dalmaji-Gil Road.
If you are interested in the Art Flea Market, here are the details:
When: Every Saturday and Sunday until November 2013
Where: Haewoljeong Pavilion on Dalmaji-gil, Haeundae
Opening Hours: 2 p.m. – 9p.m.
For more info.: (051)749-4063
For directions to Dalmaji-gil Road:
From Busan Station, take city bus No. 139 or 140 / city experss bus (jwaseok bus) No. 239 or 240 and get off at Mido Apt. Then walk 10-15 min along the sign (totally takes 1 hour).
or
In front of exit 1 of Haeundae station (Busan Subway Line 2), take city bus No. 100 and get of at Yeongnam Apt. Then walk 10-15 min along the sign (totally takes 50 min).
6) Nurimaru APEC House
Nurimaru APEC House Review:
Rating: 4/5
The APEC house closes around 6, i think the main highlight is the scenery around here. Inside the house, there is nothing much interesting unless you are interested in policies and politics. But since its free entry, just go in so you can take nice photos!
You can get to APEC house by walking from Haeundae Beach.
7) Haeundae Beach
Haeundae, The Mermaid
Busan Day 3
Itinerary for today:
1)Gamcheon Culture Village
2)Beomeosa Temple
Sunrise at Busan Haeundae Beach
The initial plan was to watch the sunrise yesterday morning but we couldn’t wake up. And as this morning would be our last chance hence i was determined to wake the rest up. Last night we checked online and found out that this morning’s sunrise would be at 5.27am. But the weird thing is when we woke up at 5 am, the sky was already bright. It wasn’t dark.
I had a bad feeling that the sun might already be up. I was a little sad, thinking that we really missed our last chance. We were contemplating whether to just go back to sleep or try our luck since we have already gotten up and prepared for it.
I was glad that we did the latter. When we walked to the Haeundae Beach, we did not see any sun. We thought that the sun was already up but hidden by clouds, we were about to leave when I had second thoughts. We decided to stay for 5 more minutes just to try our luck again. A few minutes later, we noticed something bright peeping up from the edge of the sea and the mountain. Oh boy, we did not miss the sunrise!
I was so excited and relieved that we did not leave. What a beautiful sunrise! (: Eh don’t laugh at my suaku-ness k, seeing the sunrise in a foreign land gives me a special feeling as compared to watching the sunrise at Singapore’s East Coast Park.
Rewarded by the beautiful view of the sunrise, it was time to head back to our guesthouse to rest and wait for our breakfast that starts at 8 am. We had more than an hour to kill so we strolled back, enjoying the morning sea breeze.
On our way back, we found a shortcut to the beach. For the past 2 days, we had been taking the longer route to the beach without realising it. Our long route consists of walking to the Haeundae metro station, then we usually follow the directions from the station to the beach. It took us about 20minutes. The new shortcut took us less than 10 minutes. We felt so noob.
8) Gamcheon Culture Village
After our breakfast, we decided to visit Gamcheon Culture Village as Julie had to leave early. Due to time constraints, we decided to take the cab. The village reminded me of the village at Hyehwa in Seoul. Both villages were very similar. Directions were given in the form of fish-like shaped wooden boards. It is quite easy to spot.
Gamcheon Culture Village Review:
If you have yet to visit the village at Hyehwa, this would be a nice place to visit. The pros are the beautiful view and colourful houses. The cons are that it is quite inaccessible and there is not much stuff to do other than posing with the paintings on the houses. I think we only spent 1hour there as it’s just following the directions and walking. As I have visited the village at Hyehwa, I felt that this village was rather similar. The only difference is that i can see the sea while at Hyehwa, its just buildings below me.
Directions:
I took a cab but Kian has kindly provided me information with other modes of transportation so here you go:
By Bus & Metro
1)take subway line 1 to Toseong Station, exit 6
2) You will be facing an intersection. Turn right at the corner and walk straight. You will see a hospital on your right. The bus stop is right in front of the hospital.
3) take either Bus 2 or 2-2, it will take you to the GamCheon Culture Village at the top of the hill.
By Cab:
Tell the driver Gamcheon Cultural Village (the actual name) or Gamcheon 2 East (the address)
9) Beomeosa Temple
Initially, we wanted to cab from the Beomeosa station to the temple but couldn’t get any cab so we decided to take the bus instead. I expected the Beomeosa Temple to be large and special but it wasn’t. On the contrary, it was small and not much different from other temples that i have visited. Boring. The only fun part was climbing up. I was quite interested to hike up to reach the summit but as it was too impromptu and we had to catch our KTX later so we dropped the idea of hiking all the way up.
Beomeosa Temple Review
Ratings: 2/5
I was disappointed by it. Nothing much interesting other than the huge boulders. If you’re on time constraint, you can just skip this temple. You won’t miss much stuff. I kind of regretted spending my last few hours at Busan going to this Beomeosa Temple. I should have visited other places instead.
Directions:
If you are still keen to go, here you are:
Subway + Bus:
1) Beomeosa Station exit 5 or 7
2) walk between the 2 exits along the road for about 5 minutes and you will reach the Samsin bus stop.
3)take bus no. 90 and you will arrive at Beomeosa Temple Ticket office.
Back at our hostel, it was time to leave. Grabbed some dinner at a random pork restaurant near our hostel. Forgot to take photos so no review for it. Sorry!
As we checked out earlier in the morning and I did not want to lug my luggage with me the whole day. So I left my luggage under their care. They were very friendly and stored my luggage in a room, making me feel at ease that my luggage was well taken care of.
Here are some photos of the guesthouse in case i hadn’t shown you guys:
Hikorea Hostel Review:
Ratings: 4/5
Pros:
free breakfast, comfortable bed, towels provided. Hairdryer provided. Useful information on places of interest provided. easily accessible. friendly staff. have a kitten to play with (for cat lovers)
Cons:
bathroom- no privacy. Rooms are very narrow. There were 2 shower booths in each bathroom. 1 bathroom for males, 1 bathroom for females. One door for each bathroom. Only a glass partition separating the shower booths. So you could actually see other people bathing which means no privacy and i was quite shocked. So the only thing i dislike about the guesthouse is the no privacy part. And if the person at the corner of the bathroom is done with bathing and walks towards the door, she will pass by the booth beside hers. yes, no privacy.
I didnt know the rooms are that small. Only have space for 1 person to walk when they get off their bunk beds. But hey, i doubt you will spend much time in your room when youre in busan to travel so that was not a big issue to me. Yups thats about all for the review on the guesthouse.
location: very good , < 5minutes walk from haeundae beach. very near subway too. there are restaurants nearby. its near Busan Aquarium too, near quite a number of places of interest.
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