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| Top of the world. - BUSAN (Geumjeongsan) |
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| Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Square |
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| Our room in Calli Hostel, we could look out the window and see life of the locals Super cold that day too. Stuck our heads out the window and froze |
Jalgachi market and dinner
The night we got to Busan, we went for a walk in the market area before dinner. Headed to Jalgachi market for dinner and decided that it was THE night for a huge crab! After walking around and surveying some shops, we came back to a shop at the start of the street, where they served a variety of fresh crabs, squids and octopuses. The girl who attended to us spoke chinese, which made it much easier for us to communicate (in fact, a lot of the staff who work in that area are chinese) so we could ask about the price, menu etc. Ordered a 1.3kg crab for ourselves with soju. With the variety of side dishes they gave, it was PLENTY for us.THE CRAB WAS SO FRESH. The girl who served us taught us the method of cutting the crab open and how to get to the flesh with specially designed scissors. It was probably the sweetest crab I've ever tasted. And it was PLAIN crab, with none or maybe only simple seasoning. Just the juice that comes from the flesh was enough to melt us.. Ah missing it so much.
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| Plenty more side dishes not in photo.. and more of our soju days haha |
Geumjeongsan / Mt. Geumjeong Hike
It was an early day for us the next morning. Woke super early to take the train from Seomyeon station to Beomeosa station (busan subway line 1, take exit 5 or 7) take a short walk up a small slope to get to the bus terminal and catch bus number 90 that goes to the entrance of Beomeosa Temple. In case you were wondering, the T-money card works for buses as well. Just tap on and you're good to go.Prior to starting our hike up, we wandered around in Beomeosa Temple where there was a prayer thing going on and people sat in rows, chanting. We noticed that the other visitors were generally older people.
Geumjeongsan is basically a very large historical mountainous area with a 17km long fortress wall and consists of 4 main gates: Dongmun, Nammun, Seimun, Bukmun (East, South, West, North gates). There are several recommended routes to hike while in Geumjeongsan. Here's a list of it: *icopypastelah :P
* Course 1 (8 km, 3 hr 30 min) Busan Nat'l Univ. - Gobyeoldae Cliffs - Dongmun Gate - Buchaebawi Rocks - Bungmun Gate - Geumjeongsan Mountain
* Course 2 (7 km, 2 hr) Dongnae - Mandeokgogae Hill - Seokbulsa Temple - Sanggyebong Peak
* Course 3 (6 km, 2 hr) Geumgang Park - Nammun Gate - Sanggyebong Peak
* Course 4 (6 km, 2 hr) Busan Nat'l Univ. - Dongmun Gate - Sanggyebong Peak
* Course 5 (6.5 km) Beomeosa Temple - Bungmun Gate - Dongmun Gate
* Course 6 Botanical Garden - Dongmun Gate - Bungmun Gate - Beomeosa Temple
* Course 7 (8 km, 2 hr 40 min) Jung-ri (Sanseongmaeul) - Gukcheongsa Temple - Bungmun Gate - Godangbong Peak
*Try reloading the image, it might work.
Looking at the map is one thing; truly walking it is another. Important thing to note is that most of the signs are in Korean/Hangul - so try to learn up some landmarks at least. At one point, we were reaching the end of the hike but had trouble looking for the cable car station and literally walked on the same road back and forth like multiple times. Thankfully I managed to catch a glimpse of a sign saying 케이블카 which actually really reads kae-bul-ka LOL. We were also always happy to just walk up to any ahjusshi or ahjumma with a friendly "Anyeonghaseyo" and a bow, ask "------ eo-di-ye-yo?". We were always greeted nicely and pointed to the right directions. Love their helpful spirit! If you're polite, they are twice as polite
Did some research before going and we took course 5, starting from Beomeosa Temple, end with South Gate and take the cable car down. Named after a Nirvana fish.
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| Encountered the first gate before entering the temple |
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| Gathered autumn leaves - beautiful mixture of colors! |
Then we set off. I vaguely remember one of the recommended time to spend was like 3 hours..? But we took our time with photos, taking in the beautiful surrounding and chatting all the way up. I think we spent like 5 hours. Which was worth it. In the middle of the hike, abit further from this place below (see below lol) there was snow! Not just ANY snow, but the PRETTY kind of light snow. One of the most memorable hikes I've ever had.
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| The route was mostly rocky steps like these, some stairs in between and some flat grounds nearer to the gates. Oh and I actually hiked in my good/'fashion' boots a.k.a. NOT FOR HIKING. but went ahead anyway and it clearly was upset and broke down at the end I had to throw it away the next day T_T |
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| Cable car ride down |
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| Perfect meal after the hike. Beef and pork stew! Walking distance from the jimjilbang |
Jjimjilbang / Onsen experience!
After the 4 hour+ walk we had in Geumjeongsan, it was of course, the perfect time to treat our poor feet to a jimjilbang + onsen session! This was a first for both of us. If you already heard about proper traditional onsens, yes they require guests to be fully undressed eg. not wearing anything at all when you're in the onsen to preserve the cleanliness of the water, and they are also very particular about guests with tattoos. We were planning to go for an onsen in Japan as well so we've already did quite a bit of reading beforehand. Being fully nude in front of your friend might be an awkward thing (I was expecting the worst), but we both got comfortable SO quickly as if we have done it a hundred times. I guess once you get in and every other woman around you is naked, you feel like there's no need to be too embarassed. x) Of course, ladies and men have 2 totally separated areas. In the jjimjilbang area though, everyone is dressed and it's a public area where men and women both use.We went to one of the more well known ones in Busan - HurShimChung Jjimjilbang (here's a good list to choose from). Upon arriving, at the counter, you just show your passport and they hand you a key with a locker number on it. They have a system whereby all the information is stored in the key so whenever you spend, for example on drinks they sell by the pools, they just scan the key and you're good to go. This is so that you can keep your cash etc in the lockers and only pay the final sum at the counter when you're leaving. Very smart system indeed- was amazed by it I wonder why not all places use this.
Gamcheon Cultural Village
Started off early to catch a bus to Toseong station (subway line 1), get out from Exit 6 and take the local bus Saha 1-1, Seogu 2 or 2-2 - it all leads to the same place -- Gamcheon Cultural Village, which was on top of a hill. Bus comes quite often and is marked clearly so when you see one just hop on. The rooftops of the crowded houses forms a sea of colors, which made it the pretty "Santorini of Korea".
They try to promote tourism in that area so there was a route map designed for tourists to follow and we get to collect stamps at each spot we stop at. I think there is a small fee of 2000Krw to get the map. We didn't think of doing it initially, but out of the feeling of accomplishment (quite fun too, like a mini treasure hunt), we actually obediently followed the steps and collected ALL of the stamps (VICTORY!). Followed it closely and managed to obtain the 2 free postcards that are given in 2 of the locations. But seriously, the alleys were quite the VERY confusing at one point we almost gave up on one of the stamps because we got too tired walking up and down the same stairs (mind you it's like a LONG one) looking for it. Since my comfy boots were destroyed from the day before, I actually wore my H&M ballet flats in that freezing weather LOL. I survived, but not without new calluses and sore toes.
Main attraction of this place: The culture, artsy decorations and some shopping. The colorful fish symbol is everywhere along the mini streets and there are many more abstract artwork and interesting stories behind each of them. Lots of Instagram-worthy spots too ;)
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| Their version of love locking - a lock set has to be bought first before they let you up. |
For those who are interested in drinks/dancing/meeting international friends
We moved to Haeundae for our 3rd night in Busan. Haeundae beach area is known for its bars and clubs so we wanted to have a go to experience it. Initially went to a very very dodgy club and it was just 2 of us so within 10 minutes we RANFOROURLIVES ok kidding not that bad but couldn't communicate in there anyway. |
| Samgyeopsal at 5am wooooooooots |
IT WAS THE BEST NIGHT EVER.
Just gonna describe this one because it was QUITE an experience. When we first went in the place it was already 1am-ish but still crowded with happy people and music was blasting but not too crazy. You could see happy bartenders and customers bouncing to the music. After we had our drinks, the manager dude came over to chat us up and he was CLEARLY drunk. Probably the happiest and funniest drunk man ever. He brought a few of us in the shop together, including 2 korean girls, 2 korean guys, 1 from Czech Rep, 1 from the States, 1 from Germany and made all of us friends with his cheerful vibe. At the end of it he brought us to a BBQ shop and treated us all to Samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly ftw!!!!!!!!) I don't even wanna mention the time we finally got back. Hey it only happens when travelling :P
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| Majestic indeed |
Haedong Yonggung Temple
After getting back in the morning, we quickly caught up with sleep and then had to peel ourselves off the bed because it was the hotel check out time! Managed to hand the keys in on time, then dragged ourselves to visit Haedong Yonggung Temple.I would say it was worth going. It's a wonder built right beside the sea, giving it a very majestic look. It was pretty crowded when we were there. For a temple, there were plenty to look at and quite a few interesting practices to follow, for example pouring water over the sculpture while praying.
Go to Haeundae station (Busan Subway Line 2, exit 7), take bus 181 (the bus stop is right in front of a convenience store) and alight at Yonggungsa Temple - bus ride was about 40 minutes so it would be best to find a seat. It wasn't too difficult because you could clearly see the same crowd going to the same place from Haeundae station. From the bus stop, a little bit of walking is required, but nothing too crazy - just a 10-20 minutes slightly uphill and some steps leading to the temple.
I was depending on an Americano I bought from the convenience store where we took the bus. One thing I like is that they have WARM drinks that comes in aluminium bottles which you can recap. I could keep it in my bag and take my time with it. It worked wonders! Literally kept me awake even with that mere 2 hours of sleep.
When we got back to the hotel again, we had to RUSH TO BUSAN STATION! -- For our Korea Train Express (KTX) train ride to Seoul WOOHOO
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| The receptionist for our hotel in Haeundae was SO FRIENDLY AND SWEET she wrote a note for us to hand to our cab driver to tell him we needed to rush to Busan station because we were late for our train at 4.30pm, and even quoted us an estimated fare for the cab AWWW |
Next up: Read about how we spent our nights in the super happening shopping area Myeongdong, Hongdae with the exciting hip vibes, Gangnam, and Everland, just to name a few!
I'm still missing my crab.
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