Busan!!

After a year and a half of living in Korea, I finally made my way down to the second-most populous city in Korea. Busan. Now, Hwacheon, if you don't know, is located at the top of the country, and Busan is located at the very bottom. They are both on the eastern side, but it is still a bit of a treck to make it all the way down there.

Since it is such a long trip, I made the decision last year to go down for several days during my winter vacation. I would get to see a lot more then if I just went down for the weekend.

So, as soon as I was officially free from school, I left. I had four days planned to see the city from Monday to Thursday the week after winter camp. I didn't want to stay any longer than that because Friday started Lunar New Year and it would be an absolute nightmare to travel. Note to anyone who is going to come to Korea, don't plan to travel on public transportation very easily on Chuseok or Lunar New Year. Everyone goes home for those holidays and it is an absolute nightmare.

My trip was mostly condensed to two and a half days because of the time it takes to get from home to Busan and back.

Monday:
After finally arriving at my hostel, I decided I still had a few hours to see the sights. So I went down to Haeundae Beach, one of the more famous beaches in Busan, and I went to the Sea Life Aquarium. I got there pretty late, so there weren't many people still there. After I finished, I walked along the beach and looked at the lights they had laid out. I got dinner and decided to see a movie, just because I didn't feel like going back home yet.

Tuesday:
Since I had the whole day, I was going to take advantage of it. I got a hostel right next to Busan Station and what I didn't realize was there was a hop-on-hop-off bus that started right outside of the station and took me to a lot of the places I wanted to visit.

My first stop was Taejongdae. This is a natural part. I wasn't exactly sure what to do there but I figured I would wander until I found something. Or I guess something found me. As soon as I got off the bus, there was this guy, who I thought worked for the park, telling me and the older Korean lady, who was on the bus too, about a boat cruise and he had discount tickets. Now, I will be honest, I only sorta knew what was going on, but it seemed good and the lady was okay with it, so they transported us to this little cove where there was a boat waiting for us. Some other people straggled in after us while we waited for the cruise. It was a 20-minute ride in the water that was nice and had good views of the water and the traditional fishermen. It would have been a bit more interesting, had I understood what the recording was saying, but it was a nice first adventure.

After Taejongdae, I took the bus to Oryukdo Skywalk, which was an observation deck that overlooked a bunch of islands known as the Oryukdo Islands. And this, I found out, literally means 'five or six islands' because depending on the time of day and tide, there are either five or six islands.

Songdo beach was my next stop. I know, there are a lot of beaches and water for January, but it wasn't too cold out and it's part of the appeal of Busan. I walked around the beach and the observation deck pathway before taking the cable car over the beach and water to a nearby cliff.

After this, I went to Busan Tower. This tower overlooks the whole city. It was actually pretty cool seeing all the places I had been today and the places I had planned for tomorrow. The tower didn't take too long, so I decided to add on to my itinerary and hit some close by places next, like the Busan Modern History Museum, Bosu Book Street (an alleyway several blocks long, lined on both sides by little book shops), a few markets that were close together like Bupyeong Kangtong and Gukje Market, before deciding that my legs were killing me and it was time to grab some dinner and rest for the evening.

Wednesday:
Even though my legs still ached from Tuesday, it was full steam ahead as I went to Gamcheon Culture Village. A huge village that was built like stairs into the side of the mountain. The idea is that no one's house would intrude on the view of the sea for another house. I spent a fair amount of time there, even though it was drizzling the whole day. I briefly went to Jeonpo Cafe Street, which really reminded me of the Myeongdong area in Seoul, and finally ending at Centum City. This is a huge shopping complex and is recognized as the largest department store in the world. There is even an ice skating rink there on the 4th floor.

While I only had a few days there, I do feel like I got to see everything I wanted to see and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed my trip and I am glad I got to go.