24 Hour Tour of Busan

Just a handful of weekends left in this country and then it's back to the land of stars and stripes. It's easy to wonder where the time has gone, but I think there were more days when I never thought this month would come. I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel -- the finish line -- and all I have to do is survive the next few weeks of teaching. On the flip side, there are only so many weekends left to travel and experience as much of Korea as I can. My last 5 weekends are booked out. I'm going big, then going home!

One city that I never toured properly was Busan, so my friends and I set a weekend aside to see what Korea's second largest city had to offer.

Busan highlighted in pink

Busan Subway Map

Directions from Mokpo: Mokpo Bus Terminal (5,400won, 1 hour) --> Gwangju U-Square Terminal (~21,000won, 3 hr 10 min) --> Busan Sasang-227 (or alternatively, the smaller bus terminal in Nopo-dong-134)

I took the initiative to research popular sightseeing & tourist destinations and found more places that I was interested in exploring than we had time for. Chong tours is back in business. 

We first visited the Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장), Korea's largest seafood market. Here you can observe local Busan women making a living by selling and butchering live fish. We encountered the smell of fishy sea water a block before we entered the market. The woman in the photo below was hacking the life out of a fish using what seemed like a blunt knife. A couple feet behind her was a partially beheaded shark  sloshing around in a gutter with its head lodged in a crevice. Let's just say I'm glad we didn't go to the market known for selling dog meat.

Fresh fish = No mercy

Poor shark   :(

Despite the hundreds of tubs, tanks, and baskets full of live seafood, the Jagalchi Market didn't smell too bad. The building was well ventilated and looked like an overcrowded aquarium. A woman tried to sell us a fish. She reached into a tank with her rubber glove, pulled out a wriggling black fish, and gestured that we could eat it upstairs. We smiled nervously and kindly declined.

Wriggling worm / intestine-like creature -- ewww

The most fascinating part of the market was the size of the seafood on display. Just imagine every prawn, mussel, clam, oyster, crab, and abalone you've ever seen ... 2-5 times bigger. Remarkable.

Prawns bigger than our fingers

Mussels, abalone, clams, & oysters galore

"Help me!'

Slimy feet

Joanne, Nari, and Yuri wore flip flops and got fish slime on their feet. I guess I should have been more insistent upon bringing close-toed shoes. Needless to say, we didn't stay for much longer and continued onto our next destination, Taejongdae.

SPOTTED: Nari recharging her myB card.

Taejongdae Resort Park is a natural park located on the southernmost part of Yeongdo-gu. The location is perfect for day trips with family and friends as it offers walking trails, ferry rides, and other  outdoor activities.

Directions: Subway Line 1 to Busan Station (113). Then take bus #88 or 101 on the opposite side of the street from the actual Busan Train Station. The bus comes in ~10 min intervals and the ride takes ~40 mins. Basically stay on the bus until you reach the very end of the route (Taejongdae Park).

Our mistake: After walking up and down the block looking for the bus stop, we finally boarded a bus headed for Taejongdae. Or so we thought. Nari and I looked at the map of the bus route on the bus and realized that we were going the wrong way, so we got off at the next stop. Sweaty and frazzled, we boarded a bus stop on the opposite side of the street and headed back the way we came. We openly expressed our relief that we changed buses as soon as we did only to be overheard by a local girl, who told us that Taejongdae was the other way. Two stops later, we were back where we started and eventually on a bus driving in the right direction.

Take bus #88 or #101 to Taejongdae

We ate lunch at a Korean restaurant across the street from where the bus dropped us off. An old woman working there shepherded us into her restaurant. She told Nari (in Korean), "What do you want? We can make it for you." She insisted that everything was delicious. Everyone in Korea says that their food is delicious. We showed reluctance. Then, she took Nari by the arm and pulled her into the restaurant. The rest of us followed her in. I swear people here have no concept of no boundaries. We yielded and settled there for lunch with no regrets. The food actually tasted really good. I ordered haemul soondubu jjigae (해물 순두부 찌개), or seafood tofu stew. Aside from clams, the soup was loaded with vegetables, particularly onions, which appear to be in everything I eat these days. They must be in season. The others were happy with what they ordered as well.

Assortment of side dishes.
The bean sprouts (콩나물) were particularly good today.

해물 순두부 찌개 or seafood tofu stew

Joanne digging into her 

haemul doenjang jjigae (해물된장찌개)
or seafood soybean paste soup

Yuri & me

We walked up to the entrance of Taejongdae Park Resort and were approached by a man who knew exactly what we were looking for: a 10,000won, ~1 hour ferry ride around the southernmost point of Yeongdo Island. He shepherded us into what looked like a recycled kidnapping vehicle and drove almost a dozen of us through the park to a dock.

Giant turtle statue by the dock

The ferry took us into the waters just off shore of Yeongdo Island. From there, we saw more pine tree covered cliffs and locals who rope climbed down the steep slopes to fish.

Taejongdae Park Observatory

Divers?

We made our way to Haeundae (Line 2, 203) to eat dinner at Starface, a restaurant and bar on Dalmaji Hill. I found Starface online and found some good reviews related to their selection of foreign foods, mainly their curry and fish & chips. It's been a while since I've had fish & chips, and where would I find one better than in a big city by the sea? Well readers, listen up. The fish & chips are not that good. In fact, 3 of us ordered fish & chips, but they only had enough to make 2. Even though the restaurant provided tartar sauce, malt vinegar, ketchup, lemon, salt, and pepper, the deep fried fish still tasted really bland. I'm not even sure if the fish was fresh, or maybe that's just how the fish tasted.

Joanne and I also shared a Mexican pizza, which was basically a bell pepper, onion, and olive pizza on a thin crust. The one at Tequilaz in Gwangju is exponentially better (and cheaper). We didn't stick around, but I'm sure Starface qualifies as a better bar.

Directions to Starface: From Haeundae, take a 3,000-4,000won taxi to Dalmaji Hill. Since the taxi driver may not be familiar with Starface, give him/her the name of the place next door: 김성종 달맞이 추리문학관 쪽으로

Mexican pizza @ Starface in Haeundae
10,000won

Fish & chips @ Starface in Haeundae
12,000won

We checked into a motel in Gwangan (Line 2, 209) for 15,000won per person. We chose a place by Gwangalli Beach, so that we could see Diamond (or Gwangan) Bridge lit up at night. At 7.4km, it is the second longest bridge in the country after the Incheon Bridge. The last time I saw Diamond Bridge was in September, when I visited my friend in Yeongdo.

Diamond Bridge

Small town girls in the big city

Memory Card Full: Joanne deleting pictures
delete, delete, DUH-lete

Fireworks

Decided to get my feet wet. The water was warm  :)

Chonga Korea 2012

Good night Gwangalli!

The next morning, we woke up early to visit the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (해동 용궁사) situated on the coast of the north eastern portion of Busan. While most temples are located in the mountains, this one offers the unique perspective of a temple by the sea.

Directions to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple: Haeundae Station (Line 2, 203) Exit #7. Take bus #181 to Yonggungsa Temple. The bus ride takes about 30 min. Exploring the temple should take about an hour.

Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (

해동 용궁사)

Tourists ...

Up to nothing suspicious as usual

A small village of vendors near the temple

Old women selling vegetables, a common sight in Korea

Zodiac signs

1989: Year of the Snake

First glimpse of the temple

I think it's supposed to be good luck if you toss a coin into one of those 2 bowls

Stone stairs connected different levels of the temple

We caught the bus back to Haeundae with the hopes of seeing Oryukdo Island. But alas, we couldn't figure out which way to walk, the sun was rising high, and it was almost time for us to make the journey home. On top of the 4-5 hours on the bus, it takes about an hour by subway to get to the Busan Sasang bus terminal from Haeundae. There's only so much you can see in 24 hours.

Haeundae Beach: A popular tourist destination in the Summer months

We ate lunch at Busan Sasang's upstairs food court. I highly recommend the station that makes Japanese style ramen. I ordered the seafood miso ramen, which was filled with delicious octopus, shrimp, and clams.

Miso Ramen

Some hot days are not complete without ice-cream or gelato. Today was one of them. (So were 4 of the other 6 days this past week. Guilty.)

Stracciatella Gelato -- similar to chocolate chip ice-cream 

Cookies n' Cream Cheese Gelato

SPOTTED: Joanne buying water from Family Mart

Planing ahead definitely pays off. In 24 hours, we saw as much of Busan as I had in 3 prior trips. If I could spend a few more days in Busan, I would visit the U.N. National Cemetery, Seokbulsa Temple (a temple built into a mountain), the Busan Marine Natural History Museum, the Busan Museum of Art, Dongbaek Island, Oryukdo Island, and probably more of the beaches....but I guess if you've seen one museum/beach, you've seen them all.

Till next time!