Bustling Busan

Our first glimpse of South Korea was from the airplane window as we landed in Busan. Lots of buildings, lots of hills — it looked modern but also very green at the same time. 

We split our time in Busan between two hotels so that we could better explore the sights in this sprawling city. From our hotel in the Seomyeon district, we could easily get to one of the most popular tourist spots: Gamcheon Culture Village. 

This was originally a neighborhood populated by refugees from other parts of Korea just after the Korean War. Without the benefit of urban planning, the people built small simple houses up and down the steep hillsides using scrap materials. Municipal infrastructure was limited at first, as was access to sanitation. 

Over the decades, art projects and urban renewal efforts have transformed the area into a cultural artsy district very popular with tourists. Large scale murals and art installations give the neighborhood a vibrant and eclectic feel. 

Many murals reference the book and artwork of “The Little Prince” by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery. While others take inspiration from more contemporary South Korean icons, like K-pop group BTS. This one managed to combine both. 

In Japan a popular thing for tourists is to rent a kimono for photos; here it is similar although the name of the traditional clothing is called hanbok. Women wear a short jacket and a high-waisted bell-shaped skirt, while men wear a similar short jacket, loose trousers, and a longer overcoat. They also wear a kind of mesh top hat called a “gat”. 

For lunch we headed over to BIFF Square to check out the food vendors. This area gets its name from the Busan International Film Festival, usually held in the fall. 

The food vendors are there every day, though, and it was a good spot to try some Korean street food. We got some garlicky dumplings, a potato dog (corn dog with a chunky potato batter), and a crisp waffle sandwich for dessert. 

A short walk brought us up a hill to Yongdusan Park. The park has nice views of the city, and you can go up Busan Tower if you’d like an even higher viewpoint  The Citizens’ Bell hangs in a vibrantly painted pavilion; it is rung 33 times at midnight on December 31st to welcome the new year with peace, hope, and new beginnings. 

It’s not a proper visit to South Korea without a little Korean Barbecue!  Kevin found a nearby restaurant that uses huge stone slabs as the cooking surface. We had grilled pork, potatoes, pickles, kimchi, and more garlic cloves than we could eat. Our server did the cooking and was great about explaining all the condiments and which sauces went on which cuts of meat.

The Seomyeon area is pretty lively and is a popular location to stay for first-time visitors to Busan. The central location was really good for using public transport. It reminded me a lot of the Ximending neighborhood in Taipei —energetic and bustling!

We moved to a different hotel on the eastern side of the city for our last two nights. This hotel was just a couple blocks back from Haeundae Beach, and there was much more of a relaxed vibe here. 

Big mountains of sand had been piled up all along the main beach in preparation for the 21st Haeundae Sand Festival coming up the second week in May. Some of the artists were already getting started on their sculptures. 

The number one activity here (besides beach going) is to ride the slow-moving sky capsules along the elevated track that follows the coast in Blueline Park. 

You have the option to ride the sky capsules in one direction (they move at a snail’s pace, very appropriate for the laid-back vibe here in Haeundae). Then coming the other direction you can take the slightly faster but equally scenic train. 

Unfortunately we had left our Busan planning too late and weren’t able to book a sky capsule ride - they were already sold out for the whole weekend! We had the train booked for today (Sunday) but we knew the forecast was for heavy rain all day. Since the weather was beautiful on Saturday, we just decided to walk the coastal route along the pedestrian path and admire both the capsules and the train from the trail. 

This had the added benefit that we were able to walk out around the Daritdol and Haewol skywalks. These walking paths take you right out over the ocean. Both have glass panel sections to pump up the adrenaline and let you watch the waves crashing against the jagged rocks directly beneath you. Not quite as relaxing as the sky capsules, but still pretty memorable!

Along the way we had a really good lunch at a cafe where Kevin tried tteokbokki for the first time and impressed the waitresses with his ability to eat something so spicy. Tteokbokki is a saucy stew with cylinders of chewy rice and fish cakes. The sauce contains both gochujang (chili paste) and gochugaru (chili powder) — eye-wateringly hot! (I am not so daring and just ordered pizza. It was delicious!). We enjoyed nice views from the restaurant windows and had a pleasant walk back towards the beach. 

We did not realize that yesterday was a holiday but we figured it out pretty quickly when we tried to take a bus to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. The bus took forever due to the gridlock traffic. And the temple was packed with local folks and tourists. This temple is really popular even on non-holidays because of its dramatic seaside location. 

Haedong Yonggungsa’s interesting statues and splashes of color make it an excellent place for photos. 

The cute golden pig statues bring wealth, good fortune, happiness, and prosperity. It is probably just a coincidence, but Kevin was born in the year of the metal pig according to the Chinese (and Korean) zodiac. 

It’s said that Haedong Yonggungsa is the temple of wishes. Worshippers and tourists write their wishes on a golden leaf in the hopes that it will come true. 

It is entirely possible that Kevin secretly wished for amazing brisket tacos, because that is what we ended up having for dinner that night at a Tex Mex restaurant around the corner from our hotel. Truly some of the best-tasting brisket we’ve ever had!

Today (Sunday) was a rare day off from sightseeing for us. As expected, it rained pretty hard most of the day so we just relaxed in the hotel and got caught up with the blog and trip videos. We didn’t take a single photo today, so I’ll just post a photo of last night on the main drag in Haeundae Beach. Busan sure gives Las Vegas a run for its money in terms of neon!