Busan: Rounding Up (Day III)

On to my last day in Busan, we had a long list of itinerary set before us in the morning. All the places which we wanted to visit before leaving this lovely town. Do bear with me as I cover the many places we visited on Day 3!

Our very first stop was Taejongdae. From whereever you are staying at, take the subway to Busan station then head for Bus 88 or 101. It would bring you to Taejondae after a really long and bumpy ride, so find yourself a good seat to prevent yourself from being flung off to the ground.

There was no visible bus stop but this was where we alighted. If I am not wrong, this is where you would spot quite a number of buses since it seems like this is where the bus terminal stop is. To get to Taejondae, walk straight towards the mountains. You would see a giant rock with the words 'Taejongdae' on them when you are near the entrance. I believe they are chinese characters.

From there, continue walking straight. On your way to the ticket booth, you might see the Danubi trains. These are trains which would be sending you around the 'island'. By paying 2,000 won for a ticket, you are entitled to ride on the Danubi train for as many times as you like. Before you get all excited and run after a train, do not forget to get a map from the ticket booth! It has all the information about the different stops which you could pay a visit to.

We took the train to the Observation Deck. From here, you can have a general view of the sea. However, it was a foggy day when we visited so we did not get to see much scenery. If the weather is good, you should be able to see Tea Kettle Island - an island with a shape that resembled a tea kettle.

We quickly moved on to the next stop and the best stop in my opinion: Sinseon Rock. Sinseon Rock basically means 'a place where fairies play'. Cool ocean breeze, beautiful rock cliffs and blue ocean. If you like all these sights, you should not miss this stop!

I have to caution you though: there are many flights of stairs to go before you would get to the cliffs and same goes for when you want to go back up. Definitely not for the elderly.

We would have loved to visit a few more stops such as Mangbu Rock and Monument of Medical Support for Veterans of the Korean War. However due to time constraints, we only managed to visit one last stop before leaving for the next place on our itinerary.

At Taejongsa Temple, there happened to have a beautiful hydrangea festival in July. We were totally in luck and I was over the moon! Imagine yourself surrounded by pretty flowers!

I took much more than 3 photographs of those flowers and I shall spare you the boredom of looking through multiple photographs of different flowers!

We were a little hungry after our long walk and luckily, there was free food at the temple. We got a bowl of cold glass noodles. And man, it was delicious!

After taking the same bus back to Busan station after our tiny meal, we proceeded to Gamcheon Culture Village. Across Busan station, there is a bus stop where Bus 17 and 17-1 make their stops. Take either of them and alight at the last stop. Then walk to take Bus 2 or 2-2 and alight at Gamceon Elementary School. I could not remember if we took this route or... not. Anyway, a Korean grandfather was gesturing at my dslr. At first, I was confused and a little lost at what he was trying to tell me. But I found out later on that he was asking me if I was heading to Gamcheon Culture Village. I only realised that after he tapped on my arm to tell me to alight when the bus stopped at our stop. Such friendly people, haha.

You could purchase a map of the village at Haneul Maru Tourist Information Center for 2,000 Won. With this map, you could participate in a stamp scavenger hunt which has 9 listed locations. In my honest opinion, just get one map and share it with your friends and families since you can just stamp in your notebooks or whereever you want. The only thing would be if you managed to collect all 9 stamps on the map, you could exchange it for a souvenir at any shop in the village. I do not know if this is true, but you could try?!

Before going to Gamcheon Culture Village, I have looked up for photographs of this place and I saw many photographs of vibrant, colourful houses. That could explain why I was dissapointed when I arrived and saw buildings covered in dull colours.

On a brighter note, there are many spots where you could take photographs. One nice spot would be sitting next to the Little Prince and his fox.

We ended off this trip by going back to the Nampodong Street again (Nampodong Station, Exit 7) for dinner.

Have you seen those street stores selling rice cakes, fish sticks and other random sticks of food in dramas? We managed to visit one of those! I would say if you could, don't miss out on such an experience! The food is great and it is just something about experiencing the Korean culture.

By hook or by crook, try to make your way to Gwangbok-ro 35beongil. I guess we were either lucky or we just happened to have walked around the entire Nampodong street to have make our way here.

Why come here? Because there is authentic Korean food! The fish cakes were damn spicy though. I was sweating while eating them. The glass noodles was a tad bit spicy too. Mind you if you have a low tolerance for spicy food.

Having filled our stomachs, we went to Lotte Departmental Store (Gwangbok). Take the subway to Seomyeon station on Line 2. Leave via Exit 7 and walk approximately 100m to the departmental store on the left.

Nope, we were not there for shopping! We were there for more scenery. Since we missed the trip to Busan Tower due to the horrid weather on our first day here, we went to the observatory deck at this shopping mall as a replacement. Supposedly, this place has a better view than the Busan Tower and... you get free admission! Simply head up to the top floor (13th floor) of the shopping mall. Exit the mall and you would pass by a play ground, climb up a few flights of stairs and you are at the top of the building!

Even in Busan, this is a place like Namsam Tower? Seeing all these locks...

We spent a while there and left for our hostel after that. Just some distance away from our hostel, there is this Bingsu cafe which has a delicious looking menu. I was thinking "Why not just eat another Bingsu to end off the night, right?" So we headed right in and ordered a Patbingsu. Man, I made a great decision alright.

Because this is awesome! Sadly, I forgot the name of this cafe but you could still find it on the way to the hostel we were staying at.

That concludes my trip to Busan. I shall bring you more Seoul goodness in my next update!