Busan: the city of art

Yongdusan Park

After our adventure in Jeju, we make our way up north into Busan. Again, we made so many adjustment last minute, and drop many destination as my initial itienarary appeared too ambitious. Luckily, we kept a day or 2 as buffer, which we manage to use to complete our venture into Busan.

food:
any seafood would be fresh here.
dong-na pajeon: pancake
bokguk: soup with pufferfish
ssiat hotteok: hotteok filled with nuts
dwaeji gukbap: rice and pork soup
milmyeon: Busan version of cold noodle
eomuk: fish cake derivatives

transport:
Metro would be the choice, but some of the tourist spots require bus transfer. there is a one day pass which is worth it if there are 3-4 trips per day. Using transport card (T money/ Cashbee), there will be discount if transfer to another transport within half hour of exiting the first one, so sometimes, using transport card is more convenient.



budget:
total budget for 5 Nights in Busan for 2:
accommodation: RM 657
food:                   150K won
transport:            79K won
admissions:        6K won
grand total:        RM 1488 (1K won to RM3.53)

Grand total for the whole South Korea trip (for 2)
Jeju:     RM 1955
Busan: RM 1488
flight:  RM 2516 (for Airasia + Air Busan)
Others RM 398 (International Driving Permit, Travel Insurance, taxi from Ipoh- Aman Jaya, Bus from Ipoh- KLIA2)
Grand total: RM6357 (cost exclude souvenirs)

stay:
there are many areas, the beach-side being the popular ones. Seomyeon, on the other hand, is central with lots of food and shopping selections. While hostel is the smart choice in Jeju, there are lack of this similar accommodation here. Love hotels, on the other hand, are abundant. Although it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is actually a safe place to stay. Many of the patrons here are actually tourists from other countries. For a fragment of price, we had a big hotel room, room service everyday, the usual complimentary daily coffees, a super big LCD TV with 60+ legit Korean channel, and best of all, a wifi AND personal desktop in the room (which I used to write this blog)

realxing afternoon

actual itinerary
D1: travel day
arriving in Gimhae from Jeju, we took the metro to Seomyeon, where we left our luggage in our hotel, W Motel Busan. Since it is Easter Sunday, we visited New Philadelphia Church. It is a small non denominational church, and worshiping here is very comfortable. Since we travel in the morning, we took the rest of the evening off and lepak around Seomyeon.
Busan Museum of Art: free museum with small collection of modern art. Why not visit since there are no charge?
Seomyeon area is full of eateries, we ended up here nearly every night and yet, we still find new place every time.

D2: Metro Line 1
Taejongdae Park: shore with magnificient views.
Lotte Gwangbok for the cascading muscial fountain (close on mon),
Yeongdo Bridge: draw bridge, lifted once a day.
Jagalchi Market and surrounding area, Bupyeong market, Gukje Market, BIFF square: all cluster together for great food. Jagalchi is famous for fresh sea product, which expectedly do not come cheap. There is also a night market in Bupyeong as well.
Yongdusan park: the usual park with lots of locals. Busan tower is here as well with the expected love locks. Not a must but do come since it is within the vicinity.

Beomeosa Temple

Shinsegae Mall: supposedly biggest mall in the world makes night shopping here exciting.
Busan Cinema Center: the official cinema for Busan International Film Festival. Do come if within the vicinity,  for the beautiful light display on the ceiling daily.

D3: Metro line 2
spent the morning doing some shopping in Lotte Seomyeon.
UN Memorial Cemetery: the only cemetery managed by UN, mainly for those who gave up their lives during Korean War. If walking is possible, try to visit UN Peace Memorial Hall uphill (NOT the same as memorial cemetery), a UN museum dedicated to Korean war, with lots of interesting exhibits. To further appreciate the cemetery, it will be more informative to visit the museum first prior to cemetery (though quite far) to fully appreciate the history behind.
Busan Museum: besides the cemetery, free entry but exhibits focused more on history of Busan.
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple: temple facing the sea. good photo opportunity, but may not be worth the trip for some.
Haeundae Beach: popular beach, especially during summer. Slightly more upscale, and many other attractions such as the aquarium (which we did not visit) are here as well.
Dalmaji Hill/ Moontan road: short hill trail hike with views of the seaside. One of the place to appreciate cherry blossom in Busan.
We went shopping at Shinsegae again at night, and back to Seomyeon for dinner.

Cherry Blossom in Jinhae

D4: Outskirt of Busan
Beomeosa Temple: a fully functional temple complex with a few hiking trail. Less busy than Yonnggusa temple.
Busan Gamcheon Cultural Village: will top my list of must-visit in Busan. A fully inhabited village, on a hill slope. It is a feast for the eyes, with the colorful houses, multiple art piece along the road, plenty of house rennovated into mini art museum, and plenty of picture opportunity. Buy the map, and we even went on a art scavenger hunt which made my whole afternoon here truly enjoyable.
Gangwan beach: come at night, and we were able to watch the colorful illuminated beach. However, the fun here lies more on the equally colorful beach side, a good mixture of food, restaurants and relaxing stroll along the beach.
No prize guessing that although we had our naengmyeon here, we still went back to Seomyeon for our proper dinner.

D5: daytrip to Jinhae
There are frequent bus ride to Jinhae so there is no need to get our ticket before hand. Jinhae is famous as THE place for cherry blossom, so we time out visit so it coincide with the cherry blossom festival. To appreciate fully the festival (with the activities), it is still best to come during the festival, but in order to avoid some of the crowd, it will be wiser to come earlier. The cherry blossom is blooming, the street is full of food, and the crowds is starting to build up.
Yeojwa Stream: The river is nicely decorated, the the hanging cherry blossom over the river makes it one of the top place to appreciate the flowers. However, since it is near the bus and railway station, there is a huge crowd here.
Geonghwa train station: The railway station is a better place to fully appreciate cherry blossom, although smaller in size.

Jinhae

D6: travel back to KLIA2

Southern part of South Korea, although may not be as compact as Seoul, do has its charm. Jeju, although with lots of man-made attractions, still appeals with its equal numbers of natural attractions. Busan, is a pleasant surprise, with so many food choices, and interesting visits. Definitely a destination to consider.
For the previous post on Jeju, click here

ratings: 4 poink~!
comments: for a snapshot of Korea, Seoul would be a better choice. For people with lots of time, Seoul-Jeju-Busan is doable in one half week. However, for people like me, who actually want to relax and do things my own pace, Busan-Jeju is a nice getaway for a week plus.