Korea Apr 2023: Busan Day 2

12 Apr, 8:30am: Went down for the free Korean-style breakfast after almost 12h of great sleep! Was completely charged up for my longest day on foot. 

10am: Reached the west end of Haeundae Beach after a bit of a walk from the metro. This was the start of the day's long route towards the northeast and back to cover a very large range of attractions. But priorities first. Can't come to Busan and not walk along a beach, hence this specific daytime plan! Once again, it was all bright sunshine with a decent sea wind (not as strong as at Igidae) - perfect sunglasses weather. 

Strolled on the sand until I decided it was time to conserve energy and moved to the pavement instead. Haven't been to a beach in a while, let alone a beach this nice in weather this nice 😍 

Noticed on this trip that there were many more ang mohs in Busan as compared to Seoul (which was flooded with the Chinese). On the beach, the foreigners were quite obvious, since the Koreans seem to prefer wrapping up to avoid the sun so I don't think they were the ones out there sunbathing haha.

There were many nods towards the Busan World Expo 2030 as well. Was wondering why since 2030 is 7 years from now. After that, I went to read up that Busan was actually bidding to host it and the results will be out in Nov this year. Well all the best Busan!

Found this wacky hopscotch (?) on the way to the train station. 

11am: Caught some transport from Mipo Blueline station to go further northeast. The original plan was to take the Sky Capsule but it was all booked out until 12.30pm. So I took the more available option which was just as much a novelty - the Beach Train. The train seats all face the same side towards the sea view, and after one stop I managed to get to the front bench when some other people got off.

So I got to sit in comfort and enjoy the side scrolling view for about 20 mins to Seongjeong station (the final stop). I love the abundance of public spaces in Korea, especially those stemming from rejuvenation efforts like this Blueline Park which was once an old railway.

There was still some ways to go by public transport to get to the furthest destination of the day. And of course, there had to be a hill to get over, nicely marked by these colourful lanterns. Clearly, I wasn't the only one heading there...

12:15pm: Reached the entrance of the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, also known as the most beautiful temple in Korea! I got to see lots of coastal views and nature over those few Busan days but this was something else. 

Wahhhhhh...

It was a functioning temple, and there were lots of these pretty red-gold wishing cards written in all sorts of languages. Like I said earlier, there were many ang mohs in Busan, and even here too it was apparent.

More temple shots pics just coz! It did take some effort to get here after all. Only thing was that it was super crowded and I actually had to fall in line to get around those curving narrow pathways and stairs. It made me wonder what it'd have been like to visit a year ago and have the entire place to myself... Not that I ever want to go through covid again tho.

A mark of an Asian society, a patriarchal society, and one stunned rooster~

By then, I was definitely getting hungry. But I resisted snacking at the stalls outside the temple entrance to avoid spoiling lunch and went back over the hill. This time, I took more notice of the vibrant azaleas along the way. They came in many shades even in the same cluster, pink, purple and red, and I'd go on to see more of these over the next few days. It was really spring!

1:15pm: Arrived at the Lotte Premium Outlets which I starred on my maps just coz I needed something just as far out to maximise the temple trip. Didn't really expect to arrive at some kind of Santorini-esque building complex all the way out here haha. The place was hugeee and I was on a tight schedule, but managed to browse around the outdoor gear stores (there was a whole wingful) for a while.

Went to the food court and had the tastiest and most atas-looking beef bibimbap in my life (for about $10). Swept away some of the raw veg coz there was too much. The scissors came along by default and I learnt what to use it on by watching other diners while waiting for my food haha - those two huge chunks of radish kimchi, which I finished all of because it was so good!

I debated how to get back the way I came and eventually came back to the usual option - walking. It was only 2.2km anyway, a very comfortable distance especially in a Korean city with superior walking infra. See those nice, even paths lined with greenery! Plus I wasn't about to waste any bit of the weather! Assuming a good set of legs, there really was no reason not to walk.

3:40pm: So that was just the warm up haha. Got back to the official start of Walk 2 on Busan Day 2, the ~4.8km boardwalk back from Seongjeong to Mipo station. This was the third option of traversing the Blueline Park after the Beach Train and Sky Capsule and ran just parallel to the train tracks.

At some point I noticed this colourful path running right next to the coast. So I went down from the boardwalk to follow it for a while. The wind was strong here, sort of like the previous day in Igidae, and made my nose run.

4:15pm: Went to find Oldmug cafe along the way just because the name was cute xD Wasn't particularly hungry or thirsty but ordered some expensive soda drink anyway coz I was on holiday~

After that, I had to pick up my pace a bit but kept getting jammed by the gorgeous views.

Visited another landmark along the way - the Cheongsapo Daritdol Observatory. Had to slip on a velvety shoe cover that made my feet look like a stuffed toy's before going onto the platform over the sea. 

There were some interesting views along the way, not all for the faint-hearted! I took my photos and videos as shown but otherwise I preferred to stand on the solid wood haha. Psychological.

Last stretch back towards Haeundae Beach featuring the Sky Capsule that I didn't manage to ride.  Looking at my photo, I just noticed the painting of the dog with windows for sunglasses on the building across the road. Sunlight too strong haha. 

Noticed a pebble beach and went down to take a look. Not sure if pebble beach is the right term tho, coz most of the "pebbles" were rather large so I had a hard time keeping my balance. Didn't want to embarrass myself by falling down in front of the only other people there (a couple) so I wobbled back up to the boardwalk. Knees were getting creaky by then coz of the overdose of stairs and hills in one day so I gave the next few sets of downwards stairs a miss. 

For most part tho, this was an easy an enjoyable walk! I had some music on (SJ, coz why not, just that the song I kept replaying in particular was a Japanese one: 愛が教えてくれたこと) and there was no need to watch feet on a nice flat boardwalk haha. The feeling of freedom comes out the strongest when there are no worries. And it's in those times where I started smiling randomly to myself haha.

Walking back this way really brought out the meaning of "got the sun in my eyes~". Sunglasses and sunscreen were indispensable and my photos all looked almost grayscale.

5:30pm: Ended my boardwalk tour at the foot of the next item on the itinerary, Busan X the Sky. 

Of course I'd go up high places whenever I could. So I had a ticket booked for the observatory at the 98-100th floor. Because of this, my Haeundae day was fixed on the most cloudless day on the itinerary, but unfortunately the view still seemed a bit dusty. Or maybe it was the glass that was dirty :x Also, the route passed through a mandatory glass floor and this one definitely induced some flight instincts.

This place also holds the highest Starbucks in the world. There was no time to squeeze in dinner just yet, so I got a drink (the usual non-caffeinated iced chocolate thing) and went to chill on some fake grass while waiting for sunset.

6:45pm: The show started! Dusty as it was, it was still very clear when the sun sank behind the mountains and the city started to light up. 

Normally, I'd have stayed until it was fully dark to see both the day and night views. But the next item on my schedule was shifted from 9pm to 8pm by the organiser and I had to scoot off when it was still gloaming.

8pm: Showed up at the Suyeong River for the final activity of the day, the Haeundae River Cruise night tour! It was downright cold in the night wind. I was reasonably comfortable after putting on both layers of my windproof jacket, but the boat also had furry blankets available for whoever needed it.

It was quite a fun experience passing all the colourful lights on the banks and going under bridges. I spent most of the time on the upper deck and would've uploaded more photos here if they weren't all so shaky from the wind and cold haha. Was having to hold on tight to my phone. 

The cruise didn't actually head out to sea like I thought it would. But we got very up close to the Gwangan Bridge at the furthest point on the 1h ride! And it was cold enough anyway haha. Maybe next time I'm in Busan (yes, there's still enough to warrant at least one more visit), I'll go for the sunset tour to see the colours change behind the bridge~

We stopped for a while to take pictures in the bay and the cruise staff lit up some flares for novelty!

11:pm: After showering and tending to my knees (Urah FTW) and everything, I finally sat down for the perfect kind of dinner/supper at the end of a 36k steps kinda day haha. No complaints at all! It was an extremely fruitful day that took me all over Haeundae and more and I got all the sunlight I wanted. Nothing left unfulfilled but to surround myself with pillows and crash in the middle of the king-sized bed for the night.

Fun fact: I discovered that Korean cheese is tasteless xD Was always v interested to eat it tgt with my ramyeon after watching countless mukbang videos, but seems like it's there mostly for the stretchy visuals, texture and fending off some spiciness. I had some of it on its own, and it felt like chewy nothingness...

>>Day 3

Korea Apr 2023: Busan Day 1

This started by waiting for 1.2k photos/videos to finish uploading. Was in Korea (again, yes) from 11-19 Ap! 1 trip, 3 segments: (1) the best weather and views in Busan, (2) the best performance and atmosphere at SS9 Encore and (3) the best food and drinks with friends in Seoul. A sign of a great trip was being perfectly content and ready to go home at the end of it. 

But a bit no time to blog coz post-covid-back-to-normal life moves too fast. So it shall be chronological photojournal style, minimal editing, covering segments (1) and (3). (2) is still part of another story haha. For the first time, I shall let the pics take the lead in a post. This was originally just gonna be 1 post... Had to break things up coz 250+ photos/GIFs is too much but all 4 parts are up!

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Busan

It's a good feeling to be excited while planning a trip. For the Busan leg, I was super excited. Just got the feeling that the things I'd be doing there would suit me very well. And I was right! 

11 Apr, 5am: Was on the red-eye Jejuair flight, the only direct route to Busan from SG. One-way flights are more expensive, but I saved lots of time compared to bouncing in from Seoul. Couldn't sleep well as usual, and happened to rouse from semi-consciousness to this dramatic view. 

10am: It took all of 2h to get to hotel after touchdown. I was hungry by then but the stomach was confused about what it wanted to eat. So I took the easy way with my first ever croffle and was surprised at how much I liked it! 

I relied quite a lot on buses this trip and found that they had quite peculiar seating. Here, I was sitting with my legs scrunched almost to chest level coz the seat was over the wheel. Also, I noticed that there didn't seem to be any double-decker public buses in Korea. 

11:50am: Reached the start of the Igidae Coastal Trail (Yongho Starlight Park end), the first of the 3 walks over my 3 days in Busan. It started with a postcard view of the Gwangalli Bridge and Haeundae.

I stopped to admire the view/take pictures/enjoy the wind soooo many times that this ~5km walk took me 2.5h to finish. With the blue sky and the blue sea... it was that gorgeous. Also, I put on my sunglasses and practically kept them on for the next 3 days 😎

Took the coastline-hugging route which came with assorted terrains and many stairs. It started off easily enough in my chosen direction (heading south).

The first attraction was a set of 5 suspension bridges called 구름다리 - Bridge of Clouds.

Boardwalk, dirt, stone pavement, coastal rockface, scrub - this trail had everything. I alternated between watching the view and watching my feet. Didn't wanna hurt anything on the first day of holiday~

I especially liked the open rock faces because these were where the sea wind (can't really call it a "breeze") could be felt at full blast. The weather was like aircon + sunshine which sounds strange but was extremely luxurious. Must say that I was probably very fortunate to be there in a window where everything to do with the weather was perfect. Well, we do get these amazingly bright blue skies in SG too, except that it doesn't come with 15 deg weather...

Decided to chill awhile atop a nice rectangular boulder and enjoy everything in the picture + the rushing wind. Life couldn't get better (oh but it did actually, that was only halfway into Day 1 after all xD). I considered this one of the representative moments of the trip. 

The second half of the walk was more undulating. I started to feel my knees since I came straight from the red-eye and there wasn't a chance to get my knee guards on. The inner areas away from the coastline were also very insulated from the wind so it got quite hot. T-shirt was enough. 

Most of the route was quite clearly marked/intuitive so it's a safe trail to take even while alone (made sure of this before coming). This particular path was marked "길 없음" or literally "no road" haha. Of course I went down it out of curiosity and came to a dead end as expected xD

This short trail was part of larger trails (200+ to 1400+km long) across Busan/the east/south coasts of Korea, marked by coloured flags. Those sound like something to do on a sabbatical haha.

I pretty much stopped at every viewpoint along the way out of curiosity. At some of them, it was almost like the world was entirely made up of sky and sea (and maybe a random fisherman).

Near the end of it, there were many many stairs going upwards. To tell the truth, I met more people going in the opposite direction. But it was a conscious decision to take this direction since, from previous experience, going down stairs would have been much more damaging than going up. Also, not all the stairs were these nice wooden ones. I think going down all those the rocky, rooty dirt stairs would've killed my knees and my plans for the next 8 days. All in all, I preferred to climb upwards and was thankful that I managed to squeeze in some conditioning before the trip!

I was counting the stairs and lost track after climbing a full HDB block or so. So I turned back to watch the view for a bit.

2:10pm: I emerged out of the scrub at the end point: Oryukdo Sunrise Park up on a hill overlooking the Oryukdo Skywalk (the blue structure extending off the path, over the sea). The pictures sort of look calm and innocent here, but this was where I faced the strongest wind of the entire trip. Both jacket layers came back on as I moved gingerly, bracing with tired knees, to avoid getting blown off balance and rolling downhill. The Skywalk was closed due to "adverse weather conditions" and rightly so. It was all bright and sunny but I think it would've been possible to get bodily blown off the structure.

The park was full of bright yellow rapeseed flowers! Haven't seen so much of these since the days in the UK wandering through fields full of them. And the apartment blocks in the background made it look like a City in Nature promotional shot.

Maybe this will give an idea of how strong the wind was. No roaring sound coz GIF but visuals should be enough. Those weren't waves, more of ripples caused by the wind dragging the water surface along. I was having stand firm and keep an extra tight hold of my phone coz the wind was like some heavy thing nudging me along physically. Compared to this, the only time I've felt stronger wind was at Giant's Causeway. But that time was all grey and dreary and cold, so this was a much better experience haha. 

4:15pm: Took some time to get back after getting on some wrong buses (some of them only plied partial routes). Here's a picture of my room coz I was super satisfied with it! Sleeping right smack in the middle of a king-sized bed is a true joy in life. Not to mention, this only cost about S$60/night with breakfast!! Seoul hotels cost more than twice that at that time :')

5:20pm: Went out nearby for dinner at Samjin Amook (삼진어묵) for some innovative Korean fishcake. There was quite a large variety so I picked whatever was visually appealing to me, including a cheese one of course. They were nice but would've been better heated up... 

Agree with this haha. My hotel was the building on the right of the photo, just next to Busan Station. 

6pm: Knowing myself, I might've been tempted to wander around a little longer after dinner even with  sore knees. But the rain was a firm sign to go back and rest. I'd prepared for the Busan leg by packing knee guards for both knees and buying my own tube of Urah cream which was very helpful haha. 

But I did visit the CU next door and came back with a small haul of my favourite 서울우유! I like it very much, especially the strawberry one. Fun fact: the strawberry milk is white, not pink. On any other day I might have come back with a can of beer instead, but they were having a 3-for-2 promo on the milk~

Crashed at 8pm that night. Which I guess is natural after going for a hilly walk on the day after a red-eye flight.

>>Day 2