Busan - The South of Korea pt. 1

Busan, a beautiful city in southern Korea; Full of summer, sun and beaches, but also many Buddhist temples, spiritual places and of course a little shopping, party oh, and stray cats can't be missed either! On my three-day weekend trip alone (09/30/22 - 10/03/22) I shot over 450 pictures and I am really looking forward to sharing my experiences with you in Part 1. Since it's going to Busan again in two weeks, I'll publish a second part. This will then include the upcoming BTS concert in Busan and focus more on concrete experiences and some cafes and restaurants. For now, you can look forward to the typical sightseeing experience and places worth seeing that you shouldn't miss in Busan or maybe could skip.

A third time I found myself back at Gimpo Airport and were grateful that I already knew the processes. Anyone who has read my blog post about Jeju knows how stressful a departure day can be. If you haven't read the post yet, you can find it here: Jeju - South Korea's Hawaii
I'm glad that the processes at the airport in Korea are amazingly smooth. Even if you're there 40 minutes before departure, security only takes 5 minutes each time. I haven't had to check in before, but the one time I did it only took 5 minutes. The only thing that can complicate your travel is your middle name. It always amazes me how easily Koreans can be irritated by a simple middle name that is not even used or worth mentioning in Germany. But if you don't enter it here, then yes, you have to go back to the counter and start your whole check-in process again. But don't worry, razors in hand luggage, umbrellas, drinks, creams and beverages are allowed - Korea is so interesting!

The flight to Busan took less than 1 hour; an actually more pleasant and also cheaper option to the KTX, which takes you to Busan within 2-3 hours for a total of 89,000 KRW (= approx. 77-80€) per trip. I paid just 100,000 KRW for the flight with Jeju Air, so just under 85 € for the round trip. The hotel I stayed at was located in the south of Busan, in the Jungang District and was called "Toyoko-Inn Hotel". For this I paid 110€ for 2 nights including breakfast. In fact, for shorter trips I now prefer hotels as they provide quite good deals and service for a reasonable price. For Air Bnbs you sometimes pay the same amount or you have to take care of your own food.

Arrived in Busan, first an airport shuttle train and then a bus brought me to my hotel within 2 hours; There was a surprising amount of traffic that evening. When I arrived at the hotel, I was greeted by friendly staff. I immediately realized how nice and open the people in Busan are. Here you are always greeted at the counter and at the breakfast buffet the service women constantly greet you, serve you and make the greatest effort. I was delighted when the woman at the counter asked me if I were learning Korean and beamed when I answered yes. Koreans are really happy even if you speak just a little to them or try to speak as much as you can. So make sure you try to speak even the smallest word of Korean with them! The people there are grateful to you.
When I told her that I was studying at SNU, she was amazed and said what I've actually heard more than once: "oh, you must be smart!". It is not for nothing that the SNU has the reputation of the best university in South Korea. If you want to read about the language program at tne SNU, check this out: The Language Program at the SNU pt. 1

My room was on the 13th floor with a nice view of Busan. It was less than 10 minutes away from Yongdusan Park, also nearby are Gukje and Jagalchi Market and Songdo Beach with a 30 minute distance.

The Gamcheon Culture Village is perhaps the most popular place to visit in Busan. With its colorful houses, picturesque streets, cafes and shops, it offers great content for ones Instagram feed. But even away from it you can just enjoy and admire the tranquility and art of the small village, because there are many little surprises and cute details as soon as you walk along the small, narrow streets.

The bus ride there was again a crazy experience. I don't know which was worse - Jeju or Busan. In Korea, I've witnessed many bus rides that I didn't even think existed. That so many people can squeeze into a small bus is amazing to me, but to see (elderly) people stumbling back and forth on buses because the bus driver decided to take the curve so sharply up the hill is heartbreaking on the one hand and on the other I had to hold back a laugh here and there. If you experience it yourself and are right in the middle of it, you sometimes just can't believe it - so hold on tight!... and maybe also the person next to you.

Deciding to take it easy for the weekend, I didn't arrive in Gamcheon until around 10am. Considering the time it was still pretty quiet, around 1 p.m. it was very crowded and louder / more restless. I enjoyed the quiet morning hours and walked a bit off the regular path. I recommend you to walk along any path on your own and let yourself be surprised. I let myself be guided by my feelings and impressions, ran up the stairs there, then into the narrow alley there, turned around again and went somewhere else. There's no need to follow a map here, but plan enough time to check everything out. My photography heart was definitely on, because there are so many small places here that vibrate so beautifully with the bright colors of the houses. I really enjoyed it! Arrived at the top, I absolutely had to buy a lot of aesthetic postcards in one of the souvenir shops. So far, I haven't found one as beautiful in Korea as here. I climbed the colorful stairs next door and sat down in a small roof top cafe and enjoyed an ice cream latte while not only enjoying the view but also writing my six or so postcards. - And had to keep sprinting to the souvenir shop to replace the non-working pen I bought three times.

After a last stroll down Souvenir Alley, I finally got to the famous picture of Jimin and Jungkook from BTS. If you didn't know: the two members of BTS originally come from Busan and are therefore proudly shown here, among other things. I even made new friends! Nowhere else have I seen more stray cats than here in Busan. As I were walking down an alley, a cat begged me for food, but unfortunately I couldn't give her anything but pure love. Disappointed, she then ran away, apparently this wasn't enough for her. Most were asleep, probably exhausted from the sun but also from the lack of food. Most looked too skinny, missing a tail, a piece of an ear or an eye. The cats were cute anyway!

Next I went to Songdo Beach. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I don't like beaches. Apologies to everyone who loves the beach and is probably going to Busan for that very reason, but I'm not a summer sun person. I usually avoid anything hot, rarely leave my dark room in the summer and don't enjoy beaches. Since I don't like swimming or sand, let alone tan (or blush) in any way on my body, that's exactly what I usually avoid. But let me tell you one thing: if you love beaches, sun and a summer tan, you've come to the right place, because the sun really hits here. And I mean hits. Even a minute in the sun is enough to burn your body like an oven. That's how I got a nice sunburn on my shoulders and feet - it's surprisingly quick in Busan!

So what brought me to Songdo Beach if I don't like beaches? Not only are the views and the beautiful buildings around the beach beautiful, but at Songdo Beach a cable car goes up a mountain in the middle of the sea and I really wanted to see that.

The cable car ride was very cool! Although I had to pull myself together a bit, I really enjoyed the view next to me as well as below because I booked a glass bottom cable car for 20,000 KRW = about 14€. In the cable car itself, I met a group of young people my age and talked to them a lot. As soon as you are traveling alone, you get to know new people surprisingly quickly. We even met up later to have dinner together.

Arriving at the top, I was greeted by a passage with an incredible amount of street food. There was everything your heart desires - from ice cream to fried fish, meat on a skewer, corn dogs and and and. All around is a park for children, surrounded by moving dinosaurs and lovingly arranged photo spots. Walking out of the park, hiking can begin. Nature seemed endless. If you walked down one path, you came across a red bridge from where you could catch a glimpse of the bright blue sea. It must be nice to hike here! For me it was time to head back home though, freshen up, rest and then dinner!

*Conclusion*: Both places are absolutely worth seeing! I would visit the Gamcheon Culture Village again and again. I wouldn't ride the cable car again unless I'm going up to hike. But you should definitely do it once, even if it's just for the food upstairs or the view of the sea and beach from the cable car.

If you live in my area, you can look forward to a 2-hour bus ride to the Buddhist Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Originally I wanted to get up around 5 a.m., but I couldn't and I regret it a bit. Especially this temple is worth visiting very early in the morning, when nothing is going on. Instead, I reached the temple around 12 noon, just in its peak time. Not only was the sun beating out again, but a huge crowd flocked to the temple and filled it completely. If you want to take nice photos here in peace, you hardly have a chance. So I have to admit that visiting the temple wasn't really worth it for me. But if you manage to travel there early and can look at it and enjoy everything in peace, the visit is worth it and you can also visit the well-known Haeundae Beach nearby.

Still, I really liked the view from the temple on the beach. The blue sky wiped away any annoyed mood caused by the hot weather and the crowds, in the shade I was able to enjoy the views from time to time. What struck me about this temple was that not only tourists but actually religious people came to pray. There were statues and boxes for donating money everywhere. On mats you could kneel down in front of the statues, bow and express your wish. Even if it's not my religion, it was interesting to see how many people showed respect for the statues and folded their hands in gratitude whenever they came near one.

After visiting the temple, I took refuge from the sun in a well-known cafe in Busan. But I won't tell you about it until Part 2. Just in time for the sunset, I made it to Yongdusan Park, where the Busan Tower is located, as the last destination of the day. I really wanted to see the sunset and the city from above, so once again I overcame my fear and climbed the tall tower (fortunately not as high as Lotte World Tower). Once again it was worth the visit, because watching the sunset and nightfall over a city is really something else. For a total of 12,000 KRW = approx. 8-9€ you can also immediately climb the so-called Diamond Tower.

What I particularly liked about the tower was the exhibition around it. Someone had really put a lot of effort into creating an experience. First you are led to the elevator in a dark room along brightly painted mirrors. Once at the top, you can enjoy the view from the attached seats right by the window. Walking further, you come to a dark room with photo projections of the view of the tower at night or windows designed like submarine windows. The whole thing was accompanied and rounded off by a game in which you had to scan QR codes and look for missing numbers and enter them on your ticket in order to win something. After marveling at everything on the fifth floor, you were taken to the second floor and the colorful exhibition continued: brightly colored walls that offered fancy photo spots, dark corridors with light shows or walls painted with black light paint. The experience that was built around it was a lot more fun for me than just visiting the tower. I would have liked to have something like that at the Lotte World Tower. Finally, and considering the time - why does time on towers go by so quickly? - I quickly grabbed something for dinner from the cafe next to the tower. Relaxed, I looked into the surprisingly lively park for some time. People gathered around the tower as a small stage was set up and Korean singing suddenly filled the entire park. Strings of lights twinkled as the tall, purple Busan Tower soared into the air next to me - it was a display of color and light that definitely left an impression. I would definitely go to this park again!

On the way home, I observed an elderly lady feeding about eight stray cats as if they were her own. She lovingly made sure that every cat had eaten. I walked down the stairs I had come up, turned back to the tower and said goodbye. The weekend in Busan was nice and sometimes seeing less is automatically more. Then you have much more time to take a closer look at what you see and actually enjoy. I'm excited to come back tu Busan on Oct. 14 to Oct 16.