This is a long-awaited family vacation, one which I've planned most of the itinerary trying to cover the places where everyone wants to go. Just like the saying goes "too much to do, too little time".
Then I decided, maybe we shouldn't be too ambitious - a trip being worthwhile is which the company matters, and not so much of the locations afterall.
This is gonna be a long detailed post, so here we go.
DAY 1
Arrived at Incheon International Airport about 7pm, proceeded to collect our portable 4G unlimited wifi egg (lifesaver for the next 9 days of adventures!) which I rented it before travelling begins. Got the deal through KKday and we paid for TWD741, which is about RM 97 for 9 days. It was a good deal, and it can connect up to 4 devices from time to time.
Pick-up points:
- ICH International Airport 1/F Arrival Hall, near Gate 10 KT Olleh booth (6am-10pm)
- ICH International Airport 1/F Arrival Hall, near Gate 6 KT Olleh booth (10pm-6am)
Then, we were welcomed by a gush of cold wind as made our way out from the airport, and we just grabbed a taxi to get us to our hotel. Checked into Hotel Air Relax, and had our first amazing Korean dinner nearby hotel before we call it a night.
DAY 2
Woke up early to catch our train to Busan via KTX - high-speed rail train. Bought our tickets from Korail official website, and the type of tickets we got for ourselves is the "2 day select pass", which is the flexible pass where it offers us the freedom to select the dates we want within 10 valid days.
Woke up early to catch our train to Busan via KTX - high-speed rail train. Bought our tickets from Korail official website, and the type of tickets we got for ourselves is the "2 day select pass", which is the flexible pass where it offers us the freedom to select the dates we want within 10 valid days.
You may want to check out the latest price changes, and time schedule over here Korail
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| KTX experience |
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| Meal during train ride - breakie w onigiri / kimbap & banana milk is big 💓 |
Upon arrival at Busan, we again grabbed 1 jumbo taxi and 1 normal taxi (as there are 7 of us, and not to forget all our luggages) to Queens Hotel, Seomyeon for our stay for the next 3 nights. Jumbo taxis are more expensive but we don't have much choice as we were travelling in quite a big group consists of elderly and a child. By the time we checked into the hotel, we were all starving hence took some recommendations from the hotel staff and came to this bbq place for lunch.
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| Happy faces after lunch |
Seomyeon station is just about 5 mins walk from our hotel.
Getting Here: From Seomyeon station take subway line 1 to Nampo station, Exit 1 or 3 and from there we were all walks. We explored from Nampo-Dong - Yongdusan Park - BIFF Square.
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| Busan Observatory Tower @ Yongdusan Park |
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| BIFF Square |
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| Met my Yong Hwa at BIFF Square (only footprints :p) |
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| Dinner at Nampodong L: Korean hamburg steak set; R: Tteokboki w spicy chicken |
DAY 3
Today we ventured out to the famous Gamcheon Cultural Village, where all the colourful houses are. Due to insufficient time, we skipped the public transport and took a cab instead. Do take note that there are residents still staying there, so do keep the voices down no matter how much of excitement you are in seeing those beautiful views.
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| Panoramic view of Gamcheon Village |
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| Village full of creative murals and painted walls & buildings |
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| R: Ssiat-hotteok (Pancake stuffed w seeds); L: Eomuk (Fish cake soup) |
Next, off to Jakgalchi Market for seafood lunch and our first experience of live raw octopus.
Getting Here: From Gamcheon Cultural Village, take bus No 7 and alight at Jakgalchi Market bus stop
Personally, I think this place is overrated and the food didn't tastes exactly good, and the prices are not cheap for a wet market. But, this is the place to go if you wish to experience raw moving squids, abalones and fish sashimi.
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| Had a little tour around the market |
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| L: Seafood soup; R: Fish sashimi |
**Take note: Market is close on first and third Tuesday of every month**
After an unimpressive lunch (my own personal opinion), we left for Taejeongdae. The whole duration took about 45 mins to an hour to reach.
Getting Here: From Jakgalchi Market, take bus No 30, and get off at Taejeongdae (Taejeongdae Oncheon) bus stop → Walk about 175m to Taejeongdae.
The cliffs here are facing the open sea on the southermost tip of island of Yeongdo-gu. The photos didn't turn out as beautiful as it was supposed to be cause' the skies were gloomy and started to rain shortly after we reached. There were many options of tour course to be chosen from, check out: Taejeongdae Tour Course Information . For us, we took the Danubi Train Course. We didn't had enough time for everything, so we chose to alight at Yeongdo Lighthouse and Observatory.
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| In the Danubi Train |
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| TAEJEONGDAE - The approaching stormy skies |
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| R: Cliff overlooking the rough sea; L: The observatory |
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| Baby boy having alot of fun cause' he loves the cold weather |
Tips: Do not get to Taejeongdae too late if you wanna take beautiful photos of skyline between the white clouds and blue sea.
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| Dinner back at Seomyeon Top Right: Hotel delivery as supper - jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) & tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) |
Started the day off w a little workout. We caught a bus ride and after plenty of walks, we arrive to this magnificent temple which is located at the cliff side - Haedong Yonggusa Temple. Though' we complained of all the walks we had, but seeing that view, we knew hard work was well paid off.
Getting Here: From Seomyeon Station, take subway line 2 to Haeundae Station. Come out from Exit 7, then take bus No. 181 and get off at Yonggungsa Temple, approx. 20 mins. There is a stone post which indicate the direction of the temple. Walk uphill for another 10 mins to get to the temple.
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| Greeted by this giant furball upon arrival My family developed a huge love for ssiat hotteok - buying it whenever we see it |
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| Sunny day - perfect for photos taking |
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| All the walks and hikes worth this picturesque view |
Next, off for lunch (with cab) and today's choice was to try out the traditional beef broth rice. There were quite a few shops, famously known as Gukbap Alley to be chosen from near Haeundae beach (our next destination).
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| Beef Gukbap & Samanco ice cream |
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| Red carpet took place here during BIFF |
Had Starbucks coffee while overlooking the beautiful view, and had some walks on the beach before we go to Shinsegae Centum City Department Store.
Getting Here: From Haeundae station --> Centum City station
We went is purely cause' it was registered in the Guinness World Records as the largest shopping complex in the world. The highlight of this departmental store is Jjimjilbang Spa Land (which we didn't had the chance to experience it) As a consolation, we got to taste the best cheese tart. Only then we knew, this is a chain from Japan.
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| True to its claim: The best cheese tart EVER |
Before we call it a night, we went for a night stroll at Gwanggali Beach To check for bridge lighting timing, get to this [Bridge Lighting]
Getting Here: Centum City station --> Gwangan station, take exit 3 or 5
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| Gwangandaegyo Bride a.k.a Diamond Bridge |
Making sure that all of us are hungry after all these walks, we head back to Seomyeon for dinner. Again, we took the recommendation of hotel staff - this time to try out Busan specialty, pork broth soup. The looks weren't all appetising, but the taste definitely got us wanting for more.
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| Clockwise top left to bottom right: Dwaeji Gukbap; Bottom Left: Spicy fried chicken as supper |
Queens Hotel, Busan - check it out here
Address: Bujeon-ro 56, Busanjin-gu, Busan, Korea
(Old format: 515-54, Busan-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan, Korea)
Phone: +82-51-806-8871
We had no complaints staying at this hotel, and was very satisfied with their service. Breakfast served in the mornings were all traditional korean home-cooked. Their friendly hotel staff even had printed hand-outs of directions to nearby restaurants as well as maps to local attraction sites. Those print-outs eased alot of our journey and solved questions of "what to eat" and "where to eat"
So, there goes our Busan trip. Day 5 is continue at my next post Korea Part II: Food for Seoul
