Our arrival in South Korea was everything we have come to expect in Asia. Efficient, friendly, and stress free. As we disembarked from our ferry from Shimonoseki, Japan we were greeted by a bustling modern city. The public transit isn’t the same level of convenience as what we had encountered in Japan, but it still was effective and got us where we needed to be.
We had rented an apartment in one of the shorter towers. It had a great view of the nearby bridge and of the many ships at anchor in the bay.It was located on one of the smaller beaches in the city, Songdo Beach.The end of the cable car was right across the street from our apartment.
Our main goal in Busan was to rest and recover a bit from our hectic month in Japan. Busan has just enough to see that we never got bored, but still were able to relax without feeling we were missing something.
The largest and best known beach in Busan is Haeundae Beach.We arrived at the tail end of their yearly Sand Sculpture Festival. It is a great way to spend a morning wandering up and down the sand.The important thing to remember when spending time on the beach is to stop and hydrate occasionally.Checked out Jagaichi harbour and its associated seafood market.Lots of boats.And an interesting variety of creatures for sale everywhere we turned.Busan certainly makes an effort to promote itself as a destination. Across the street from the fish market we found the street dedicated to the Busan International Film Festival.They even have their own Walk of Fame. For me the best attractions were the beaches. I found Gwangalli Beach to be my favourite. A great mixture of restaurants, views and space.Apparently it is also where some of the local ladies gather to relax and soak their feet.The only prerequisites seemed to be to bring your own chair and make sure not a bit of skin was exposed to the sun.We also checked out Haedong Yonggungsa Temple as well.Despite its claim to fame I found it to be quite disappointing. Great location, but so over commercialized that it just turned me off. On the plus side you could find a shrine for nearly any requirement.We enjoyed spending most of our time near Songdo Beach. We walked the Amnam Park Cliff walk trail along the bay which was beautiful. We did take the gondola back though.Went out on the Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge.The weird part of that day was walking toward the suspension bridge and coming across this random park filled with dinosaurs, characters and odd creations. Not sure what it was all about, but it was different.Speaking of different. The restaurant menus kept us smiling here as well.That, and the obsessiveness of pet owners who treat their dogs in South Korea. We rarely saw dogs out for a walk, however we saw lots of dogs being taken for walks in their strollers or backpacks.All in all we enjoyed our week in Busan. A great place to relax and if you are a beach person it will keep you busy exploring your options.
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