Busan 부산: A Brief Adventure

I went to Busan (부산) with Christina to visit our friend Hye Ji who we met in Vancouver as an international student studying English. We took the KTX down from Cheonan-Asan station (천안아산역) and it took exactly 2 hours. It was so crazy to travel basically from north to south in such a short amount of time. When we arrived in Busan we definitely felt like we were no longer in Seoul.

We found out you can use the Seoul T-money card in Busan to travel on their public transportation, BUT you cannot reload so I advise you load up before heading down. It was very convenient being able to use my T-money there. Busan is a large city but there are only 4 lines for their subway system so it's even easier to use than Seoul's.

We arrived on Friday April 22.

First we went to Hye Ji's university to meet up with her after class. Friday's weather wasn't that great cause of the rain so we basically ate dinner and walked around the Pusan National University district for a bit. There are lots of shops, restaurants and the oh so beloved coffee shop in this area. After that we went directly back to Hye Ji's house to sleep.

We ate Dwae Ji Guk Bap (돼지국밥) which is pork slices in a soup with rice. It's not exactly like congee because the rice is separate from the broth, while in congee the rice is cooked with water to have more of a porridge consistency. But it's very similar. Other areas of Korea have Guk Bap (국밥) but my friend informed me that Busan is the only city that has Dwae Ji Guk Bap. Since Christina and I were pretty soaked from walking around in the rain this was actually the perfect thing to eat for dinner!

After eating dinner we went to hunt for dessert. Hye Ji's friend told her about this super cute little cafe that was famous for their blueberry ice cream waffle. I couldn't resist and had to try it! Waffles like this are about the same price as Vancouver, but they usually have a special combination with drinks. When going to pay the owner started talking to us (since we were speaking in English...). He told us he has visiting the US before and has been to Toronto in Canada as well. The cafe was very artsy and it seemed you can go and just paint on certain days as well.

Saturday April 23

Today was our big adventure day! It was our only full day in Busan so we wanted to see and do as much as possible. First off we ate at Kimbap Cheon Guk (김밥천국) for breakfast/lunch. Hye Ji's parents own one in Busan so we got a complimentary meal from them!

We then set out to Seo Myeon (서면), which is one of the downtown areas of Busan and had bubble tea. It's hard to find bubble tea here in Korea and they do it a bit different then the places in Vancouver. Christina told me if you really need your bubble tea fix you can go to Dunkin Donuts and add pearls to certain drinks =).

We went to this cute cafe (in the left photo above) where they are actually know to have bubble tea. Christina was excited because she's been in Korea for a long time and misses her bubble tea. We all had honey milk tea, I really really love milk tea and miss it a lot! The pearls are an added bonus. The place is SUPER tiny though, I there is enough room to fit maybe 12 people in there max. They also have waffles but I did not have a chance to taste those because I was still full from breakfast.

Seo Myeon's subway station also has a really large underground shopping center. We didn't have much time to shop but we browsed a bit and I liked the variety of stores that was there. The set up was very systematic and easy to walk through! I wish I had more time here, next time I head to Busan I definitely want to go back and do some serious shopping.

Next we went to Centum City (the largest department store in the world). Since it's a department store we didn't really buy anything. There is a Lotte Department and a Shinsegae in this complex. We spent more time in Shinsegae because it is the large of the 2 department stores. Even though we did not buy anything we ate at their very luxurious food court. The food prices were not that bad and you got a really nice variety for types of food.

Before going to the department stores we saw this cute bunny mascot working...poor bunny must have been really tired working the entire day =(

Next we went to the famous Haeundae (해운대) beach. We went at a good time a few hours before the sun set so we got to see the sky change colours! It was romantic haha. I guess since the weather was still cool not a lot of people were at the beach. We got to enjoy it without much disturbance.

It was cute because they also have this giant sign when you reach the beach that tells you not to smoke. A lot of the signs and symbols in Korea have very cute mascots.

We ate tuna kimbap (참치김밥) for dinner. It's my favourite type of kimbap!
For those of you that do not know, kimbap is like the Korean version of sushi but no raw fish.

After spending a good time at Haeundae we went to Gwangali Beach (광안리) to see the famous Gwangan (광안) bridge.

At Gwangalli beach the Eobang (어방) festival was on. We had no idea and I'm still not sure what type of festival it is but there were lanterns, street stalls and some paper mach statues on the sand for people to look at. There was also a stage for performances and tents sent up for food and drinks right on the beach!

Before heading home we decided to drop by a coffee shop and just chill and hang out. We wanted to find an independent one, but since we were in a highly commercialized area many of the coffee shops were just chains. We decided on going to Hands Coffee because none of us has ever tried it. I had a really good iced green tea latte. Hands Coffee also has a policy (I'm not sure if it's all the time or for a special time) where you can get a free Americano refill. So no matter what type of drink you purchased after you are done you can go up for a free Americano.

Sunday April 24

Today was our last day! We planned to get up early but because we stayed up too late chatting and catching up we slept in. We had time to eat lunch and to hang out and take pictures at Busan KTX station.

The weather was beautiful and the trees were very green with their new spring leaves! Thank you Hye Ji for showing us such a beautiful time in Busan.

I also bought a huge box of macaroons (one of my favourite desserts) from Shinsegae to bring back to Sin Chang. Christina and I passed out on the ride home because we were so exhausted but had the most wonderful weekend. I definitely will visit Busan again and I recommend everyone else to as well. They have a really relaxed vibe in the city and I really felt like I was on vacation because the big city hustle and bustle of Seoul seemed to have disappeared.