Lunar New Year in Busan
Since it was Lunar New Year this past weekend, I had vacation time from Friday to Monday. I decided to take the time travel down to Busan for a few days to relax and recharge. Unluckily, I decided to go too late to book a seat on the KTX, so I settled with taking a bus from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal at 7:10 am on Friday. The trip usually takes four hours, however, since it was a holiday there was so much traffic that the trip took seven hours!After checking into the Airbnb, I headed straight to Gwangalli Beach. The weather was warm the whole trip, and surprisingly the sun was out when I first arrived to the beach. I enjoyed wandering around the beach and grabbed a quick snack and tea at a cafe overlooking the ocean.
Immediately after finishing up at Gwangalli Beach, I took the subway over to Haeundae Beach. This area is definitely more lively, as there are bars and lots of fancy hotels. There were quite a lot of performances going on from fire throwers to musicians. Busan's Light Festival was happening, so there were lots of colorful lights set up on the beach.
The Bay 101 is comprised of restaurants that look out on a breathtaking view of tall buildings near the bay. It is located within a walking distance from Haeundae Beach. I ate a delicious meal of fresh cod and chips.
After dinner, I returned to Haeundae Beach and walked up and down the Haeundae Market. The stalls were filled with different seafood that you could order to be prepared to eat. In between the seafood stalls, there were small marts and souvenir shops.
I woke up before dawn to try and see the sunrise at Haedong Yonggungsa, but accidentally fell asleep for a bit. In the end, it turned out fine because the sky was so overcast I wouldn't have been able to see the sunrise anyways.
Thankfully, because I made it there so early, I beat the crowds that came when I was just leaving. The temple was nice and peaceful, and the view of the ocean was breathtaking. I was glad to be back after two years to see this place again. I was starving, so I bought some fish cake that was, uniquely, flavored with crab.
From the temple, I took a few buses to get to Gamcheon Culture Village, which was about an hour away. Last time I went to Busan, I went to a different area of the village, so I was taken a bit by surprise when I realized that this was a more touristy area. There were lots of little alleys that revealed hidden murals and colorful buildings. On the main street through the village there were plenty of souvenir shops and snack and drink shops. I caved into getting cotton candy.
Not too far away is Bosu-dong Book Alley. Regrettably, it was closed for Lunar New Year.
I strolled through Gukje Market, which was mostly shut down for the holidays with some open stalls selling clothes and a variety of other things. This lead to BIFF Square (Busan International Film Festival Square) where tons of people were crowding around the food stalls to get a bite of the delicious street food.
From BIFF Square, Jagalchi Market is just a crosswalk away. There are many small restaurants where people eat the freshly served seafood, or the market where customers take the seafood home. Beware: I saw several rats scurrying around in the market, and the seafood smell might be overpowering. Overall, it's good to experience the market at least once.
Extremely exhausted, I went back to the Airbnb and took a nap before heading back to Haeundae Beach to take in the fireworks, performances, and good food.
My last full day in Busan, I mostly relaxed and slept in. I exited out of Busan Station and walked across the street to Chinatown and Texas Street. This area was filled with western and Chinese food. Lots of foreigners were hanging around this area. I ate at a Japanese restaurant in this area. The food was super filling.
I went back to Gwangalli Beach one last time. There were lots of cute couples, families, and people with their dogs just enjoying the warm weather.
For my last meal, I went back to the area near Chinatown and ate some great tofu seafood soup (해물순두부).
The next morning, I woke up early and headed to Nopo Station to catch my 7:50 am bus back to Seoul. Thankfully, the travel time was only five hours instead of seven! I will definitely be back to explore more of Busan in the future. :)