Day 6: Train to Busan

On Day 6 after I was done honeymoon-crashing Mary and Thanis, we took a train to Busan!

Yes, come at me with your zombie jokes!

If you didn't know, 'Train to Busan' was a blockbuster movie from Seoul about a zombie-virus outbreak in South Korea, and a zombie-bitten person enters the Korail train to Busan! The movie stars the incredibly gorgeous Gong Yoo, so its totally worth your while watching.

The bullet train ride takes roughly three hours and takes off from Seoul Station to Busan Station. Busan is all the way in the south of South Korea by the ocean, and is the second largest metropolitan city there (after Seoul) and has the largest port in Korea.

 We got single way tickets instead of the 3 day ones. The total ticket charge for a return journey is abour BND$100 per person. Also, we reached Seoul Station quite late, near 10AM and all the tickets for the trains have already been fully purchased until the 12PM one, so we had no choice but to wait. That meant we were only due to arrive Busan at 3PM in the afternoon.

 We picked a nice cafe called Dore Dore and had coffee and this awesome rainbow donut to kill the time while waiting for our train

 Walking to our train carriage when it was almost 12! The overall process was quite easy as there are plenty of staff around to help you if you need directions or guidance, but it is quite simple to understand.

Yea I half expected zombies to barge in on me and chew my face like a toy.

 There was free wifi in the train and there is a lady pushing a trolley of food and drinks if you want any. The journey took around 3 hours and made a couple of stops in between. Busan is the final stop.

 And we have arrived at Busan Station!

We took the subway to our hotel, Aventree Hotel, which was at Jagalchi Station, exit 7 with a little bit of walk.

The hotel was in a good location, very near to Jagalchi market and BIFF Square, which was very convenient. The Hotel can be a bit difficult to find because there is only a hardly visible signage of the hotel by the building so you have to have your eyes sharp for that.

Front desk is on the 6th floor, and our rooms were on the 8th. There is also lots of parking so that is good news for the Seoulites driving there themselves!

 Our room. The receptionist told us that because it was winter, the air conditioner was not working, but instead the heater will be switched on. My BF had a rough time the entire night because he wasn't feeling well and the heater was on too high and he felt very hot. In the middle of the night, he managed to figure how to switch it off though so that turned out OK.

The room had a nice view! I wanted a view of the Busan Tower but I couldn't. Haha instead I got this view with the Gamcheon Village which was pretty cool too.

After that, we decided to find Jagalchi Fish Market, which is the biggest fish market in South Korea!

Jagalchi Market, true to its description, is huge and consists of outdoor markets, indoor markets and indoor restaurants.

 We went into the indoor market to find lunch!

 One thing we discovered was that in Busan, the residents are even less English-communicated. The signboards both for the roads and subway do not have any English on them. Thank goodness for Google eh?

We went to the 2nd floor which was an entire floor of different restaurants serving fresh seafood. We were spoiled for choice so we eventually just sat down on one table.

We opted for the seafood soup, this time not adventurous enough for spicy.

Soju! Apparently, this particular type of Soju is specially made in Busan only.

 The huge pot contained clams, prawns, crab and vegetables

 I am not a huge fan of seafood, particularly shelled ones, but this was really fresh so I was able to stomach it with no difficulty. It was however too large for just the two of us so we could not finish everything.

After speaking a little to the waitress (owner?) in Mandarin (where she got really curious about where Brunei was after we told her where we came from), we paid (around 40,000 won?) and left. We didn't get to check out the rest of the market downstairs, but I managed to take these shots, with the mongers even posing for me! Ahhh Korean hospitality :-)

 ^_^v

After that, we exited the building from the back and was led directly into this gorgeous view of the ocean!

 The immensely beautiful view of the Gamcheon Cultural village to the right

With that view of Gamcheon, we decided to go seek exactly for that place!!

After taking the subway, we decided to take a bus there because it practically impossible to walk all the way to the top. The roads are very narrow and it is a longggg way up, even higher than the N Seoul Tower.

How to go:

By Public Transportation Take Subway Line 1 (accessible from Busan Station) to Toseong Station. Come out Exit 6. You will be facing an intersection. Turn right at the corner and walk straight. ... Take either Bus 2 or 2-2. This will take you to Gamcheon Culture Village at top of the hill.

The bus stop is in front of a medical centre, and looks like this.

Ensure to take either the number 2 or 2-2 bus to get to the top of Gamcheon

Panaromic view from the top! It was unfortunately quite dark by the time we got up there, so my iPhone pics won't do justice to how stunning the glimmering lights were in the darkness.

Clusters.

Gamcheon Culture Villiage is formed by houses built in staircase-fashion on the foothills of a coastal mountain, earning this village the nickname of "Machu Picchu of Busan." The many alleys cutting through this community are vibrantly decorated with murals and sculptures created by the residents.

[source]

It was pretty chilly up there, but we managed to take a stroll til the end. But because it was already in the evening, many of the cafes were already closed and it was too dark for photos.

But this view though.. I am in love.

One of the alley staircases.. Normal residents reside here, just like the Bukchon Hanok village, so it is advised that tourists explore mindfully.

The entrance to the Gamcheon Cultural Village. There are plenty of shops and restaurants inside for souvenirs and a warm cuppa coffee if you like!

We went back the same way we came, via bus. I took this shot because my BF said he has never been on a public bus before that so this served as a remembrance to mark that important moment:

After our chilly stroll in Gamcheon, I made my BF take me to... Gwangalli Beach LOL

Yes it was already freezing yet we decided to go to the beach where the beach winds were almost as cold as my soul when it comes to empathy for annoying co-workers. I am forever grateful for my BF who is always so okay with the random and sometimes stupid things I want to do (like taking a photo booth photo for 5,000 won ($7) the size of a credit card LOL)

The main reason I wanted to go to Gwangalli beach was to see the beautiful Busan Gwangandaegyo Bridge (부산 광안대교).

Busan Gwangandaegyo Bridge (Busan 66, also called Gwangan-daero) stretches over 7.4km from Namcheon-dong (Suyeong-gu, Busan) to Centum City (U-dong, Haeundae-gu). It is the largest bridge over the ocean in Korea. It is breathtaking to overlook nearby attractions from the bridge: the endlessly unfolding ocean, Oryukdo Island, Hwangnyeongsan Mountain, Gwangalli Beach, Dongbaekseom Island, and Dalmaji Hill. Equipped with artistic light, the bridge showcases splendid light that changes every day and every season. The bridge offers majesty beauty combined with nearby attractions during the day and a romantic atmosphere at night, attracting many residents and tourists. [source]

Even though it was freezing cold (yes it did feel like it was colder than my soul), the view of the Bridge was spectacular. My photos once again do no justice to how the Bridge beams in the dark with fireworks being exploded in the still of the night.

My infamous one-glove look. Haha. It usually is so because I want to use my phone and I pass it to my BF for photos..

After absorbing the beauty of the Bridge (and getting freezing numb from the cold), we were starving and went searching for food. We walked quite a bit because we were craving for ramyeon. We finally found one but was told that the ramyeon was a lunch menu, so we stayed and opted for BBQ.

I forgot what the name of the place was..... But there are several BBQ joints near Gwangalli Beach. There are also plenty of different cuisines to choose from right opposite the Beach area. We walked further down to search for Korean food.

It was the second and last time we had BBQ in Korea, and it was really delicious. Here they didn't help us as much as they did in Seoul (maybe Busan has less foreign visitors? We realized most of the hotel residents were Koreans. Must be Koreans from other parts of Korea) so we burned a few of the pork slices and the waiter had to casually remind us to flip them regularly. Haha.

After our satisfying dinner, we went back to our hotel and called it a night in Busan xx