Day 7: Strolling in Busan

I know its been weeks since my last update, but my home wifi was down for that long because someone knocked my house telephone pole down... And Telbru needed weeks to order the pole in (?)

Anyway, Day 7 was spent in Busan.

We could take the next train back so we weren't too worried about rushing for the train back to Seoul. We spent the day in Busan and only went to Seoul Station at about 5 PM to catch the train back.

It was still December so the Christmas decorations were still up!

 Streets of Busan

 The streets near our hotel and BIFF Square had these statues all over, making it feel really artistic and hipster all around!

 I tried this yummy fish cake (sooo many varieties to choose from) while in Lotte Mall

with Brown Bear outside the LINE store. I bought a really cute iPhone case that I am using now :-)

We then made our way to discover BIFF Square which is the Busan International Film Festival Square. Much like the name suggests, it is the venue for the festival that takes place annually.

When we were there, it was a street lined with street food and shops everywhere, much like Myeongdong.

 I don't know what this is called, but it was jelly with sweet dip and peanut powder

 Entrance arch of BIFF Square

 I randomly made a stop at this street food stall, and boy am I glad I did. It was very simply named e "beef sushi" so I placed an order for it. The beef slices were so thin that they cooked it like that with the 'pistol' as seen above.

 Tips(?) and photos with who I assume are famous people

 Ta-da. BOY was it AMAZING I can still remember how heavenly it tasted. Who knew something so simple would leave such an everlasting impression? The beef was ohhhhh so tender, I really would love nothing but to have another bite now!!

After strolling around BIFF Square eating and shopping, my BF took me to find the Bosu-dong Book Street, which was something I read off the internet.

We did quite the walk to find the street, but eventually we found it. It was a tiny alley leading into the most lovely sight:

 books..

books.. 

 books here, there and everywhere!

 books on the ceilings, books on the floors, books on the shelves

 even old school tapes!

 and records!

 and MORE BOOKS!!!

The above picture was taken at a cafe inside a bookstore, where the couples were all snapping selfies away.

 I felt nothing but soooooo much joy to be surrounded by so many books. Most if not all of the books are preloved, which to me, just adds character. Unfortunately, after spending a lot of time there, I left empty-handed because most of the books were in hangul. There were a couple of English books but I think it was less than 10% of the Street. Nevertheless, I do recommend the street if you're an avid book lover. I appreciated just being there.

Bosu-dong Book Street was formed after the independence of Korea (August 15) as a residential area in the empty place where the previous Gukje Market was demolished. People started selling the books Japanese left behind, and later on, when it became a private area, book sellers moved to the current place to sell their books. [source]

How to get there:

1) Toseong Station (Busan Subway Line 1), Exit 1.
Take a right at the corner of Busan Bank and walk along the street until the Bosu Four-way intersection (sageori).
The book street will be located on the left. 

2) Jagalchi Station (Busan Subway Line 1), Exit 3.
Take a right immediately and then walk straight for about 620m.
Cross the main road, Daecheong-ro, and the book street is straight ahead.

Took these two shots of the plants by the street because they looked so much like vegetables.. guess which?

My BF amongst his species

We spent Day 2 in Busan basically just discovering BIFF Square and searching for the Bodusong Book Street, instead of visiting the temple or going to Taejongdae because it was so cold (Taejongdae is by the sea). I would love to return to Busan again one day, spend more time there and do all of those things and more.

After that, we went to Seoul Station to purchase our tickets back to Seoul. We were lucky enough to get seats, but we had to be seated separately, which wasn't so bad because there was wifi on the train, which meant I could watch shows and I spend the ride listening to music. 

We got back to Seoul around 9PM, and we settled on eating nearby our apartment in Dongdaemun. We had really delicious beef ribs soup (yes!) just a couple of blocks down across the street.

 pork dumplings because pork dumplings

scrumptious beef ribs soup that I miss so much!

xxx