Busan D2: Gamcheon Cultural Village, Jagalchi Market, Nampodong

Gamcheon Cultural Village 

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Started Day 2 of Busan with Gamcheon Cultural Village~~ It was a rainy morning bleh. We took a cab from Haeundae because it was  much cheaper that way than to take a bus.

 

The beauty of this cultural village is the amount of cafes and eateries available there that have amazing views of the whole village. After walking for a bit we decided we should go into one and relax a little bit.

The cafe we chose had a terrace roof with a gorgeous view of the village!

 

View from the cafe~

Note to self: fix those black hair roots

our little photoshoot lmao

I left my umbrella in the cab earlier on (UGH) and it started raining pretty badly so we decided to evacuate the village early and head on to our next destination for lunch – Jagalchi Market!

Jagalchi Market

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I’ve been to Noryangjin so Jagalchi wasn’t anything new to me, but Zenn was reallllly craving seafood and it was the first time for Henry and Marion.

Jagalchi on a rainy day!

They look closed but they’re not~

D:

Eventually we were dragged in by an ahjumma into her shop ahha. We wanted to order the seafood platter but she didn’t really recommend it. I couldn’t catch why because ahjumma’s Korean + busan accent + fast speaking = ?? but i got that it wasn’t recommended so we just ordered grilled fish platter. in the picture there were prawns as well but obviously didn’t turn out to be the case…

They had grilled fish platter, fish assortment, abalone and seafood platter etc. I think actually the octopus looked really reallyr eally good from other tables, regret not ordering that :X

Yummy fish!

There were many types of fish but we didn’t really know the difference, though we can taste the difference. These cost 40,000 won for a large size and it was wayyyy more than enough for all of us. It’s difficult to eat fish without getting a bit sick of it, so honestly the 30,000 won one would be enough for the four of us haha.

We also wanted to order some abalones so we asked for the price. It’s kinda difficult to gauge by menu because they just state the prize and ‘size’, when we asked the ahjumma she explained how much it was depending on the size of the abalone, and off her head she just quoted us 30,000 won for four large pieces. The small ones were cheap but really tiny.

We asked for half grilled and half sashimi raw.

These were the grilled parts of the abalone. She sliced up a part from each abalone and served them raw.

Random perfectly de-boned fish’s bones

After a good hearty meal, we headed off again in the drizzle to drop by Nampodong because it was literally next to Jagalchi, walkable. Via subway it’s also just one stop away.

It was raining really annoyingly and Henry & Marion needed to head back to the terminal to catch their buses. We sent them to the subway and I was contemplating if I should visit the Yongdusan Park. But because i had no umbrella then and didn’t want to buy the overpriced ugly ones there, i ended up going back to the hostel with Zenn…

And she slept while I skyped the BF. Lol.

Then again, Busan had a more vacation feel rather than the road trip feel i felt for the ones i went with Sheryl. So i guess that’s okay. Just chill.

We grabbed dinner (more gukbab) and had patbingsoo as would anyone in Korea during summer. Haha. Idek how many times i’ve eaten patbingsoo from winter to summer. It’s my favorite dessert in the world now.

More gukbab! This time beef one.

Patbingsoo at Wicked Snow

I have to say this though. The patbingsoo at Wicked Snow was outrageous, in a bad way. It was horrible. The shaved ice weren’t smooth like the others i’ve tried. I’ve tried Seolbing, Homilbat, 팥미옥, Pod Pod Pod… Wicked Snow was by far the worst. The red bean was sweet but obviously from the can… or not fresh. The ice was horrid and tasteless (usually they add milk). The mochis as you see above, were pathetic. Compared to the one at Seolbing (and i didn’t even like Seolbing THAT much), this was horrendous.

I guess I would give it the benefit of doubt, though, because it has chains everywhere. So maybe this store is just the bad one. I really don’t know. But it explains why it was quiet when every other place was bustling with people.

Meh.

Anyway, that is all for D2! 🙂 If you’re looking to go Busan book bus tickets early because they sell out fast (you can’t reserve online on kobus unless you have a Korean credit card. Directly buy tickets from the bus terminal).

Busan D1: Read here!
Busan Accommodation: Read here!

Busan D1: Haeundae Beach, Yonggungsa Temple, Gwangalli Beach

The perfect time to go Busan – summer! ^O^

This also marked my final road trip out of Seoul because I’m due to fly back on 18th July 😦 Busan was a very complicated plan because I had planned to go earlier but decided not to, and the people I was going to go with kept changing and in the end I went with Zenn and her two friends from SMU as well here for summer term.

The day before i made a mad rush to the express bus terminal because tickets were selling out fast with all Seoul peeps going to Busan, and there were no more general tickets left in the early morning 😦 I had to get excellent tickets which were about $12 more expensive each.

We met up nice and early to catch the bus to Busan! The excellent bus was more comfortable but there was no place to put drinks 😦

It took about 4+ hours and finally we reached nice sunny Busan! Before checking into our separate hostels, we decided to eat some famous gugbab (rice in pork soup).

Side dishes~

Checked into our guesthouse called Guesthouse 710 in Haeundae ~ I’ll make a separate post for this because I really really liked this guesthouse 😀

Haeundae Beach

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After a little bit of rest we met up again to go to Haeundae beach which was less than 10 minutes walk from our hostel!

I think the most fascinating part about this beach honestly is the umbrellas.

 

#hipster

We didn’t stay that long though. Moved on to the temple next!

Yonggungsa Temple

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Leading up to Yonggungsa!

Entrance~

^_^ love the architecture together with the natural rock-scape!

You can try your luck to throw the coin into the bowls

Beautiful view!

Gwangalli Beach

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Tbh we didn’t actually plan to go to Gwangalli, but we were supposed to meet Yumi unnie and she suggested that Gwangalli is really pretty at night. So after the temple we headed over to Gwangalli!

The buildings were starting to look pretty!

Bridge starting to light up!

While the sky was darkening, we met up with Yumi unnie and went to buy some chicken, beer and soft drinks! A recommend if you want to hang out at Gwangalli at night. There are plenty of chicken restaurants around, buy a box back, grab drinks from a convenient store and you’re good to go! Bring some newspapers to sit on the sand and a sweater or outer wear because it’ll be breezy at night 🙂

We bought all the necessities and headed back to the beach, where the sight became breathtaking.

Honestly if you asked me i liked the buildings better than the bridge lol they were more breathtaking~

No shot of our chicken and beer/soda cuz it was took dark, but it was absolutely delicious to sit by the beach in front of those gorgeous lights and feast on fried chicken. Lots of people were also shooting mini fireworks haha. In the background a band was playing some good old trot song.

Yumi unnie started to ask us for some advice regarding her business (she’s an illustrator). We chatted for a bit and then she took out a notebook and started drawing us!! Hahaha. Adorable unnie.

Thank you unnie ❤

That marked the end of our day~ 🙂 Next update regarding D2 and the hostel we stayed at!

Busan D2: Read here!
Busan Accommodation: Read here!

Ulsan: Daewangam Park

This post on Ulsan is part of a 3D2N itinerary and will feature D2 of the trip. D1 was Gyeongju and D3 was paragliding in Ulsan.

Straight after Gyeongju, we headed to Ulsan where we had time to cover only one ground because Sheryl needed to catch a train to Busan after that. There isn’t much info about Ulsan except its whale museum and several parks, and I saw mixed reviews online about Ulsan either being underrated or not worth visiting. Well it’s hard for me to judge really, because i only went one destination, but if you’ve got loads of places to go I’d say you can skip Ulsan. If you have time on your hands, then why not? For me, since I was planning to paraglide in Ulsan, it was on the way for me anyway to try to visit.

The thing about Ulsan is that it’s a very large city, unlike the others we’ve visited. Yet it wasn’t very populated, so you do see very ulu spots and probably the worst part is that there’s little online for us to really draw conclusions. For accommodation alone, there was only one hostel stated on the internet, even when i tried googling in Korean.

Haha our first reaction when we stepped out of the train station was whut. Haha. The streets were almost bare, the buildings very normal, and well generally it seemed like there was nothing much in the city at all. We didn’t go Ulsan station as that’s kinda really far from everywhere and i THINK accessibly only by KTX, instead we stopped at Taehwagam Station, which was kinda in the central.

So yes after the whut reaction, we dropped by the tourist area next to the station and got some general info before hunting for food. That was hard too, looking for the word 식당 had never been that tricky. So after we managed to hunt down a restaurant hidden amongst all the motels, we settled down to gain strength to navigate the large city.

the fish was a surprise and it was tasty!

That was my first time eating Galbitang 갈비탕, beef short-ribs soup. It was tasty and very meaty (quoting Sheryl who hates meat). Haha.

Well anyways. After that we hunted down the bus stop once more. There were a few bus stops around the station so gotta be careful.

BUTTTTT to go Daewangam was neither of those bus stops LOL. Better to ask the tourist information for detailed directions. Our bus stop was outside the train station in front of the car park. It’s a blue little booth. We were told to take Bus 108, 133 or 401 and to stop at the stop before Daewangam Park, which is the stop outside Ilsan Beach called 일산해구욕장 .

 

This was a very cold day so i was creying

Anyway, saw the Ilsan beach and walked along the roads that stretched along the beach. There are LOTS of cafes here and some restaurants and convenient stores, so you can just sip a cup of coffee while looking at the beach. It had its charm. 😀

WHen you see the stairway above, go up and you’ll find Daewangam’s entrance!

a dragon playground that we walked past

 

As you can see there are two paths you can take. THey’re not that much different, the second one takes the outer route so you can enjoy the sea scenery. I didn’t bother going because i thought there was nothing much on the longer route.

On a side note it bothers me that the trail only burns 72kcal of calories because like each time i eat one of the triangle rice kimbap it’s almost 200kcal? how much do i have to do to burn just that small triangle omg

I always digress omg. Anywayyyy. The first stop – Ulgi Lighthouse!

 

Daewangam!!

Daewangam was a bunch of really pretty rocks with pretty bridges and well, generally just a pretty sight ok. i’m not good with technical terms or whatever but yeah.

 

 

 

 

the path to daewangam

daewangam from afar

My favorite picture of Daewangam! I was so happy just looking at the greens and beautifully colored rocks and the bridge~

the bridge~

I nearly got blown off my Nike-adorned feet because of the wind. It’s crazy there at Daewangam, the wind is really really strong and chilly even in summer now, we had to fight our way through haha. The sea currents were also really strong. Hold on tight. I tripped once but luckily I wasn’t close to the edge.

You’re supposed to be able to see Ulsan’s industrial area from here but it was foggy that day.

And that was all! I walked back the rest of the first trail slowly while Sheryl hastily made her way back from where we came from as she had to catch a bus to Busan. That was where we officially parted ways.

At this point I wasn’t sure if I should go visit Hyundai’s industrial area at night to see the sights. So while thinking, I headed to one of the many cafes opposite Ilsan beach and sat down for a very lovely cup of warm latte while navigating through my various Ulsan guidebooks and map. I felt like such a tourist that day!! My korean was off that day too so it added even more to the touristy atmosphere LOL.

I settled there for almost 2 hours before deciding it was time to go. I had decided at that point of time not to try to catch the night scene because from the guidebooks, you had to drive up mountains in order to get the best view, or take a ferris wheel. I wasn’t really interested in taking a ferris wheel alone so I decided to just find the guesthouse and rest while waiting for Amber to arrive.

And it was time to head back!

Thus started the extremely long journey to the guesthouse i booked online called Guesthouse U. It was almost 2 hours gdi. Luckily the guesthouse wasn’t far from the bus stop. It was amongst a residential area but luckily with food and convenience store nearby.

Accommodation

The hostel staff at Guesthouse U was actually really pleasant and spoke good english. The hostel itself wasn’t fantastic, the bathroom was a bit gross and very tiny, but the beds were decent for a good night’s sleep. We paid 20,000 won each. i didn’t take a picture as the hostel wasn’t fantastic, it was just the only option i had. Plus i was bitter about the inconvenient location D: haha.

Nevertheless, i finally got to rest and charge all my appliances and read my Kindle while waiting for the elusive Amber to arrive. Bought some snacks at a nearby convenience store too.

I checked on agoda.com and saw that there were motels for affordable prices in better locations. They cost about 60000 per night for 2 people, so it’s just 10k more expensive than the hostel.  You pay 10k more for convenience and time… i guess it’s  really up to you to decide what’s worth it! For me it was okay since i didn’t plan on doing anything else in Ulsan anyway.

The girl finally arrived after 10pm! We headed out to find food and luckily the restaurants nearby were open!

 

First time eating guk-bab! Amber’s one was really delicious, it was beef soup. I ordered pork intestines or some innerts of some sort just to try so mine was the traditional kind, where you had to mix the sauces, kimchi, onions etc in and then put your rice in. But for some reason i just couldn’t get the taste i wanted so it was an awkward meal where i felt my soup was tasteless LOL. ottoke. I think i put too much kimchi. well she gave a whole pot so i just put a lot lor. The white soup looked similar to the ones they serve for budae jjigaes, before mixing in the chili paste.

During our meal the Korean next to us spoke to me and gestured at Amber asking where she’s from. I said she’s from America and he said she must not know what a guk-bab is and asked me to explain to her. I was very amused and Amber spoke up saying her mom is a Korean. And a few minutes later i told him actually i have no Korean blood at all. LOL. He looked so taken aback. Dayum i live for such reactions man.

Anyway, that is the end of Ulsan! Not really because i have a paragliding post coming up, but this is the end of Ulsan sightseeing which only consisted of one location LOL.