Busan is good | South Korea

Busan | Autumn | 1 GBP = 1755 KRW

Getting train tickets from Seoul to Busan was harder than it should have been. From all that I had researched, it was best to get the tickets in advance, especially on weekends as it's a popular route with tourists and locals alike. So that's what we tried, hunting down the real website proved tricky (letskorail.com by the way) but we were too early at 6 weeks before the date. At the one-month mark, when we were informed the tickets would be available, the website crashed for about a week and none of the trains would show up at all. Eventually we managed to get tickets, but all of the fast ones (KTX bullet trains) had sold out and we ended up on a train that would take five hours instead of two. Although not ideal, the ride was smooth, the seats were huge, and five hours of watching the beautiful Korean countryside go by passed quicker than we could have imagined.

We didn't manage to do much on our first day in Busan. The weather was horrendously hot, so after we dropped off our bags at the hotel (hauling them in full sunshine over the bridge to the island we were staying on) we went and hid in a nearby air-conditioned shopping mall until our 3pm check-in rolled round. Checked in, we made use of the hotel's laundry facilities, and although it was free, it also took way longer than we expected. By the time our clothes were dry, the day was almost over, leaving us with only dinner to look forward to.

I scoured Google Maps in the hope of discovering a nearby restaurant that specialised in fish dishes. Eventually, I came across "Brown Rice Seafood Heaven," a popular restaurant among locals that offered dishes I would be able to try. When we arrived, checking the restaurant against the pictures of its exterior from the Google reviews, it didn't seem like much with confusing and faded signage and decoration reminiscent of a cafeteria. I can't say that I found it particularly aesthetic or inviting, but a local man who seemed shocked that we were even there told me that it was his favourite place, and that was good enough for me. Quickly enough, an auntie had us seated and once we translated the menu, we decided on the steamed monkfish - the menu item most brought up in the reviews I'd read. Luckily, we'd seen the portions other tables were receiving so we knew to order just the one dish to share; the 40000 won price tag would have seemed very expensive if it was per person!

I sort of assumed that our portion would have been pared down a bit, but it was intimidatingly large. It was a simple dish, just monkfish, bean sprouts and a incredibly spicy red pepper based sauce. There was sides too of course, which helped break up the flavours when it started getting a little monotonous to eat. It was delicious and it was confronting. The monkfish had been cut up haphazardly, bones and all, so each chunk was a Russian roulette on whether it would look recognisably "fish" or not - we ended up having to google various body parts to double check. It was also impossible to finish, the longer we ate the more food that would appear, first seaweed soup, next some rice. We had to call it quits before the food started piling up. We left, bellies full and slightly overwhelmed, feeling like we'd had a truly authentic experience.

It's 3am, the lights turn on and a siren shatters our peaceful sleep. As we struggle to find our shoes and get dressed, a voice over the alarm system repeats instructions in Korean. Eventually the translation app I was using started making sense, it was a fire alarm and we had to evacuate - not a small task seeing as we were on the 20th floor. Down and down we went, the staircase seemingly never ending, until we reached reception, where people we getting in the elevator and heading back to bed. As grateful as i am that it was just a false alarm, I couldn't help but be a tad frustrated by the whole thing.

After a well deserved lie-in the next morning we headed to Huinnyeoul Culture Village. Renovated in 2011, the cliff side area was full trendy cafes and art shops. The houses and cafes were cute and they've obviously been done up as way to bring tourists (and their money) to an otherwise out of the way bit of the city, but for me the real attraction was the view. After the walk there along the coastal walkway, and after climbing an unreasonable amount of stairs, it was amazing to turn around and see sunlight reflecting off of the gently rolling waves and the city spread out behind it. Simply beautiful.

Feeling a bit hungry and not wanting the westernised fare the cafes were offering, we left Huinnyeoul behind and hopped on a bus towards Bupyeong Kkangtong Market, which focuses on clothes and street-food. After briefly getting lost in the next door market that seemed to just sell plumbing supplies we found ourselves at a hotteok stall. The previous hotteok we had sampled was the classic version with brown sugar, while this one was filled with mozzarella and was equally delicious. Slowly heated before being basted in butter, the outside was crispy and flaky whilst the inside was gooey and the temperature of the sun. We had zero complaints and for only 3000 won, it was relatively cheap too. Still peckish, Ben tried Tteokbokki (a dish made of rice cakes simmered in a spicy gochujang sauce) and I went for some simple battered seafood and vegetables.

Unable to resist, we ended up sharing 32cm ice cream before we headed back to the hotel. I could lie and pretend it was happenstance that we came across this particular treat, but we had seen the shop on the way to the market and relentlessly hunted it down afterwards. As you might expect it wasn't the best. The mango and yoghurt flavour was slightly bizarre, and even with two of us sharing it we were a bit sick of it by the end, turns out 32cm of ice cream is rather a lot and due to the bin-less nature of SK we didn't have a choice whether to finish it or not.

As we had plenty of time in Busan, we spent most of the next day pointlessly wandering. Starting in the ship building area near to our hotel; we wandered past the graveyard of slowly rusting boats that were being harvested of their working parts, before coming across the strangely mammoth privacy walls which new ships were being built behind.

Mistakingly thinking it would be peaceful, we made our way to the maritime museum - continuing our sea themed day. When the cultural norm is to be church quiet on public transport, I thought this might also be the case for museums too, but it was a riot of noise. Children screamed and shouted, the babble of conversation echoed from every corner and it wasn't helped by the fact it was packed too. I didn't realise that maritime history would be such a popular topic for Busan's young families, but I suppose a free museum with a walk through aquarium in its middle would be nice day out for anyone. As for the exhibits, they were fine - perhaps there was a slight bias towards Korea's past naval prowess but who am I to refute their claims.

When leaving the museum we immediately got lost, jumping on a bus that we thought was our bus, but was heading to the bus depo instead. The driver was unhelpful and snarly but we eventually worked things out, managing to make our way to BIFF square and back to the market. Feeling a bit let down on the museum front we wanted to indulge in some retail therapy instead. I'm not really that into shopping but there was a few things I was on the lookout for, a floaty skirt, a bumbag and a bucket hat (despite the fact I know full well that bucket hats do not suit me).

The rest of our time in Busan was slightly hampered by the mid autumn harvest festival, which due to lack of research, we didn't know was going on. We woke up on the 16th and jumped on the metro over to China town, looking to grab some snacks for breakfast while we explored the area, but when we arrived everything was shut. The restaurants, the shops, the strange amount of Russian accountants, all dark inside. At first we just thought we were there too early, restaurants and cafes rarely opened before 11am, but at the nearby Texas street (the inexplicably cowboy-centic area of the city) everything was shut too. We weren't the only ones caught off guard, other tourists wandered about perplexed about this turn of events, who expects a three day mid week holiday anyway!

After much googling we finally found a breakfast spot that was open, Toast Isaac. As the name suggests, they specialised in "toast" which is the Korean version of a toasted sandwich. I went for the "french scrambled" an unholy combo of two slices of sweet french toast sandwiching a 4 egg omelette and a slice of melted cheese. Honestly way more delicious than i'm making it seem. Ben went for the less deranged "bacon cheese"; toasted bread filled with spam, two types of cheese and an omelette.

Plans scuppered, we checked the map for points of interest settling on the Oryukdo Skywalk, a glass platform hanging over the sea and popular photo point. It took us an hour to get there and it really wasn't worth it. The platform was barely 20 meters long, packed with people and there wasn't anything else to do in the area either. The view was beautiful, with jagged islands dramatically jutting out of the sea and views of the city beyond, but I really didn't understand the hype it was getting in the reviews. Trying to make the most of it, we went for a little walk around, managing to get ourselves lost in a nearby car and making ourselves late for the bus.

With a lot of the city's attractions shut due to the holiday, the next day we ventured further afield to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, a buddhist temple uniquely situated on the south Korean shore line. We weren't the only ones to have the same idea, and although we woke up early ready to make to arduous 2 hour journey the bus was full, we squeezed ourselves in, wedging our way into a small free spot, resigned to having to stand up for the entire trip. Luckily, around an hour in, some seats opened up and we quickly claimed them before it was too late.

It was a small ten minute walk from the bus stop to the temple itself, just long enough to work up a sweat in the 35 degree heat. Luckily, just before the temples entrance was an area filled with shops and stalls, so we stocked up with water before heading inside the gates. As we entered the complex we first had to pass the zodiacs, large humanoid statues of each animal lined one side of the avenue and on the other were more fanciful statues of dragon-turtle hybrids, the first and only time we'd seen that particular combination.

Just after the zodiac lined walkway we were presented with three paths to choose from, there were signs but as they were all in Korean Hangul it didn't help us much in our decision. We continued on straight and followed a winding route that led us to the back of the main temple building, a relatively peaceful shady area with rocks covered in small statues. We took a few minutes here before we stepped out into the chaos that was happening in the rest of the complex.

Prayer was being led by chanting monks, with all available space inside the temple filled by devotees (and a few tourists that seemed to be joining in), there were crowds of people peering through the doorways to see what was happening within. People streamed from statue to statue, lining up to get that perfect photo, while others brought wishes and wrote their hopes before hanging them up with all the others. From the bridge connecting one part of the temple to another, coins were thrown into the wishing pots below, a ritual that had been seemingly turned into a game to help bump up donations.

It wasn't a silent place full of peaceful contemplation as it might have been intended, but a lively one with just a few too many people in it. We left the temple by a small bridge, following a path along the shoreline, and as soon as we turned a corner that shielded the temple from view the hubbub died down. Gone was the babble of conversation and instead just the sounds of gravel crunching underfoot and the waves lapping against the rocks. The path we followed would have taken us to the Marine Science Museum, but just like everywhere else, when we arrived at the gate it was closed for the mid autumn festival. With nothing else on the agenda - the rest of the area was mainly filled with closed marine science facilities - we went into the first cafe we found and treated ourselves to some fancy treats and some ice cold drinks.

On the way back to the city we stopped by the popular neighbourhood of Haeundae Beach, planning to cool ourselves off with a little swim before grabbing some lunch. The bus dropped us off about a kilometre away from the sea, so we walked past some popular tourist "hotspots" on the way. First was Solbart Art Village, an area consisting of a few converted shipping containers that seem to be home to a few run down (and closed) art shops. Next we wandered down Haeundae Traditional market, a blistering hot street lined with street food stalls and clothing shops, not fancying anything and far too hot we continued on our march to the beach. We arrived at the beach and gazed across the uncrowded sands, wondering why we didn't see a sun lounger in sight and that's when we saw the flags, spaced evenly down the wide sandy beach, all declaring swimming off limits. Another foiled plan.

So no museum and no swimming, all that was left of our plans for the area was to go out for lunch and that didn't go to plan either. I had been struggling a bit with dining in Korea, pescatarian options were just a little more difficult to find. Apart from some of the more touristy options, many good Korean restaurants specialise in one type of cuisine (like bbq or chicken or offal) so finding a place to dine that would have something for both Ben and I was getting a little tricky. On this day i'd managed to find a restaurant that had some veggie options it just happened to be a little out of the way, and when we got there, it was closed. This wouldn't have been quite as bad if it hadn't of been for the horrendous heat and humidity - we were both a little fed up by this point.

Eventually (after another long and sweaty walk) we found a little restaurant that sold cold noodles, a traditional dish that was high up on our list to try. Most versions have a meat based broth but a version made from soy-milk is also popular with the locals and that's what I went for. I thought it would be slightly odd but it was pleasantly refreshing and just what we needed to counteract the heat. Our meal came with an unasked for side of dumplings, and as I couldn't work out what they contained I left them to Ben who found them delicious.

As this was to be our last evening in Busan and we hadn't visited Busan tower or it's surrounding park yet, we decided to head up on a whim after dinner. At first the uphill climb to the park seemed daunting but we quickly found a series of covered escalators that would ferry out lazy buts to the top, saving us a lot of work. There was way more going on at the plaza than i was expecting, projections lit up the rock line waterfall and a large screen playing Busan tourism adverts on repeat lit the area as if it was day. We milled around for a while, soaking in the surprisingly chilled atmosphere before making our way back down to the city, then back to our hotel room to pack.

As much as I enjoyed my time in Busan, I can't help but think we could have planned our visit better.  The city's layout, sprawled along the coast in different bays and peninsulas, made traveling between destinations feel like a time-consuming task. In hindsight, perhaps splitting our visit by staying in two areas of the city would have been the better choice, allowing us to spend less time on the bus, and more time soaking in the character of Busan's different neighbourhoods. Having most of the city shut down for three days also didn't help, narrowing down places we could visit and cuisine we could try. Would I come back to Busan? Probably not, but as I reflect back on my time in South Korea, I can't help but feel there are still so many places left to explore.

Trip date : September 2024