It's Busan again for the day. Since Lissya and I have both been in Seoul before, we tried to do some road trips outside of Seoul in order to explore more of Korea. Even though I've been to Busan before, but Busan has been a lovely place and I wouldn't mind another visit again. :)
In order to minimise inconvenience in bringing our barang-barang (a.k.a. bags) and shifting hostels, we decided to make this a road trip to Busan. We had to maximise our time there so we had to take the earlier train there and hopefully the later train back. We decided to take the 8am train there and will reach at 11.30am or the 6pm train back and will reach at about 9.30pm. Of course there are earlier trains to Busan and later trains back from Busan but we had to factor in whether the subway timing etc. It was only slightly more than a half day so we only decided in two places that I personally feel are characteristic of Busan - Haeundae beach and Gamcheon Culture Village.
We grabbed some breakfast from Seoul station. You can take KTX from a few stations in Seoul, offhand I could only think of Seoul or Yongsan station. Depending on where you are, you may want to decide accordingly. However, the train tickets may be more expensive if you set off from Seoul station than Yongsan station if you're heading to Busan because Seoul station is the first stop if I'm not wrong. Not too sure how much it differs by though.
We headed to Dunkin' Donuts but because I still feel sick of sweet things (overdose from yesterday's Innisfree cafe cakes, I really don't have that much of a sweet tooth hahah), I was surprised to see that they have a sausage burrito. Grabbed that with an americano (so korean but so not my cup of coffee) at probably only 3,500KRW. My brain was still not functioning well early in the morning, or otherwise, I'm still unfamiliar with the korean currency after a long time, I kept giving more than I should. I think I attempted to pass the cashier 30,000KRW and still looking for another 5,000KRW. But of course being the very nice people they are, they only took 10,000KRW for me and told me it's more than enough and proceeded to give me my change.
By the way, sausage burrito is so good so much so that I found another good breakfast alternative. It used to be Paris Baguette's milk bread for me or Isaac Toast. But now one more into the list. And one more upcoming from Holly's Coffee which I will introduce in the upcoming posts.
I'm honestly so excited to get up the KTX. Another biggest regret from my 2013 Korea trip is that I didn't have the budget to take a KTX. But this time round, I didn't want to scrimp and I don't think I can afford a 5.5 hours train ride to Busan and back since it was a day trip. And boy, it was one of the best decisions made! KTX was really really so comfortable, I'm so going by KTX only.
Some selfie in the morning. Well behaved hair in Korea hahahah. But apparently still too ill-behaved for Koreans.
It was a bad day to visit Busan as it was drizzling the whole day. But it didn't dampen our mood thankfully. The attractions were empty and perfect for camwhoring too because of the slight drizzle/rain. However, it was way too coldddddddd. I didn't expect that it was drizzling so I thought that a long sleeve shirt will do the trick and I didn't bring my cardigan as I only went over with a small bag. Bad choice, the temperature was probably 15 degree celsius or so and I was freezing away.
Trying to do some jumpshots to warm myself up hahah. Apparently didn't manage to succeed.
Honestly when did you have such a chance to actually camwhore so much without anyone in the background blocking you? Hahah or waiting for people to walk away. Haeundae beach did look a bit empty and sad though but fortunately we met a nice man. He walked over to us and spoke to us in English to ask if we need help to take a photo together. His English was understandable and I'm glad to keep bumping into nice Koreans who make an effort to try to offer help even without us asking.
We walked around and decided to settle at a small restaurant along the way back to the subway station. Piping hot kimchi soup is what we exactly need on a cold day like this.
We proceeded to head to Gamcheon Culture Village. For directions on how to get there, please refer to my previous post about Busan.
This time round, I got a slightly better spot to capture the houses, without those irritating wires in the way. Gamcheon Culture Village was very peaceful that day because of the slight drizzle. There was no need for us to squeeze with the crowd nor wait for our turn to take photos at more beautiful spots.
I think this place is really lovely and I hope nothing happens to this place and the government continues to conserve it the way it is. I'm quite sad that this place is getting overcrowded but I do hope that the Koreans living there, if their lives are ever affected, it's in a positive way like more income for them etc.
I decided to pop by the same cosy cafe I went to the other time and am glad that it is still there. Lissya and I sat there at a long one hour before deciding that we should leave to head back to Seoul. Despite a repeat trip to Busan, this trip was exceptionally more peaceful and calming thanks to the weather. I don't like crowds and over-commercialisation and that day, I saw a side of Busan that I may not have seen if I come on a day with good weather.
Oh by the way, my very awesome KTX train :)
Because we will reach back Seoul rather late (9.30pm), we decided to have our dinner on KTX. There are people pushing carts and selling bentos and drinks and snacks. You can always get them on the train. I got them off the train but no worries, no pressure and no such things as "no outside food allowed". The staff are also very considerate and only went by softly and you don't need to feel pressured at all not buying anything.
Btw, I had one of the best kimbaps I ever had. Or was I starving so badly already. I had a good nap after dinner though. :) I love long train/bus rides, so calming.
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