Day 41: Busan - Gamcheon Culture Village and Busan Tower

We took a bus from Gyeongju to reach to Busan. If you have intentions of visiting both Gyeongju and Busan, I would say plan them back-to-back. These two places are very near to each other and they are two very different cities so you can experience two different cultures in one trip.

The bus ride from Gyeongju to Busan takes only 50 minutes. Most buses will reach at Nopo-dong Bus Terminal (but don't take it that I say all). Busan is the second most populated city beside Seoul (I think) or second biggest economy, and the life here is pretty similar to Seoul. Except that you have beaches in Busan, which you will never get in Seoul. Also, the cherry blossoms here are also the most famous in the whole of Korea I think.

Busan has subway systems too like in Seoul (thankfully). We were glad to be back in city life after 4 days of a rustic lifestyle in Gangneung and Gyeongju (especially Gyeongju). I think both lifestyles have their good points too, but being around Busan is definitely a lot more convenient if you are a foreigner, since you can of course see more English and speak more English and have people who understand more English.

Busan is full of love motels. I'm not sure why. Of course I can find guesthouses too. But most guesthouses are populated in tourist areas, and it is not cheap at all. Like USD80-100 for a room of four with minimal facilities. We hence decided to take a leap of faith and booked two rooms at a love motel in Busan. I stay around Seomyeon, to be exact, I think this hotel is near Beomnaegol subway station, which is one subway stop away. Seomyeon is a shopping area, and also a connecting point for a few subway lines, so we decided to stay here. And of course, reading reviews that this love motel is not so dodgy afterall.

Okay maybe the picture tells otherwise hahah. This is K2 Motel at night. Hmm... hahah but the four of us never felt weird at all staying in this motel. There are tourists staying there too, and even though the corridors are dimly-lit, the rooms are pretty bright.

The reason why we chose to stay in a motel - cheap, big, good and clean. I have the biggest TV I've ever seen in a motel, and we even have computers, not just wifi. We also have a big bathtub and a sofa and a big comfortable bed. I felt so comfortable in my room I didn't want to get out actually.

I still pulled myself out of the room and we headed to eat one of Busan's speciality food - pork broth rice (돼지국밥). Even though it's pork broth rice, it has noodles too. I poured the noodles in and mix in some chilli, because that's what I saw on other websites. That's the "right" way to eat this. Pork broth rice is supposedly able to cure hangovers and headaches, I personally like this quite a lot - it's simple but satisfying.

After lunch, we excitedly headed to Gamcheon Culture Village. 

Directions: Take the train to Jalgachi station, leave at exit 1, turn 180 degrees and walk down straight until you see a GS25. There is a bigger GS25 opposite, but don't bother crossing the road, cause the bus will take a turn and come by anyway. You can take bus 2 or 2-2 and alight at “감천문화마을” with the crowd. You can also take the bus from Toseong-dong subway station.

 

I'm sorry I couldn't even snap a picture of the bus because 1) I had to rush for the bus when it arrives 2) The small bus (or mini van) was so shaky I was holding on to dear life. These buses are small buses that only serve a small neighbourhood in the city. It typically only has about 15 seats from what I remember. We also have to give up the seats for the elderly when they board so I'm mostly standing and shaking with the bus. Fortunately the journey is only about 20 minutes long.

At the entrance to Gamcheon Culture Village. You won't be able to see this from the bus stop. You have to walk forward and take a right turn. So it's really good if you bring someone along with understands Korean. 감천문화마을 literally translates into Gamcheon Culture Village. One of the buses say the Gamcheon Primary School though - the primary school is right opposite this place.

This is the view that most people came here for. I was standing at a wrong direction I suppose so the view didn't look as good. ): This place is lovely if not for the big crowd on weekends and holiday period. I went there during my second trip to Korea. It was drizzling and there was literally no one, but so peaceful to stroll there.

This is the cafe that I love in Gamcheon Culture Village. It's a small cafe with only about 10plus seats but it has a very relaxed feel. Sipping a cup of hot chocolate here is so awesome. The boss is also very nice, and he was still very nice when I return a year later. I'm glad it's still there and I hope it stays there forever.

Our next stop was Busan Tower. Some people say that if you've been to Namsan Tower, you won't need to waste time coming here. I beg to differ. Both are special. I love Namsan Tower because everywhere there is so pretty and the night breeze is so cooling. The only thing I hate is that there are way too many people there - tourists and locals alike, and it's hard to find a place to properly sit down and chit chat. But if you are okay with sitting on the ground like I do, that place is still great. Busan Tower, on the other hand, has a lot more locals than tourists. Nevertheless, this place is not as crowded as Namsan tower, and there are more cafes and seats around for you. A pity the view here isn't as mesmerizing as Namsan Tower.

I still managed to get some lovely pictures of the place though.

Dinner was at a random udon shop in Seomyeon. For 4,000won, this is perfect for a cold chilly night. Sometimes, all it takes is some comfort food to make your day. :)

Will blog about the rest of Busan (Gwangalli beach, gwangan bridge, haeundae beach, the famous temple) in another post.

Day 39 & 40: Gyeongju, the ancient city

Sorry for the absence for the past 3 months. I've just started on my new job and it's tough trying to cope with things. Not to say, I'm so mentally drained I started feeling tired really early. So I've been dragging to continue posting. But feeling encouraged by the number of visitors who still come here often, I decided I should finish up my posts of my Korea trips.

So Day 39 started off with us waking up early to check out at 8.30am and rushing for the 8.45am bus from Sun Cruise resort. If you do not remember, I've mentioned before that the bus to and fro Sun Cruise comes every 2 hours. If we had missed this one, it would take us another 2 hours before we could get back to Seoul.

I have to specially mention the friendly bellboys. Because we saw the bus from afar and were worried that it may scoot off without us, they started running for the bus for us, and I'm ashamed to say that these guys were even faster though they have to run along while pushing our heavy trolleys. Superb service from them really :)

We took the bus back to Seoul before we head off for our road trip #2. Just in case you're wondering, you get pretty good comfortable chairs for the bus. And this is not even the premium one.

We had a simple lunch back at the bus terminal before boarding another bus to Gyeongju. A bus from Gangneung to Gyeongju would take 6-7 hours, and a bus from Seoul to Gyeongju would have taken 4 hours. So that was the reason why we decided to head back to Seoul. But we forgot to count in the journey of Gangneung back to Seoul which took 2 hours so in the end, the time spent is around the same. But nonetheless, glad to be back in the lively city.

My simple lunch - tuna and kimchi rice. I can't fathom why a simple dish like this can always always taste so great. In Korea, I've almost never gone wrong with a dish before. No matter how old the shop is, how small the shop is, how empty the shop is. Koreans are all born to be cooks somehow.

So... we arrived at Nahbi guesthouse in Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a very ancient city and most of their houses are hanoks or traditional houses. The girls wanted to opt for hanok stays too but unfortunately the highly rated ones didn't have rooms. I was secretly glad though. I'm particular about bathrooms and I always have the thought that the hanoks' bathrooms will not meet my standards. Not sure how right I am, but do let me know if you've stayed in a hanok before.

Nahbi guesthouse, is a pretty good one to stay in if you're not into hanoks like me. The guesthouse owner gave clear instructions and directions and also a map that indicates the famous restaurants in the small city of Gyeongju (although I beg to differ for some recommendations). He also speaks good English so you can be sure he will help with anything. Also, I needed to print something but ran out of paper. He was helpful to get me some as well. It's a small and simple guesthouse but good to get by if you're not fussy. Afterall, I don't think I've seen any hotels around in Gyeongju too.

We headed for a very traditional dinner after settling down and it was quite highly recommended by the guesthouse owner too. It took quite a while to find this place and we reached after about half an hour. We were here for one of Gyeongju's specialty food - ssambap (쌈밥).

This spread looks amazing but I can safely claim this is one of my worst meal experiences in Korea. Firstly, almost every single dish felt as if they've been immersed in salt for days. Secondly, we came in at 8.15pm or so and at 8.50pm they started chasing us out. Like telling us that they are closing and we have to finish our food. Well... there wasn't a lot of food choices at night but even if so, if they have kindly told us at 8.15pm that they are closing at 9pm and would really chase us out if we are not done, maybe we wouldn't have headed in.

We were feeling unhappy and unsatisfied and the night was too young to head back to sleep. Afterall, it's only 9pm! But there weren't a lot of activities to do in Gyeongju at night (not that I know of) so we decided to head to Paris Baguette to eat patbingsu. I love love love patbingsu, because of it, my night ended slightly better.

Gyeongju doesn't have any subway systems. There are buses of course but the places we are heading to are all clustered in one area - we wonder if buses are even necessary. After much deliberation, we decided to go by cycling. It's one of the most basic and best way to explore the city, while not having to take as much time as walking.

We first came to Daereungwon complex and also to the Cheomseongdae observatory. Gyeongju really is a place of rich culture and history and it was very peaceful cycling around there. Its famous tourist attractions are all history-related though, maybe that's also the reason why this place doesn't appeal to much tourists.

We were not satisfied with the ssambap (쌈밥) yesterday so we decided to stop by at this other restaurant when we cycled past it. This was so much better, still salty though. If you realise, the portions of the side dishes are quite small, probably because they know you will refill it anyway. It's all refillable except that delicious stewed pork. You also have so many choices of vegetables to wrap your face and side dishes in - makes perfect sense since ssambap literally means wrapped rice.

We also saw many people queueing for this and we decide we have to too, even if it takes a while. It's called Hwangnambang, and supposedly one of Gyeongju's delicacies too. It's some pastry made of red bean paste and it tastes absolutely delicious eating it piping hot. We were probably the only one who spent 15-20mins queueing up but only bought a packet of 8 to share. I really wanted to bring some back to Singapore though, but considering that I've two more road trips after that, I'm not sure if this can survive with me while I travel around the rest of Korea. I gave up that thought after realising how much of a hassle it is to lug my backpack, to-go bag and another bag of this along with me.

We also went to the Anapji pond and also Bunhwang-sa afterwards. Anapji pond will look amazing at night so if you do have a choice, please visit Anapji pond at night. The only reason why we didn't was because Anapji was at the opposite end from our guesthouse, and we already cycled a half circle, it makes no sense to come back here at night.

We spotted some lovely sunflowers and a nice patch of green grass?? along the way cycling back. It was a tiring journey back though because shortly after, a friend fell while riding. We sent her back via taxi and had to push her bike back. It meant that one of us must push two bikes. And it doesn't make sense that we leave one person behind too because we were running late in returning the bike and had to take a shortcut which was not already planned. A long and tedious journey back indeed.

We went for samgyupsal and makchang for dinner after that. I really really miss makchang - it's quite exotic in Singapore.

We finished the night with another patbingsu. Patbingsu makes me feel so at ease.

Day 38: Exploring Gangneung

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's hard to piece together things from nearly a year ago. But anyway I should still continue because things are going to get real busy for me soon and I would have even lesser time to update - I'm officially entering the workforce.

So we explored the area around Sun Cruise Resort first. Found a nice little quaint park and took many photos.

I could totally sit here forever....

The areas in Gangneung has beaches with one of the clearest waters I have ever seen. I'm not sure is it because there are less tourists and thus the water is less polluted.

Here's a shot of me at the nice beach area.

And here's a fantastic view of the "cruise" again. All along I thought it was a real cruise and they moved it up onto a hill hahahhahahah. But it turned out to be a resort built to look like a cruise. This place is really amazing.

If you're in Korea, grab this Wang Subab literally translates to Big Watermelon. It's an icecream shaped like a slice of watermelon and I guess the taste is close enough to a watermelon, though albeit artificial. I love it on a cooling day :)

After that we took a bus (I forgot the bus number) to Sodol Beach because we wanted to do the Gangneung zipline. It was also nerve-wrecking because the bus ride is about an hour away but we constantly kept a lookout and also focused on hearing the stop's name in fear of missing the stop and ending up at some unknown place 3 hours away. We reached a harbour-like place with no site of any zipline except one that looks like a 30-minute walk away. We asked the lady who was selling iced coffee in a pushcart (in our broken Korean) and she didn't know about it but she kindly took out her phone to google (or in Korea, they used Naver) for us. Her boss also came over to help us with it and it turned out that the Gangneung zipline is closed on Sundays. Bad day for us. And the place is so inaccessible. So I would highly recommend you to do the zipline down to Nami Island if you're interested in one.

We then cabbed to Charmsori Gramophone & Edison Science Museum because if we don't, we probably might not make it back in time. (Refer to previous entry about how the bus to Sun Cruise Resort only comes by every 2 hours). Museums are not my sort of thing but some stuff are pretty interesting too. Like the picture below. These are all the lightbulbs Thomas Edison has tried to make before he successfully invented the lightbulb.

We crossed opposite as we spotted this wide and spacious space for some jumpshot photos hahah.

We also took a bus to the Gajeong Beach I think. It was pretty good but we were too tired out for a day at the beach. We left after about an hour and took bus 202 back to the terminal area for dinner at 6pm or so because we didn't want to miss the 8pm bus (also the last bus) back to the resort. See how tiring it is to stay at the resort.

Dinner was at some family owned Korean restaurant. We ordered our favourite Haemul Pajeon (I always liked the ones in Korea, less batter, more seafood/chives) and their spicy kalguksu (knife-cut noodles). Both were good, but the spiciness of the kalguksu got to me after a while. I gave up at half bowl.

The helper in the restaurant, probably the son of the chef, was a cute ahjossi. Maybe an oppa, he looks like he is in his late 20s or early 30s. Cute as in not good-looking cute but his little antics are so cute hahah. He knew we weren't Koreans of course, because we were speaking in a language he couldn't understand. And then maybe due to boredom, he started chatting with us. His English was terrible though, not even basic seriously. Hahah probably only knew 100 words kind of terrible. So he talked to us in Korean. Apparently only me and Cheryl has a standard that is well enough to understand basic Korean. So but he kept bombarding us with Korean. It's the first time we had an entire conversation in Korean for a good 15 minutes with many exchanges of fluent and broken Korean respectively. We also gave up halfway because we couldn't understand him but he didn't give up and continue to use slightly simplier Korean along with a mixture of hand gestures to convey his meaning across.

Hilarious night really.

Day 37: Gangwon-do & Sun Cruise Resort

So the first trip is at Gangneung, Gangwon-do. Gangwon-do is a huge province on the north of South Korea. If you want to visit Gangwon-do, have an idea of what you want to do here because this place is too huge and the attractions are too isolated for you to hop around unlike in Seoul. That's one bad thing about travelling outside of Seoul. But otherwise, you get to experience the less bustling life - it's quite peaceful too! Usually, people go to Gangwon-do Pyeongchang in winter time for their winter ski.

We chose to start our long bus ride from Express Bus Terminal. Yes, that amazing shopping place. But there is a bus terminal at the next building. You could get your tickets there on the spot or you could reserve earlier. You can also choose the kind of bus seats you want - standard or premium. You could converse with the person in basic English, no worries about that. The main language barrier comes when you leave Seoul. It's hard to find someone who can even understand your broken Korean, let alone basic English, outside of Seoul. So be prepared for that!

Having my all-time favourite comfort food - Sundubu Jjigae. I had less of this on my second trip because these are readily available in Singapore. Just double the price and maybe half the authenticity. If you're there for a short trip, I would recommend you to try Korean food which cannot be found/are harder to be found in Singapore.

The bus stop right outside the bus terminal at Gangneung will bring you to Sun Cruise resort. There are a few buses but only take bus 109. Buses outside of Seoul do not flash words, not even Korean words. Listen out for the voiceover, but then again it's in Korean. However,  the Korean pronunciation of Sun Cruise resort is very close to the English one, so just keep hearing for it. It should go up to the top of a hill and you should only alight at the highest point.

As you can see, bus timings are horrendous. Except 7am and 8am, the buses only come by every 2 hours. And this is the only bus up to Sun Cruise resort + the bus ride takes one full hour. So do plan properly. Because if you miss the bus, your itinerary will be pushed back by 2 full hours. 

You will arrive at this entrance about 1-2 minutes walk from where the bus stops. And if you think you see a cruise behind, you are not wrong.

This is the exact reason why we stay in this place. The resort is made like a cruise on the top of a hill. It looks so spectacular and honestly staying there was one of the best choices. Minus the transportation woes. If I could, I would stay there 3d2n and not leave the place. But I probably need a much higher budget.

The view that greets us when we stepped into our room.

The room was spacious, well-lit and cosy. I love all rooms that look cosy. But of course, for the price, if it didn't, I would have never paid for it.

The resort also has a mini cafe. Nothing spectacular or amazing about the decoration but the cakes and the accompanying view sure looked lovely.

On our way down, we managed to spot a pretty sunset.

However, since the bus only comes by every two hours, we cannot afford to wait for it. We decided to walk down, wrong choice but only choice. The road winds and turns and is so deserted because the only vehicles using this road are those that goes to or leaves the resort. Going back up at 9pm is the scary thing hahah, and of course uphill too.

We settled at a random restaurant for dinner at 8pm and it seemed like the area has quietened down quite a bit. But the ahjummas still served us well. That's what I like about Koreans - if they serve you, they make sure you are served well.

I also walked by a convenience store and craved for a popsicle - the Korean style hahah.

At the Hourglass park.

And a random beach which we walked past on our trek up the hill back to our resort.

All in all, Sun Cruise resort is a lovely place, but you have to know that transportation is troublesome here. Not just here, anywhere outside Seoul and Busan. Only Seoul and Busan has the subway trains, so buses is the main form of transportation for tourists elsewhere. Don't even think about cabs in some of these rural areas, because you might be better off waiting 2 hours for the bus instead. I'd definitely recommend Sun Cruise resort, especially if you think you can stay in the resort for a relaxing stay all day long - which you should be able to. There are restaurants and parks and swimming pools and cafe and a convenience store and souvenir stores. Wish they have a noraebang/multibang there hahah, then maybe I won't even take a step out of the resort at all.