And suddenly, it is our last day in Busan. We woke up and planned out how we would tackle our day, hoping to see as much as possible. On almost every night, our last stop before our hotel is a trip to a convenience store for waters (if not supplied by our hotel) and some cold coffees for the morning. Last night, we decided to hold off and go to a cafe or coffee shop for our morning coffee, as coffee shops are very popular in Busan and would frequently see multiple in the same block. Just 5 minutes from our hotel is a shop that sold really good looking iced lattes, so we grabbed a large one (unsure of the flavor, but super tasty and delicious).
We took public transportation about 40 minutes out to the area where we needed to transfer to a different bus line for our final destination. Caitlyn found a Korean BBQ place that looked good, so after a bit of walking and searching for it (it was on the 4th floor of a building), we got in and were seated. After being seated we quickly felt eyes on us and looked to our side to see a korean family intently watching us (this continued throughout the whole meal, every food item we picked up, every turn of our meat, every bite was witnessed by them). We ordered two kinds of meat: iberico pork and seasoned beef. This time, we cooked it ourselves! We started with the pork, placing the pieces whole on the grill before cutting it up and finishing cooking. It was tasty, but in an attempt to cook it thoroughly, we may have overcooked it. The sides were pretty standard, but there was a dish of some white powdery substance that we were told to dip our meat into some. It definitely had some salt in it, but we are unsure what other spices they may have added. The seasoned beef was delicious and perfectly cooked (thanks Chef Caitlyn). We watched how many of the locals were cooking their food, and found some new tips and methods. Our favorite that we plan to use later is placing a metal bowl or cup on the grill, placing the garlic in that, and drizzling sesame oil over (our garlic hasn’t been cooking well).
We hopped on another bus to our final stop before taking over by foot. We got off and took a 15 minute walk to the entrance of what appeared to be a congregation of multiple historic or significant sites. We weren’t sure what else there was, and didn’t really have time to add anything, so we just headed down the path towards our destination.
Along the way were tons of beautiful statues, including the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. We kept walking and eventually found the Haedong Yonggungsa temple – a beautiful seaside temple. We entered the complex and were blown away by all of the beautiful views, the interesting statues and structures everywhere, and the tiny winding paths leading all around to grant new views of the temple and ocean.
We explored the first part of the complex for probably 45 minutes before heading over a small bridge into the main area. At this point, it was pretty hot out and we had done a good bit of walking and stairs, so we went into a cafe on the grounds to grab a coffee and get a short break. We decided to get a “wish coffee”, which turned out to be a tasty iced coffee with “wish” written in Korean script in cinnamon.
We finished our coffee and decided to see the temple itself and the surrounding interests. We spent probably another hour exploring and appreciating everything. After exhausting everything we could find to do here, we decided to walk about 45 minutes to the blue train – a cute train that will take you all along the coastline.
We took an interesting route down, starting on an almost dirt road that appeared to be navigating through some sketchy looking construction areas as well as some small farms and homes. We kept wondering the entire way if this was the wrong road, but eventually got towards the coast and felt more comfortable. We then transferred to a nice path that lined the coastline, appreciating the beautiful ocean and occasional beach to our left.
Down a few smaller streets, we eventually get to the blue train station. We purchase two one way tickets and went through a gate to wait for the train to arrive. We meticulously discussed our boarding strategy, hoping to get a window seat facing the water. The train rolls into the station a few minutes later, and we board while frantically looking for the best seat options. It turns out that the seats actually all face outwards towards the ocean, in bench style and with bench some cars having stadium bench seating. We lucked out and found a mostly empty bench. The train set off and we enjoyed our ocean view for the duration of the 30 minute ride all the way to the end of the line, Mipo station.
Getting off, we passed by a cheese tart shop and went inside to see if we wanted to grab another. Prices were a little high, so we decided to move along. It was not too late, but we had a lot of things to do before moving to a new town tomorrow. We decided to head back towards our hotel so we could do what we had to before enjoying the evening. We were about 20 minutes from the subway station, so we started walking. We walked by some HUGE buildings, including three buildings called “Haeundae LCT The Sharp” with one 101 story building and two 85 story residential buildings. We kept walking until stumbling upon a coffee shop. David was feeling a little tired, so he grabbed a toffee nut iced lattee, which was sweet and AMAZING. Every sip was loaded with toffee chunks the entire way down. We sipped and walked to the subway, making the ride back.
Exiting back onto the street, up our 73 step staircase, we walked a few blocks to the Lotte department store near our hotel. We were in search for some food before heading back to the hotel, as we wanted to do laundry amongst other things and didn’t know if it would be too late to want to go out and find food afterwards. We went down to the restaurant areas and had slim pickings as far as what we were interested in. Eventually, we decided to just pick up some food to go and eat in our hotel room as we had a lot to do and the mall was closing soon. We decided to each pick something out and we would share. Caitlyn picked out two different types of Dumplings, one kimchi and one meat. David found a place selling food that was kind of dumpling-ish and kind of like sushi. We still aren’t quite sure what they were. We walked the short walk back to our hotel, stopping in the lobby to microwave David’s pick, as point Caitlyn’s came hot. Before going back up the elevator, we asked the lobby attendant where the laundry facilities were (we had previously seen something about laundry written on a brochure in the room). He told us it was on the 2nd floor, and knowing how laundry was in Japan, we asked if it is coin operated and which coins it took. He replied “no, free!” And our faces LIT up. We went upstairs, collected the laundry, and Caitlyn showered while David went down to the 2nd floor to find the laundry room. Inside were 2 large washers and a HUGE dryer with a bag of powdered detergent on top. Without instructions and armed with only Google Translate, David set to work on how to get the clothes clean, splitting the load between both washers. Back upstairs, we ate our dumplings and started working on booking some flights and hotels for later in the trip. The dumplings were good, with the kimchi one being better, but neither being great. David’s 3 strange rolls were all pretty good, but the one wrapped in scrambled egg was David’s favorite and Caitlyn’s was the one with beef on the outside. We worked on the travel bookings as well as packing for about 2 hours, sharing a soju, before finishing the laundry.
We decided at this point that we both wanted to see at least some of the night life in Busan as we have been early birds for the most part. We headed back out and walked around a while, realizing that clubs and karaoke are bigger here, with not as many pubs. We decided to try a craft beer place first called 2°C. We should have learned our mistake by now, as every single one we have gone to on the trip has been incredibly expensive, but we were feeling risky. Of course, prices were high, but they did have a reasonable price on light beer pitchers. We split a small pitcher of “Kelly” beer and enjoyed watching South Korea smash the will to live out of Kuwait in a soccer game, ending 9-0. After our pitcher and such a light snack of the Dumplings, we decided to grab something more substantial for a late dinner. We walked around for a while looking for something suitable before settling on a Korean fried chicken place again. We sat down and ordered a beer each and a split order of half regular unseasoned and half sweet chili fried chicken. We noted when they sat us down that they only provided a fork and no chopsticks. We thought maybe it was because we were white, but we saw no chopsticks in sight. We did some Googling and looked at our neighbors, and actually saw people eating with their hands!! This came as great news with how hard it is to eat bone-in chicken with a pair of chopsticks. The chicken was pretty good, better than the garlic chicken the other night. The sweet chili was probably better, but they both hit the spot. Feeling full and ready for sleep (it was almost midnight), we went back home. We had checked the bus schedule for the next stop, and it turns out the bus comes very regularly and you have to buy tickets on person, so we set our alarms relatively early to wake up and finish packing and headed to sleep.
David’s thoughts of the day: Busan is the first city I think I truly feel ready to move along from. It isn’t that we disliked it, but we didn’t feel the magic as much as other cities. I’m hopeful it’s just Busan and not all of Korea, but we have great attitudes and free clean laundry, so we are ready to take on the world.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: With Google Maps not being prominent in Korea, it is much more challenging to find restaurants and understand what food is offered before walking in. Many places have menus listed on a wall which we have to Google translate, but they often will already start bringing out waters/teas and sides before we decide what dish we want.
Steps walked: 19,922
Miles walked: 9.62
Total miles walked in Busan: 34.07
Bluming Travelers 