Busan
Over Chuseok I spent 3 days in Busan, Korea’s second largest city and premiere beach town. We went hoping for some time at Haeundae beach but the weather our first two days was kind of awful. We didn’t know much about Busan, but since our plan A was out we had to wing it and go explore.
Our hostel was right on Haeundae beach, so the first thing we checked out was the Busan Aquarium. I saw some of the ugliest fish imaginable and was thoroughly creeped out by sea life, but I really enjoyed it. There were some really great animals, the coolest of which might have to be the enormous octopus that completely spread itself out against the glass. The aquarium is designed to build you up for the big walk through shark tank at the end and it didn’t disappoint, there were some intimidating beasts in that tank.
We had heard about Shinsegae, the world’s largest department store, and thought it might be a nice indoor attraction worth checking out as we wanted to avoid the gloom. On the map it looked as if it was fairly close but in reality we walked for at least a good hour. The department store is impressively big, with a four story golf course on top, a movie theater, ice rink, and spa, but otherwise there wasn’t too much to see. It really was just… an enormous department store. I guess I was hoping for something a bit more exciting like Harrods, but at least the roof top garden offered some nice views of a gloomy Busan.
Like any good expats we spent the evening at Thursday Party in the Haeundae area. Thursday Parties have everything a typical franchise needs to makes westerners feel at ease; they are all identical and they are conveniently everywhere. It’s a little bizarre but a nice place to hang out.
Day two proved to be just as wet and grey so we searched for more indoor activites and wound up at the contemporary art museum. I wasn’t too optimistic about Busan having an impressive modern art museum, but it turned out there was a pretty great exhibit in town from a museum in France called “Monet to Warhol”. From there we ventured to Busan’s famous fish market and had some very fresh sashimi. We ordered the 2-3 person plate but it proved to be much more than the 3 of us could handle. I’ve been off raw fish for a while now but made an exception for Busan and I am glad I did because it was nice.
Busan like any city has a viewing tower and since we were in the area we decided to check it out. We didn’t go up to the top but the park it is in was a nice place to walk around and had some great views of Busan.
Our final day was forecast to be another disappointing day of rain, but we headed to Gwangali beach anyway to meet up with a friend. The real disappointment was the beautiful, warm, sunny day it turned out to be and I was not dressed for the beach at all! Everyone always talks about Haeundae beach but I thought Gwangali had a lot more to offer, including a view out to a really impressive bridge. We did our best to take advantage of the weather and walked in the water a bit but all I wanted to do was jump in! I am definitely ready to head back to Busan for a day with good weather!! I’m going back for the International Fireworks Festival at the end of October, but I’m thinking we will be too far into fall to hope for another opportunity to go swimming.
Our Hostel: Marubee Guest House
Marubee Guest House is a hostel set up in a large 2 bedroom apartment in a high rise building right on Haeundae beach. One room is all female and the other is a mixed bedroom, each with 10 beds. The common area is pretty big with a full kitchen and dining area, a couch and tv, and computers with complimentary internet access for guests (and wifi). The staff is super nice and they keep the place really, really clean. This was the most important part for me because Marubee GH keeps a cat named Mint and I am deathly allergic but I wasn’t bothered at all. The staff let us leave our bags after check out and they offered free maps and breakfast! If you are travelling with a small group to Busan I would definitely recommend Marubee GH; the location, quality, and comfort were all worth the 25,000₩/night ($21) we each paid.
