Busan

Everybody you talk to that has been to Busan will tell you that you should go there. “You get a different feeling in Busan.” “The people are different, friendlier.” “The beaches are nice.” When it came to planning a long weekend in the Southern coastal city, those comments didn't help all that much. I had no clue where to start, what to do, what to see. In Europe it's easy. There's an old city center in every city and that's where you want to go. You spend most of your time there, maybe straying once or twice if you have a good reason. Like in Seoul, you can't just do that with Busan. You look online for the top places to visit in Busan and you find two spots that are nowhere near each other. There isn't one center in these cities, there are many centers.

Finally, realizing that the ideal sleeping situation for us was to be able to pitch a tent on the beach, we focused our search finding two possible beaches of Busan where we could camp. One of the beaches was on the western edge of the metropolis while the other was on the eastern edge. We settled on the beach in the east as it was close to two other areas we wanted to check out.

After an exhausting overnight bus trip, a 1.5 hour wait in the station for the subway to start, a 2 hour local transportation scheme, we finally made it to Songjeong Beach.

Songjeong

The road from the bus stop takes you to the beaches eastern reaches where a small forested point is capped at the sea by a pagoda pavilion visible from all parts of the beach. At 7 am, looking out over the 1.2 km beach, the camping area quickly popped out, setting my heart at ease. Up until that point I was unsure if camping was allowed. I had read a couple of blogs about people tent camping on this city beach before but that is all. Seeing the tents lined up in front of the wall on the western end of the beach gave me some relief.

Songjeong was ideal for Mihai and I. It was long, sandy, and quite pretty. Though the road went right along the beach, it was lined with coffee shops, surf shops, a couple of restaurants and some corner store type places rather than loud clubs. It was quite scenic with a forested hill and a nice pagoda at one of its points. Immediately I scoped out a hill to hike on some of our downtime. Even though the water was cold it was not boring at all. At any given moment, from sunrise to sunset, small fishing boats were visible in the distance while surfers in wet suits populated the foreground.

Even though there weren't any clubs in the area, the neighborhood behind the beach offered a lot of options for places to eat. We had our fill of cheap fast-food to cut some costs, but we were also able to treat ourselves to a nice Italian dinner and a lunch from a surfer-style burger joint.

Some of my free time led me wondering up a small hill near our beach. I went in search of a good,
overhead view of the beach and I found it. The trail was part of a much longer trail that stretched the entire length of Busan's coast and beyond. There is no lack of hiking infrastructure in Korea. The section of trail that I was on traversed a couple of steep forested hills between Songjeong and Heundae. Wherever the forest opened up in a small valley, farms were present, stretching down to the sea. Looking out over Songjeong I spotted our tent, our weekend home. The following day, that tent would go practically all day unoccupied as we wandered around Busan. To our luck, and credit to a safety of Korea, our things stayed safe and secure despite us abandoning them for an entire day.

Jagalchi Market

Boats surrounded us on three sides, offering just a small pinhole in our view to the south over the sea. Jagalchi is a large fish market just a few stops down on the subway from Busan station. For us, coming from Songjeong, it was a long bus/metro combination. The trip brought us to what one might consider the center or Busan, or one of them. Standing out on the wharf behind Jagalchi the boat filled harbor dominated our view in the foreground, water sandwiched between an island to the southeast and a steep hillside packed full of small buildings to the west. We joined some others on the concrete slab to watch the draw bridge connecting the island to the mainland lift, letting through a large boat while halting road traffic.

Our stroll around Jagalchi ended abruptly on account of our weak stomachs. While passing through we unknowingly watched a lady, quick with her hands and her knife, take small eels and skin them alive. Before realizing what was happening, I first noticed the skinless creatures desperately slithering in a bowl. I watched, wondering what it was until I finally saw a fresh one exiting the hand of the knife lady.

Within walking distance of Jagalchi we explored Gukje Market as it was opening. Lines upon lines of stalls, not yet all open. I could imagine what it might look like in the middle of the day, filled with people, food, and cheap Chinese-made plastics. From there we climbed the hill to a park containing Busan tower. Without going up in the tower, I'd say that the park and the tower itself were quite unimpressive. That being said, the performance in the park was quite the opposite. Three nicely dressed college-aged individuals sat out on a small stage with their string instruments laying on tables before them. The instrument is called gayageum and and its musician has the freedom of lengthening and shortening strings with on hand as they pluck with the other. The show made our hike up the hill well worth it.

Igidae

 

In my searches online for things to do in Busan, I did not find any information on Igidae. Luckily, a couple of days before leaving I consulted a co-worker and big fan of Busan. She mentioned Igidae park and it turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. Igidae is a coastal hiking trail. We arrived at one end of the trail after a 45 minute local bus ride from Jagalchi. The bus passed through dense city areas and the field of cranes at one Busan's ports before reaching a prettier greener point. At that point, a new tourist information center welcomed us with all the info needed to plan the hike. Before setting off on the trail we shuffled out onto a glass walkway jutting out over some rocks to catch a nice view of a couple of other rocks laying just of the coast.

The hike itself took about two and a half hours. It was not a difficult hike and much of it went over built structures such as stairs, decking, or bridges. It was quite amazing being in South Korea's second largest city but feeling totally cut off from it as we traversed a hillside along the coast. In a few points the trail dipped down to the sea where fishermen with long poles stood out on the rocks unaffected by the water crashing before them. Toward the end of the hike, the hill we were traversing got steeper and bridges where built out over crevices. Busan's famous diamond bridge came into view with skyscrapers dominating the landscape on the other end of it.

Haeundae

You can't talk about Busan without mentioning Haeundae. It is a favorite to foreigners and locals alike. Haeundae is Busan's largest beach and it is surrounded by a very lively area, city blocks packed full of clubs, restaurants and bars. Mihai and I felt that we must at least stop by to see what its all about. Unfortunately, after the long hike at Igidae, we didn't make it to the area until darkness had already fallen. After dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant we walked the busy streets to the beach. Split between sinking our feet into the cold sand and walking the busy board walk we began making our way down the beach. Every twenty feet or so stood another street performer with a guitar or a drum to bang on.

We happened upon a weekend during the sand-sculpture festival. Piles of sand larger than my office stood one after another, one behind another, along a section of the beach. Each pile had carved into it a a different scene representing animals in the jungle. We sipped on a beer as we watched the people pass by us under the boardwalk lights. The busy day had the better of us and we quickly returned back to our tent on the next beach up the coast to the east, Songjeong beach.

Haedong Yonggungsa

The sign said 2.5 kilometers to the temple up what appeared to be a busy road. I asked Mihai if she'd prefer taking a local bus or taxi, she adamantly resisted. We wondered up side roads with hopes of finding a better way to the temple, a coastal road or trail. Eventually we had to resort back to the boring road with construction crews on either side and cars whipping down the middle. This route made the walk seem longer than 2.5 hours.

After turning onto the road that the temple was on, we proceeded up the hill passing family after family in car after car waited to inch closer to the parking lot. I was warned it would be busy, and advised to go early but I did not heed that advice. The crowded mess that was our first visit to the temple ensued. It started with a carnival-style setup of stand after stand of souvenirs and snacks. Then came the creeping line that was the entrance down long stairs into the seaside temple complex. Our last obstacle to freedom was a crowded bridge where dreamers tossed their wishes in the form of a coin at stone bowl in the water below, only to forget those wishes moments later. Finally, we were in the temple grounds, with space and freedom to move to the right and the left.

Korea is crowds. That being said, my experience at the temple wasn't a huge surprise but Mihai and I both wanted to redo it, and we had the time. We returned to the temple earlier in the morning a couple days later to really take in the sights and try to feel the magic and mystery of this place of worship.

Haedong Yonggungsa is a Buddhist temple situated up on some rocks along the coast of the East Sea (Sea of Japan) just east of Busan. It is one of the few temples located so close to the sea, and the views of the Buddhist architecture with boundless sea behind it is quite serene. Furthermore, the sound of the waves coming in and crashing lightly on the rocks is calming to your bones. I guess that might have an adverse effect in typhoon season.

Mihai's preferred feature at the temple was the statue of a dragon in the courtyard. Haedong Yonggungsa is believed to be a sacred place for the worship of the Great Goddess Buddha of mercy in the sea. She has appeared in visions on the back of the dragon. The dragon statue at the temple is quite photogenic, what appears to be a violent figure standing out against a peaceful backdrop. Small, baby-Buddha statues are placed, crowded on the rocks and ledges just under the dragon.

There were at least a couple of moments in our weekend wandering through Busan, or just relaxing on the beach, when I remember turning to Mihai saying, “Busan rocks.” Looking back, I realize that one reason I enjoyed the trip so much had to do with the planning. The planning was very simple. It involved finding out things I'd like to see and how to get there. I left it up to the moment to decided exactly when to do it. This strategy allowed for a more relaxed, laid-back adventure. In addition, any down time was spent relaxing on the beach. Can't really complain about that. It was a customized, not your run-of-the-mill trip to Busan and it suited us well.