South Korea - Day 1 - Busan

It's been far too long since I've posted here; residency has been busy lately and every time I sit down to write I feel like I should be using the time to study (thanks, in-training exam :(). I do, however, want to catch up on posting about my vacation in South Korea and Japan, an amazing trip I took with my mom last month. She took months to plan out the entire itinerary and did such a great job! I have tons of journal notes and photos, which I'll work on cobbling together into posts in the weeks to come. Here's day one...

We arrived early this morning in Busan, a port city along South Korea's south coast. We made our way amongst the morning subway commuters to the Nampo area, dropped off our bags at K Guesthouse, and headed out to see some sights. A subway and a bus brought us to Gamcheon Culture Village, a hillside of colourful houses. We wandered through steep streets and narrow alleyways, checking out the quirky public art -- schools of fish, parrots with human heads, and the Little Prince and fox, amongst others. Signs reminded visitors to be respectful of the village residents, whom we glimpsed going about their morning routines.

From Gamcheon Village we caught two buses to Taejongdae Park, a pine-forested park beside the sea. Taejongdae is huge; we opted for the hop-on-hop-off Danubi Train tour to make the most of our time.

We spent most of our visit at the lighthouse stop, descending many stairs to the cliffside lighthouse. The ocean views were hazy, but scenic nonetheless; we sat for a while watching boats passing and fisherpeople working below.

We caught a bus back to Nampo and stopped by a grocery store to pick up some food. We ended up with gimbap (Korean sushi) which we ate back at the guesthouse, looking out over the harbour.

We napped in the late afternoon, heading out in the evening to wander the pedestrian streets around the hotel. It's a lively area, with shops, eateries, arcades, and the renowned BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) Square.

The highlight of the evening was the street food, of which there was plenty to choose from. We tried some sweet grilled squid tentacles, gyeran bbang (egg bread, topped with sauce), and fried chicken with a sweet spicy glaze. All together a pretty great dinner!