Day 2 in Busan
This was the only full day we had in Busan, so we did not waste time and went out to explore in the early morning. Our first stop of the day was Gamcheon culture village. This village used to be a shanty town during for refugees during the Korean War, but had since then been turned into an art and culture village.
All of the houses here are colored so brightly and the overall atmosphere of the village seems so tranquil and happy, and the village is like a fun maze to explore. There is art all over the place and so many small alleyways, but luckily there are signs to point you in the right direction.
Some are I did not understand, but I guess the whole point of art is to find your own meaning to it. Like these cow spotted fuzzy things, and yes, that’s the name I came up for them.
Or these bird statues with human faces.
Apart from the eccentric art, I think place was my second favorite place to explore. We were there for about 2 hours and then we headed out to the largest market in Busan, the Gukje Market. This market also started around the time of the Korean War since refugees fled here because there was no war. Now, it’s made up of tens of streets full of vendors selling anything you can probably think of.
We were only here shortly because it was way too much to explore, and we only wanted to shop for souvenirs. Afterwards we headed out to Busan tower, where you can get a view of all of Busan and the coast.
The last main stop was Jalgachi Fish Market. It’s about 7 stories high and you can find the freshest seafood here. I saw customers ordering different types of fish and the vendors would get the live fish, cut off the head, and fillet for them. Then the customers could go upstairs and eat their very fresh seafood. I’m not the biggest fan of seafood but coming here was a great experience.
The last part of the day and probably the best was dinner. We had Pork Rice Soup, which is a specialty in Busan, and it’s probably on of the most delicious things I’ve tried here.
It’s a soup where the broth is made from boiling pork bones for a long amount of time and you add your seasonings and rice to it. You can order the pork in your soup but I ordered it apart and made lettuce wraps with it. The pork was so tender and it was great in wrapped in the lettuce with a little bit of pepper paste. I definitely recommend this to anyone that is going to Busan.
Day 3
It was our final day and we didn’t want to leave our airbnb, but he had to check out and head to our last destination, Beomeosa Temple, a Buddhist temple located on top of one of Busan’s mountains. The ride up there was definitely worth it because the view was breathtaking. These pictures don’t do its beauty any justice.
Thoughts/ Feelings
I loved Busan and I definitely want to go back again to explore all the places I couldn’t visit. People in Seoul are kind and helpful, too, but in Busan they are much more and they don’t seem as rushed. The traffic is nowhere near as bad as in Seoul and it’s much safer to cross the street in Busan. It’s the perfect getaway from the busy and crowded city of Seoul.