We only had time to spend a day in Busan which is really regrettable for us as Busan turned out to be our favourite place in Korea. The people there are friendly and helpful. They really go out of their way to help us. Even though the locals we encountered could not speak English well, some could not speak English at all, but they try their best to help us by asking us to follow them and actually brought us to to the places themselves. Thank you Busan for your warmth and hospitality! We are truly humbled and touched...
We took the flight from Jeju to Busan via Air Busan at 8.10am and landed at Gimhae International Aiport at about 9.00am. We also received free orange juice from the flight attendants and the trip was fairly comfortable. Latest check-in time for this airline is also 40 minutes prior to the flight.
Upon landing, we bought a ticket on the limousine bus to get to our hotel in Haeundae. They run every 25-30 minutes from 0700-2200H everyday. Travel time is around 1 hour to reach Haeundae. There are 2 main lines that you can buy the ticket for depending on your destination. Since our hotel is near Novotel and Seacloud Hotel, it makes no difference to us whether we got tickets for Line 1 or 2.
Limousine Bus Routes
Haeundae Line No. 1- Airport(International Terminal) - Domestic Terminal - Namcheondong -
Gwangandong - Suyeong Intersection - Centum hotel - Bexco - Yachting center
- Hanhwa resort - Hyperion three way intersection - Westin Chosun Hotel -
Grand Hotel - Novotel Ambassador - Paradise Hotel - Paledecz - Jangsan
Station - Haeundae Paik Hospital - Dongbu apartment - Daelim 1cha apt -
Yangwoon high school - Homeplus mart - Centum hotel - Suyeong Intersection -
Gwangandong - Namcheondong - Airport(International Terminal, Departure) -
Domestic Terminal, Arrival
Haeundae Line No. 2- Airport(International Terminal) - Domestic Terminal - Namcheondong - Crossing the Gwangan bridge - Centum hotel - Bexco - Yangwoon high school - Daedong
apt - Dongbu apt - Haeundae Paik Hospital - Jangsan Station - Paradise Hotel -
Seacloud hotel - Grand Hotel - Westin Chosun Hotel - Hyundai Benecity apt -
Hanhwa resort - Hyundai ipark apt - Gyeongnam Marina apt - Bexco, Homeplus
-Centum hotel - Crossing the Gwangan bridge - Namcheondong -
Airport(International Terminal, Departure) - Domestic Terminal, Arrival
Ticket Price: 7000 won per person
There are other options like taxi, subway and city bus as well but as taxi would cost alot and subway and city bus is inconvenient since we were carrying big luggages, limousine bus was our best option. For more info on the other transportations to/from the airport : http://www.bsmeditour.go.kr/eng/cms/155_238_239.jsp?mid=239
We then walked to the The Sun Hotel after getting off the limousine bus. Although it is supposed to be a 'love motel', we were fairly pleased with the service and room. We were upgraded to a Deluxe room for free and there were free coffee/hot chocolate, slushies (similar to 7-11) and popcorn in the lobby.
Next, we headed to Gamcheon Culture Village a.k.a the Santorini of Korea. The place that I have been extremely excited to go to, since the husband's promise to bring me to the real Santorini is not going to be fulfilled anytime soon... :p
Operating hours: 0900-1800H
Directions: Take subway Line 1 to Toseong Station- exit 6. You should see an intersection when you come out and turn right at the corner and continue straight. There is a hospital on your right. The bus stop is just in front of you. Take either bus 2 or 2-2 (green bus) to reach the top of the hill. Get off at Gamcheon Elementary School. Or tell the bus driver to let you know when you have reached your destination. The other alternative is you can take a cab ~3000won.
Estimated time to spend here is about 2-3hours.
There is no entrance fee but you can buy an interactive map for 2000 won. Upon completing the missions of getting stamps from various points in the village, you will receive a small token. During our time, the gift given are scenic postcards of the Gamcheon Culture Village. Previously, they gave out keychains. So I guess they keep changing the gifts.
There was a particular landmark that many tourists had trouble finding, initially I thought of giving up since that particular spot does not provide free gift even if you get the stamp chopped. But my husband, surprisingly, was very enthusiastic and insisted we should complete the map so that it would be more memorable to us. We missed the spot and I was too exhausted to climb the stairs back up to where we came from, so I took a rest in a small alleyway in front of a house while the hubby sprinted back up to get the map stamped. An ahjumma came out from her house, saw me resting there and asked me in Korean if I wanted to rest in her house. With my limited Korean, she managed to understand me when I told her 'gwaenchanh-a' which means it's alright and I thanked her for the kind offer. She noticed my hubby previously and asked where did he go. I caught a few words like chingu and eodie which means 'friend where'? So I pointed up the stairs and she nodded and said 'ahh..' My first full Korean conversation with a local... So I guess the time invested in watching Korean dramas and Running Man wasn't a waste after all. Haha.
When the husband came back, he needed to rest too. We sat at the stairs to let him catch his breath before moving on. A middle-aged ahjussi came out and attempted to chat with us in Korean again, asking us where are we from and how long we would be in Korea. Then he went back in his house and poured some isotonic drinks and gave us a piece of boiled potato each. We felt so touched for his kind generosity and warmth.
Before we leave the village, we bought another serving of chicken, that we bought earlier at the entrance before starting the stamp missions. The first time was garlic while this time we bought sweet and sour flavour. So yummy!
Next we decided to head to Biff square for lunch and shopping. We had a difficult time finding the place as we got off the bus too early and had to walk quite a distance to reach it. But thanks to help and directions from locals, we soon came to an area of yellow and red umbrellas and we knew we had reached the place.
Our legs were too tired from the activity in Gamcheon which required a lot of walking and climbing up countless flights of stairs so hubby suggested we rest in a Baskin Robbins outlet just in front of our eyes. Turns out BR ice-cream is so cheap in Korea- only 2300 won ~ Rm8 for a big scoop of ice-cream on a cone. Junior scoops already cost us Rm9.90 and is only available on Wednesdays in Malaysia.
Initial plan was to grab a bite, so a bit of shopping and proceed to our next destination which is Haedong Yonggungsa temple. But the shopping and vast variety of food in Nampodong were too big an attraction to us. We could not resist and thus decided to just spend the entire day there instead. Things were so much cheaper in Busan than in Seoul. There were a few similar things that I have spotted in Seoul being sold at a cheaper price in Nampodong. This is a shopping haven! We ended up buying most of our family and friends' souvenirs here.
Then we ate jajangmyeon (black bean sauce noodles) at one of the restaurants there, something that both of us had been wanting to try since watching Running Man members eat them on the show many times before. It was quite good too.
We then went back to the hotel to take a shower before planning to go to Gwangali Beach later on. But unfortunately, I developed fever and chills on our way back and hubby asked me to rest in the hotel after taking medicine. He already have plans to come back to Busan again next time so we can always go to the places we had missed during this maiden trip to Korea of ours. I slept with a smile on my face knowing that I would be coming back to this beautiful and warm place again in the future.
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