Busan

Busan held a special place in my heart before I even arrived. It was the original location I wanted to live and the place that convinced me to move here. I had a friend that lived here who loved it and I also read a lot about this beautiful city online in many peoples blogs.

In the end I decided on Daegu as I was much more likely to get a placement here and I’m not sad I did but the excitement to finally see a city I’ve read so much about excited me.

A few lucky people had been given the Friday after the national holiday off (Mine was for the schools birthday) so we set off for a long weekend in the sun.

The train took only 45 minutes and was extremely comftable. I slept the whole way and can’t believe it when we arrived.

We headed to our hotels and settled in. The place we were staying was Seomyeon which is a major station located on two lines.

The place was electric, almost literally with the amount of neon signs around the place.

Every corner held something new to look at and even more importantly something yummy to eat.

We dumped our stuff and headed to meet the rest of the group in Haeundae which is an infamous beach here. The sand festival that was happening that weekend was in full swing (although I’m not too sure about the quality of some creations)

We jumped on a bus and hit the road to a nearby sea temple. IT was stunning. The juxtaposition between angry sea and serene temple was heavenly. Even with tourists milling everywhere it was easy to get lost in the atmosphere. Nini (a friend traveling with me) even went down into the caves and tried some of the Budda spring water. IT was a bizarre experience but one I loved. I have heard people claim that ‘seen one temple, seen them all’ and I couldn’t disagree more. Temples always hold such interest to me. History and wishes all wrapped up in one beautiful space.

Next on the list was a spa day. I have wanted to Jimjimbang it since I read about the surreal experience in the uk. I was not disappointed. Once I got over the fact I’d be naked around a lot of intrigued Korean people it was amazing. The spa itself was located in the biggest department store in the world and housed a 3 floor heaven.

Nini and I took full advantage (only having to leave a few rooms to laugh at the crazy notions i.e the electro impulse room.) and after what felt like 20 mins, which actually turned out to be 4 hours we were refreshed, revitalized and ready to sleep.

The next day we hit the shops. Busan is famous for its shops and its not hard to see why. Each tiny side street is packed full of discounted gems. It did take us far too long to track the bargain area down so we did waste a lot of time in designer-ville but once we had recharged our shopping batteries with some cupcakes we were on our way to a bargain.

Of course we left the boys in the pub while we shopped so they were pretty content 3 hours later when we went to retrieve them. We also had to catch up (and believe me these cocktails helped us catch up) so ordered some of the strongest magarita’s and gin and tonics I’ve ever had. Delicious.

 

That night we were being joined by another friend from Daegu so we hit the local korean BBQ (definitely one of my favourite foods in Korea) and soju-ed ourselves full.

The night after that became a blur of seven11 drinks, Korean conga lines, lots of singing and dancing in a bar that seemed to be more of a sit down affair. All in all it was a fantastic night. I laughed till I cried and then laughed some more.

We also discovered our friend’s flair for calligraphy. This is her signature…

And spent a good few hours having heart to hearts/beer on the beach.

The next day, surprisingly fine and dandy we hit the beach for an air show and a very busy Busan. People lined the streets and filled every nook and cranie. It was actually more entertaining to watch them than the air show.

We cut our loses and convinced the boys that another day at the spa was exactly what we needed (it definitely was what we needed) so 4 hours later the group left the spa detoxed and converted to the Jimjimbang…even if the boys did see a lot of Korean in there.

The night from there took a turn for the worse and by this I mean, tequila.

Games were played, drinks were drunk and a hang over was definitely had (which I’m sure started before we’d got home).

Our last day in Busan consisted of a lot of people ‘shhhh-ing’ each other and avoiding bright light but it was worth it. Busan was all I hoped and I’m already lining up another visit next month.