Busan, the San Francisco of Korea
Last weekend I went with some friends to Busan (or Pusan), a port city at the tip of the Korean peninsula. One of the girls is leaving for Canada in three weeks and she'd never been, so we decided to go down for a day. It's about 2 hours by KTX (bullet) train and 3.5 hours by slow train, and since we were only going for a day, we opted to take the KTX. It was my first time on the KTX, and it's super nice! I wasn't overwhelmed by the speed or anything, but it was definitely faster (and cleaner and newer) than the regular train.
When we got there, it rained. And rained. And rained. It reminded me of our last excursion south, to Gyeongju, when the exact same thing happened.
First, we tried to go to Busan Tower, which overlooks the city. We climbed all the way to the top of the hill for this amazing sight:
Of course, it wasn't worth it to go to the top of the tower, so we headed to Haeundae Beach, the largest and most famous beach in Korea. On sunny weekends in the summer, this place is madhouse:
When we went, there were still plenty of tourists, but nothing like the hot weather crowds:
Right on the beach is Busan Aquarium, which was definitely the highlight of the trip. (It didn't hurt that it's indoors!) We saw all kinds of crazy sea creatures, include blind cave fish (no eyes!), jumping spider crabs, sea dragons, and other stuff I never even knew existed. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the best animals.
Before we left the U.S., someone told us that we should go to Busan because it's the San Francisco of Korea. It didn't really remind me much of San Francisco, but it does have a famous suspension bridge and is on the water. It was definitely more laidback than the rest of the country, too, which was a nice feeling. We're planning on going back in September, so I'll get to see the stuff we missed, like some famous temples and a boat ride around the city. And hopefully it won't rain!
When we got there, it rained. And rained. And rained. It reminded me of our last excursion south, to Gyeongju, when the exact same thing happened.
First, we tried to go to Busan Tower, which overlooks the city. We climbed all the way to the top of the hill for this amazing sight:
Of course, it wasn't worth it to go to the top of the tower, so we headed to Haeundae Beach, the largest and most famous beach in Korea. On sunny weekends in the summer, this place is madhouse:
When we went, there were still plenty of tourists, but nothing like the hot weather crowds:
Right on the beach is Busan Aquarium, which was definitely the highlight of the trip. (It didn't hurt that it's indoors!) We saw all kinds of crazy sea creatures, include blind cave fish (no eyes!), jumping spider crabs, sea dragons, and other stuff I never even knew existed. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the best animals.
Before we left the U.S., someone told us that we should go to Busan because it's the San Francisco of Korea. It didn't really remind me much of San Francisco, but it does have a famous suspension bridge and is on the water. It was definitely more laidback than the rest of the country, too, which was a nice feeling. We're planning on going back in September, so I'll get to see the stuff we missed, like some famous temples and a boat ride around the city. And hopefully it won't rain!
posted by AJ at 11:09 PM
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