Korea Winter Itinerary 2016 / 2017 Day 7

Day 7
Stay: Airbnb Choryang, Busan
Nearest Subway: Choryang Station Line 1 Exit 10
08:00 | Depart from Hotel to Jeju Auto House

12:30 | Arrived at GimHae Airport
14:00 | Checked in Airbnb

16:30 | Busan Gamcheon Culture Village

18:30 | Jagalchi Fish Market, BIFF, Gukje Market
21:30 | Yongdusan Park, Busan Tower

Set off to Busan for the next 3 days via Air Busan.

JEJU AUTO HOUSE

GPS 751 8000

Address: 2232 Jungmun-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju-do

Travel time: 15 mins from Ocean Suites Jeju Hotel

We did not realised the distance between Ocean Suites Jeju Hotel and Jeju Auto House was so near, merely a 15 mins drive. Otherwise we would have dropped by Dongmun Market before we returned the car. As instructed during collection of the car, we were required to refill full tank of fuel when we returned the car. There were a few gas stations along the main road towards Jeju Auto House which were also shown on GPS. No refund for returning the car earlier though~ The staff did a quick check on the car and off we go to the airport via their shuttle bus!

Only 2 of us in the bus

Tangerine plant fruiting outside Jeju Airport

There is a post office booth on the first floor public area at Jeju Airport. Since they only opened at 9am, I had my breakfast at Angel-in-us on the same floor while Mic bought his at the CU store beside the café. I posted some of my cards at the post office booth and bought extra stamps for my postcards which I was going to post in Busan and Seoul (400 won per postcards to SIN, HKG & MAS). It was still very early as our flight was at 11.30am.

Angel-in-us breakfast. Ham toast and hot caramel. Yumz!

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FLIGHT TO BUSAN

Air Busan | Departure 11:30 | Fare 25,400 won | Duration 1 hr
Max hand carry 10kg
Free checked in baggage 15kg

There were only 2 airlines that fly to Busan from Jeju; Korean Air & Air Busan, so we took Air Busan as it is the cheapest and had better flight timings.

I was praying during checked in that the staff will not weigh my luggages because both my luggages were overweight. I was trying my luck because they did not weigh my luggages when we flew from Seoul to Jeju 😄. We had a really hard time then, repacking again and again to reduce the weight of our checked in baggages. Thank god our luggages passed thru without any issue. Phew~

Had plenty of time prior to boarding so I ended up buying things again. Saw this cute Ganse doll which stated handmade by Jeju woman, so I got this as a souvenir for myself from Jeju.

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BUSAN

We reached BUSAN after less than 1 hour flight!
If you listen properly, the locals pronounced it as Pusan. So for certain places, you may find that Busan is stated as Pu instead of Bu. For example the famous BIFF, some signage or online article stated as PIFF instead, and even Jeju & Gimhae Airport website stated Air Busan as Air Pusan instead.

It was Mic's request to visit Busan especially after the movie "Train to Busan" (which he has yet to watch). I only know Busan is a popular spot for summer vacation because of their long stretch of beautiful clean beaches. It was not bad to visit Busan even in winter. I don't mind going there again for their food, cheap stuffs and the locals there are generally friendlier. However communication may be a bit problem. This was where Mic and I first used our google translate to communicate with the locals.

Transportation is convenient because they have subways just like Seoul. Same T-money card in Seoul can also be used in Busan. Otherwise, cab is also convenient but as usual, please ensure you prepare the address in Korean for the ease of the drivers.

Here's the link to Busan Subway map

Even though we will be in Busan for 3 days, it was actually a 2 days duration since we departed from Busan to Seoul on the third day afternoon. For Busan trip, I split our itinerary into 2 area:
Day 1(west) - Gamcheon, Jagalchi, BIFF, Gukje, Yongdusan Park, Busan Tower
Day 2 (east) - Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Haeundae, Shinsegae, Gwangalli, Seomyeon

Gimhae Airport - Domestic departure/arrival building

Gimhae Airport - International departure/arrival building

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AIRBNB MH HOUSE

Nearest Station: Choryang Station Line 1
Cost: $104 for 2 nights

Definitely a very affordable service apartment considering it is located just 1 station from Busan Station and also walking distance to Busan KTX station. Forgot to take picture of the apartment because we were tired and disappointed on the whole hoo-haa while locating the unit of the apartment. The host was not helping and the security guard of the building was rude when he knew we were Airbnb guests. Since we were tired of waiting for the host (who apparently did not intend to meet up and help us locate his unit when he even asked us to wait at the security post), Mic and I decided to try our luck by going to the random building at that area which has the same unit number and tried keying the unit door's PIN which the host messaged us earlier. Lucky for us, we got the correct unit on our first try.

To make long story short, other problems we faced in this Airbnb were.... floor heater issues, entry to the lift lobby (we were not given security pass when this is required to open the door to the lift lobby), only hand towels were provided, nespresso machine provided without capsules, bed is smaller than queen size and cleanliness was average.

Other than the above, the location is good, short walking distance from Choryang Station, 7-11, mini market and local eateries are below the building. Apartment has good view of Busan KTX track, sea and mountain, but the main reason I chose this place was because washing machine is available in the apartment which I needed so much to wash our 6 days clothes especially our heat techs and socks.

Day view from our Airbnb apartment towards KTX rail track

Night view from our Airbnb apratment

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BUSAN GAMCHEON CULTURE VILLAGE

Nearest Station: Toseong Line 1 Exit 6

Operating Hours: 09:00-17:00 (Closed on New Year)

Admission: Free
Website: http://www.gamcheon.or.kr (in Korean only)

We took a cab to Gamcheon as it was quite late when we left Airbnb.

Cab from Choryang station | 20mins | 6,000 won (slight jam around Nampo)

Direction via subway:
Exit at Toseong Station Exit 6.
Walk straight and turn right at the junction.
Take bus Saha 1-1, Seogu 2 or Seogu 2-2 directly to Gamcheon Culture Village.

There is no admission fee to Gamcheon culture village. Grab a map for 2,000 won at their information centre and complete all the stamps for a free postcards. We reached there around 4.30pm and their centre will be closed by 5pm, so the staffs gave us 2 postcards straightaway upon purchased of the map because some of the checkpoints (for the stamps) will be closed by 5pm so it's impossible to get a stamp there.

The locals actually stays in the houses here, so kindly lower down your voice when talking

Supposing to complete all the stamps for free postcards

Many people were waiting to take picture with this fish probably because it was nearest to the entrance.

Walked further down the street and we got a Whale!

I was delighted to see plenty of these "cabbages" at the roadside in Gamcheon.
But actually, they were all around Busan

More cabbages

Long queue to take picture with the Lighting Prince which we skipped

Stairs to see stars - 148 stairs

Stairs to see stars - too steep we did not attempt to walk there

In case you lost your way, just follow the orange painted floor.

Pretty main door of 1 of the houses

View from the observation deck

Night view of Gamcheon Culture Village

Entrance to Gancheon Culture Village. Took the bus back to Toseong Station at the opposite of this entrance

While walking around Gamcheon, I can't help but wondered how does the interior of their homes looks like. The village has uneven floors with steep stairs and each houses has uneven sizes and shape. I saw some of the houses have very nice & modern interior such as built in cabinets and kitchen like our kitchens in SIN, and equipped with modern electronic appliances, totally different from what we saw on the exterior.
Tips: please wear a comfortable shoes and go around evening so you can get the day and night view of the village.

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JAGALCHI FISH MARKET, GUKJE, BIFF, BUSAN TOWER

(source: google map)

These few places are located nearby hence you can plan a day to visit all the places here. We had to skip Lotte Mall and Taejongdae because we reached here late, around 6.30pm from Gamcheon, so by the time we walked till Lotte, the mall had already closed.

Jagalchi Fish Market

Nearest Subway: Jagalchi Station Line 1 Exit 10
Operating Hours: 05:00-22:00
Closed: First & Third TUESDAY every month

Direction to Jagalchi Fish Market:
Walk straight from Exit 10, turned right on the second junction (you will see obvious Hotel Noah signage on this street and Jagalchi Fish Market building at the end of the street.). At the same junction, you will see BIFF street on your Left after the pedestrian crossing.

Jagalchi Fish market is Korea's biggest seafood market which has now become one of the tourist attraction. It is said that, if you did not go to Jagalchi Fish Market then you have not visited Busan. Therefore, Mic and I walked around Jagalchi building which has stalls lining up along the streets selling different types of fresh seafood and huge fishes. People usually buy seafood from them and had it cooked at 1 of the restaurants on the upper floors of the building. We do not like to idea of picking our own seafood (because we do not know how to choose) and bargaining because of language barrier and it would also be hard for us to explain to the restaurant's staff on how we liked our seafood to be cooked. So we left the place and proceeded to BIFF (our fav!!)

From Jagalchi Fish market, we walked back to the junction (refer to the map above) and crossed the pedestrian crossing to BIFF Square. You wont miss this place as you will see the BIFF arch entrance at the beginning of the street. The stalls here mostly used red and yellow umbrellas, so lookout for that if you are uncertain. You will also see a pet shop at the junction with a lot of cute pups!

Noticed the pups were all given their own bed & toys, and the enclosure looks well-kept and clean.

BIFF arch entrance with red & yellow umbrellas

BIFF Square

BIFF Square Ground Opening held on this street on the eve of the festival each year with events such as hand printing of famous movie celebrities. But to us, this place is a "food haven". We had the best (and cheapest) eomuk (fish cake) and amazingly tasty ssiat-hotteok (pancake stuffed with seeds) which we returned and bought again before we leave this place. Mic even requested to get 1 whole piece for himself (we shared a piece earlier).

Best ssiat-hotteok 1,200 won

The fillings of ssiat-hotteok

Odeng/Eomuk stall beside the famous ssiat-hotteok stall. Skip this

The above stall charges 3,000 won for 3 sticks of odeng. What we didn't like was the not-so-friendly attitude of the 2 store owners. There are plenty of odeng stalls around BIFF which taste just the same. We tried another odeng stall nearby which cost 3,000 won for 4 sticks! The lady owner was friendly and humble. I forgot to take picture of her whole stall, only took picture of part of her stall which is as the picture below. Most stalls here sell the same food so we randomly picked a stall to try.

Friendly odeng ahjumma

Hot broth was so soothing in cold weather

The making of kway teow. Busan version.

Tada! 4,000 won

Cheese grilled crab. Forgot the price but quite pricey, can skipped this.

Sausage

Gukje Market

Operating Hours: 08:30-20:30 (depending on stalls)
Closed: First & Third SUNDAY every month

Most stalls in Gukje Market had already closed by the time we went because we spent too much time enjoying the street foods at BIFF. So we returned back to BIFF direction and walked along the main street, Gwangbok-dong.

Gwangbok-dong Cultural & Fashion Street

This street is lined with rows of fashion shops, restaurants, cafés and beauty shops which were fun to shop as it was not too crowded compared to Myeongdong. The whole street was beautifully decorated with Christmas deco in conjunction with Busan Christmas Tree Festival which lasted till 8th Jan 2017.

The sales persons here are generally friendlier, helpful and generous in throwing in samples. I helped a friend to get TheBodyShop product with Gong Yoo packaging. When the staff learnt my friend is a fan of Gong Yoo, she gave me a few more postcards of Gong Yoo 😍. Mic was helping his colleague to get some cosmetics from various beauty shops and I ended up spending quite a huge sum at Banila Co because the sales girl was so friendly and gave me a lot of advices on skincare and makeup and guidance on tax refund, despite her very limited English. I seriously have very huge soft spot for people who made effort in helping me in any way. I did not get all my beauty products here because I was saving them for Myeongdong shopping, which I regretted. Very much.

It was getting colder so we grabbed some hot drink from Paris Baguette and continue strolling under the beautiful lights. While walking along this street, we spotted the escalator up to Yongdusan Park where Busan Tower is located. Didn't realise that Yongdusan Park is actually so near to BIFF.

Busan Tower

Operating Hours: 09:00-22:00

Admission: 5,000 won (to the observatory)

Busan Tower, Flower Clock & the Bell of Citizens

You can see Lotte Mall from here

We did not proceed to the observatory as the view here was superb. We sat there for a while and walked back to Gwangbok-dong street. By that time, most shops already closed with lesser crowd and cars. So it was a good opportunity to take better photos as the deco lights were still on.

At the end of the street is Lotte Mall which we had no time to go

Mic and I thought of walking back to our Airbnb so we walked along the main road which led us directly to Choryang Station. However, we realised it was too far to walk and the weather is getting colder so we took the train from Jungang Station to Airbnb. We grabbed some food from the 7-11 below our apartment building as we did not have a proper dinner earlier.

His pick: Spicy pork noodle

Her pick: Abalone porridge

Mic ended up with my porridge instead because he complained his noodle was too spicy (but I find the spiciness is just nice). Both were super delicious which I bought extra packs back to SIN. Would luv to get more packs but they are only available in bowl packaging which is quite bulky. The noodle is from 7-11 brand so you can only get it at 7-11 while abalone porridge can be found in most stores in the fridge section.

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