wonderboy416
Active Member
I headed out to Busan from August 14th - 18th. It is South Korea's second largest city (think of it as being to Seoul what Vancouver is to Toronto - nicer weather, on the ocean, more beautiful setting - yet smaller in terms of population, size, cultural activity and economic pull). It has a population of just under 4,000,000 and is one of the world's largest and most important seaports. Although my stay was breif I was able to get out and see many great areas of the city. Like Seoul, there's no distinctive skyline, rather there's dozens of smaller skylines throughout the city.
Boarding the KTX rapid train at Seoul. The train I took hit a top speed of 305 kmh - it's a shame we have no such service connecting our cities in Canada. The ticket was about $50 each way from Seoul to Busan, a 329km trip. The Koreans are quite proud of their KTX trains as they use 87% Korean technology and borrowed nothing from Japan's infamous bullet trains. Few countries would have the abilities or resources to take on such a feat.
Building 63, one of the first skyscrapers in Seoul often referred to as the Asian miracle as viewed from the window of the train.
Korean Country side.
First views of Busan.
Entering China town... not very busy on a Friday afternoon.
We decided to walk our way to Nampo-dong rather than take the metro, one of the busiest areas in the city known for its shopping and markets. Along the way I snapped a few photos and got to see one of Asia's future tallest under construction.
It's obvious that Busan has a very large seaport.
Be careful when you see two barber shop poles, that's not where you go to get your haircut... You'll find the same practice in Seoul.
At 510m the Lotte World Tower is going to be something special when it's finished.
Entering one of the famous shopping streets in Nampo-dong. We were setting out to find a cheap motel for the evening.
We took a slight detour up to a park overlooking the city.
It wasn't very clear so we decided not to head up the tower.
Excercise machines are common in public areas all over Korea it seems.
After that nice diversion it was back to the mission at hand.
A 2-story 7/11? Only in Korea...
In the ally off one of the main streets we found a small bounty of love motels and settled on this one. Many foreigners in Korea prefer these to hostels as you will be able to get a full-size hotel room and bathroom for a fraction of the cost of a regular hotel. This one was only 25,000 won/night (about $20). The only downfall is having to leave your key at the front desk and ignoring the calling cards left at your door for ladies of the night.
We decided to have an easy night on Friday and checked out Texas street. This was billed as the main foreigner area of the city. I was curious to see how it compared to Seoul's Itaewon which is quite large and has incredible food, lots of shopping and many great bars and clubs. This was nothing at all like that, instead it was just a few small gogo bars and lots of US navy wondering around. We set up camp on a patio and just watched the action from there.
Off to Hauendai beach the next morning, Korea's most famous beach.
This didn't look too tasty...
Words cannot describe how we felt when we saw the beach. It was one of those "only in Korea moments". I'll let the pictures do the talking. Needless to say we didn't spend our day at the beach. Although we did re-visit the area and came back to the beach at 4am for a night swim and to do some moon-bathing.
We decided to explore the area. As I mentioned we were to return later that night to check out the night life.
Then it was off to Seomeyeon to find a new motel for the evening.
Busan is famous for its seafood and is said to have the best sushi anywhere outside of Japan. I cannot disagree with this.
We checked out the area around Busan National University at night before going out to Haeundai, I wonder if Kenny knows about this place.
A club in Haeundai...
Next thing I knew it was back to the KTX station to return to Seoul.
Boarding the KTX rapid train at Seoul. The train I took hit a top speed of 305 kmh - it's a shame we have no such service connecting our cities in Canada. The ticket was about $50 each way from Seoul to Busan, a 329km trip. The Koreans are quite proud of their KTX trains as they use 87% Korean technology and borrowed nothing from Japan's infamous bullet trains. Few countries would have the abilities or resources to take on such a feat.
Building 63, one of the first skyscrapers in Seoul often referred to as the Asian miracle as viewed from the window of the train.
Korean Country side.
First views of Busan.
Entering China town... not very busy on a Friday afternoon.
We decided to walk our way to Nampo-dong rather than take the metro, one of the busiest areas in the city known for its shopping and markets. Along the way I snapped a few photos and got to see one of Asia's future tallest under construction.
It's obvious that Busan has a very large seaport.
Be careful when you see two barber shop poles, that's not where you go to get your haircut... You'll find the same practice in Seoul.
At 510m the Lotte World Tower is going to be something special when it's finished.
Entering one of the famous shopping streets in Nampo-dong. We were setting out to find a cheap motel for the evening.
We took a slight detour up to a park overlooking the city.
It wasn't very clear so we decided not to head up the tower.
Excercise machines are common in public areas all over Korea it seems.
After that nice diversion it was back to the mission at hand.
A 2-story 7/11? Only in Korea...
In the ally off one of the main streets we found a small bounty of love motels and settled on this one. Many foreigners in Korea prefer these to hostels as you will be able to get a full-size hotel room and bathroom for a fraction of the cost of a regular hotel. This one was only 25,000 won/night (about $20). The only downfall is having to leave your key at the front desk and ignoring the calling cards left at your door for ladies of the night.
We decided to have an easy night on Friday and checked out Texas street. This was billed as the main foreigner area of the city. I was curious to see how it compared to Seoul's Itaewon which is quite large and has incredible food, lots of shopping and many great bars and clubs. This was nothing at all like that, instead it was just a few small gogo bars and lots of US navy wondering around. We set up camp on a patio and just watched the action from there.
Off to Hauendai beach the next morning, Korea's most famous beach.
This didn't look too tasty...
Words cannot describe how we felt when we saw the beach. It was one of those "only in Korea moments". I'll let the pictures do the talking. Needless to say we didn't spend our day at the beach. Although we did re-visit the area and came back to the beach at 4am for a night swim and to do some moon-bathing.
We decided to explore the area. As I mentioned we were to return later that night to check out the night life.
Then it was off to Seomeyeon to find a new motel for the evening.
Busan is famous for its seafood and is said to have the best sushi anywhere outside of Japan. I cannot disagree with this.
We checked out the area around Busan National University at night before going out to Haeundai, I wonder if Kenny knows about this place.
A club in Haeundai...
Next thing I knew it was back to the KTX station to return to Seoul.
