Busan

(23^th September until 25^th September)

It is back to Friday – the weeks are going very fast somehow these days. It shall go a bit slower again. Today my girlfriend and I are setting of to Busan. As I don’t have any classes and no meetings we decided to go to the bus station just after breakfast and purchase a ticket. As Busan is only 1-2hours away from Daegu there is nearly every 30mins or one hour a bus leaving from Daegu station.

We needed to go to Busan for two reasons, the main reason is for the examination of my girlfriend in her IELTS exam and the second just to travel and take a look around the Port city which had been shown cased many times on the TV Channel Arirang.

The bus journey has taken more than two hours, due to being a general service and stopping at every motorway junction to drop off and get on people. I wonder myself on how they manage to get their to the motorway stops and on how they will continue their journey if they had gone off.

All the time when you arrive with the bus you never get taken to the main city as you will be in Europe bus service or Taiwan bus service. They will drop you here off in Korea close to the motorway – in Busan case it is North of Busan. We needed to catch a metro service to City Centre. As we did not have an accommodation yet we made the decision to go to city centre and look around for guesthouses or motels.  

After we moved into the accommodation we gone for food hunting as it was already afternoon time, and there is a market nearly similar design to Andong. In Andong inside the markets had been food vendor, but in Busan or at least in this one there was no food vendor. We managed to find a place outside the market to eat something and to decide on what to visit.  The tourist map recommends to go to Songdo Beach and the port area of Busan. I feel the port is nothing special, maybe as visiting or living near a port.

There had been some confusion between tourist map, local people and Russian tourist on which bus to take. As arrived by metro to the designated station and exit, we asked local people on how to get to Songdo but either this did not speak or not understand English. I see then some tourist coming to our way – I am sure they must have visited the beach or may had an idea where to take a bus. They come from Russia, so I used Russian language to find out – they knew on the opposite side we could take a bus – but it will take to long for arrival of the number we waited for so we asked a local person which bus to take and given us a number. When boarding the bus we asked the bus driver if he will go Songdo Beach but he said – yes but on the other side so we shall wait for him or other bus to come.  We cross again a street and waited for the bus. Then suddenly a bus stop and I try to practise my Korean reading… and read “Song-do”… and quickly jump into the bus to ask if he will go Songdo Beach. Luckily he was indeed going to the beach.

After reaching the beach we had taken the trail which goes along the shore – which is very unique. I wish something like that will be built in Berwick-upon Tweed. That the promenade not suddenly finishes by the rock. I guess it will be a long dream due to all the Health and Safety issues – so I enjoy walking here in Busan along the shore on a secure pathway and hang bridges.

Tomorrow would be the exam - therefore after the beach we had made our way to the university. We shall see where it is and find the building. We had been stopped on our journey by a performance at the Busan Train Station.

 

More videos of the show can be found on their website here.  It was a very interesting show, showcasing again the Korean culture everywhere across the country.

After the show we continue our way to the final destination to the university ground.  The area did not different much from KNU area. Bars, shops, takeaways, etc. Just a bit more busier doing to being two universities at one place.

 Let me skip the part on finding the buidling and get to the eating part. We had some dinner on the street, as we already tried all dishes from restaurant but not the street food yet. We had chosen a few food to try out. Which was very nice and cost a little bit cheaper then in restaurant. After we continue our search for food, and come across an interesting ice shop. The lady is preparing fresh waffle (so shall be hot) and put in 3 spoons of ice cream inside. We bought one ice cream for  $Caribbean 5 as the lady is collecting foreign bank notes, we did not need to pay in Won. Actually we paid more in $ then the price would be in Korean Won. It was still nice and a great experience to try it out, and the waffle become cold with some tricks of the vendor so that the ice cream will not melt.

The next day has come up and it is the exam day. A very long day of waiting for myself. I had brought my Korean homework and study material to practise and read for small quizzes to coming up the following week.

After the exam was finish my girlfriend and me had made our way to Busan International Film Festival part of town. Where we also arrange to meet up with my KNU friends who also come to visit Busan. The only problem had been to communicate as due to my credit has run out and in Korea you can not top up your phone on the weekend due to being the server is down or something. Which is very strange, but at least the member of staff in the phone stores are friendly and let you borrow their phone to you to call your friends. Therefore recharge your phones before weekend or you will be stuck with out connection.


We managed to find my KNU friends and then look around the BIFF Sqaure, before going to get some food and visiting the bridge "Gwangan Bridge" on Gwangalli Beach. My girlfriend and I already seen it yesterday from the other side on where the cars drive on. As it isn't far away from the university.

It is a nice place for taking pictures at night - just need to find a good spot where not many people are walking or they either become ghost or block the view.

The day has gone to the end, we spend a little more time at the beach as we did not been in rush to return to the train station.

The next day we planned to go to visit the Fishery Folk Museum and China Town, and then we shall return in the late afternoon to Daegu.

In the Fishery Museum, we could learn of the old Busan and traditional way of catching fish up to today's method on catching fishes. It is an interesting museum to explore on how the culture has change from the tradition to the modernization.

We had contiune back our journey into town on where we gone and visit China Town or Russia Town. Every second store had a Russian name "Magazin", "Coffee Bar", etc and in between Chinese and Taiwanese Restaurants.

As it is already being getting to late afternoon we decided for one more attraction to see near China Town which is Yongdusan Park. Is on a little mountain which does not need to be climbed up as they have a stair escalators to the top.

Some tourist will say that Busan is not an interesting place of visit. I guess it depends on what you like to see - as it is still a city but with few nature points left such as small parks and the beaches surrounding the area of Busan.

Exploring Daegu

My girlfriend did not seen yet really Daegu, excluding Bu-ku (North) area where my exchange university is. The last time we had been to Daegu City centre, it was closed due to the Chuesok Holiday. There had been not much interesting to seen excluding the parks, but the food vendor and museum been closed.

I token her to the places which I had visited here on my arrival with my English friends.  We had a look around the town - there is just no more activities in the town as used to be during the IAAF Games. As all the tourist have gone home - the activities in town also have stopped.

Therefore we just had gone to buy some small gifts for family and friends.

Suncheon

(16^th Septmber until 18^th September)

This Friday we, my girlfriend and me, had set off to Suncheon. Please do find on the right hand panel “Where is Artem?” to localize Suncheon. It is in the south east region (more in the centre of the South) in Korea.  There is not much bus service in the day to Suncheon, but on good times – they do not go all together. It was easy just to turn up at the station and set off to Suncheon.

In the direction off Suncheon, they only use “General” bus service, but it was more deluxe. It had a lot of room leg for a comfortable journey on the hot day.

The journey shall take around 3 hours as long the traffic is good, which it was and we had arrived well in time. As we needed to see the Tourist Information centre. We knew there will be a guided tour for the weekend.  An Eco-Tour which will run for two days, but unsure on how it will works and where to stay for Saturday night after the tour and start again.  The lady could not speak English in the tourism branch, so she called a friend off her to translate our conversation on what we wanted and read of the city.  With various method of communication we come to understand better on the tour and found out, we will stay in a local village overnight and finish the tour in the afternoon by next day.  After the phone call with the friend and tourist information centre, the lady asked – if we actually could speak Chinese.  Indeed we can, not myself but my girlfriend. In this way we had found out more in detail on what is going to happen tomorrow.  Why did she or we do not asked straight away if we could speak Chinese language?

After we paid the tourism information the fee for the tour – we gone out to find first a place to stay and afterwards went to the local market to find a place to eat.

In Korea isn’t very hard to find where to eat – but I usually look out where elderly people eat. I feel more assure that the food is clean.  Sometimes I feel that the place does not look clean, it might be just the design of the building or the attitude of working. (As you can see I have a bit of culture shock down slope.) We did found a place and I see a nice picture of noodles. As I had so much rice in these days I thought I go for the noodles. My Korean is still on zero – therefore I need to trust the picture.  Never again trust noodles in Korea – there had been very cold. I wanted something warm as it was for my dinner, but still a positive experience to receive food which I may would not order if I could have read or seen the ice cube in the picture.  It was a big partition, I guess it would fill me up but as it was cold it was just like a dessert to me with Kimchi.  I asked my girlfriend if I can look out for something warm to eat later on, as she was (un-)lucky to receive something hot but spicy.

We knew there is a river in this city and close by and had made our way to there. As it looked very interesting place when passing by over the bridge with the bus.  Indeed the place is nice, very relaxing. People cross the river by human made stone bridge – instant of using the bridge on the road. It is I guess more interesting and keeps you fit.

The next day has started and the tour is due to start at lunch time. We brought our bag pack to the tourism office and then had a look around the market. We may find something interesting to eat.  We found a vendor who is selling rice cakes in different colours, but we had been unsure if we need to boil them or can eat them like that. We try to communicate with her with hand and feet but it did not work. Suddenly a car drive pulls up her stall and just tokens a few of the rice cakes and ate them.  This is what we wanted to know, and bought couple of the colour full rice cake to try.

There is so many good things to try, but unfortunately I do not have a kitchen in my dorm to cut or even cook the fruits and vegetables. You also can not try them in restaurant as they mix it with other ingredients and the taste either gets lost or mixed with the others.

The time was getting closer to lunch time and we return back to the tourism office on where we meet our tour guide and the bus driver for the day. Not many people joined, just three couples (including ourselves).  We had also a big bus – at least 40 seats. We had therefore lots of room for everyone.

The first stop had been the Drama Set where many modern Korean drama been filmed (but set in the 70s and 80s). One of the most popular one is East of Eden. It is also apparently the biggest movie set in Korea – but actually it does not look as big as it had been promised on the tourism web pages. It is still a nice place of visit those who are interested in Korean drama.

The next stop was Seonamsa temple. It was more interesting and a nice place to visit. It is located a few kilometres inside the mountain and forest and a bit away from the city. You are fully surrounded by nature.  The tour had been done in Korean language, but we just could read the tourist board on information of the temple. Sometimes the tour guide could explain in English on the building or trees. We had stayed at the temple for three hours and mainly followed the tour guide.  If you come on your own, I am sure you need to spend a full day there. You can walk from Seonamsa temple to Songgwangsa temple.  I guess it is better to have a tour operator on who can pick you up from the other side of the temple. As I did not saw, any local bus station in this area.

The day is coming to the end and we get taken to our place where we will stay. It is in Suncheon Gaeraengyi Godeulppaegi village. It was truly a great experience to stay in one of the traditional houses of this area. As not sure if the opportunity will arise again. We had been told that we will receive simple food, if this is what the provided is simple food what would be the best food? We had various side dishes and the main course.

After the meal we had been given the opportunity to prepare Kimchi. It was an intressting experience on making Kimchi - and also finally knowing what exactly is all inside the Kimchi. We could take the Kimchi back home.

After the dinner my girlfriend and I token the chance to explore the area. As it was dark already we could not see much excluding fireflies who flown around us. It was also looking to be a thunderstorm as we could see the lighting, so we decided better to go back. When we return back, some of the tourist had been sitting by the fire. They have asked us and the rest to join, so we did. Only one of them could speak English. Maybe the others could understand us, but just not respond.

The next day has broken up. The two places of visit today would be Nagan Folk Village and Suncheon Bay. After the breakfast the tour operator come to our place and pick us up. Today we had a different tour guide, and she could not speak English. We still have followed the group until she given us free time to take a look around ourselves in the village.  The village is very nice, as people still actually live there or rent them for overnight stay to tourist. We had spent about two hours in the village and found a nice place on the wall to sit and relax. Where we also could see part of the village from above. 

The next and final stop is Suncheon Bay, but before that we had gone for lunch. It was served somewhere on the way to the bay. The food had been nice, but as we all already just had breakfast we did not ate much.

As we arrived in Suncheon Bay, the tour guide just given brief information of the place and told us we can go either left or straight ahead.  Actually is better to go left as, at one point you need to turn left to go straight. You pass through the Reed forest and continue your way up for 2km to the mountain point where you can observe the bay from the top. The measurements of distance do not take them too serious here. As it said 1km to walk, and next time it will say 1.2km to walk.  Just enjoy the nice walk up hill; it only takes around 30-45mins without stop.

Suncheon Bay

 I really recommend visiting Suncheon, it is so far the nicest place for nature.