3 Days 2 nights in Busan - II

Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part V

Part IV: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part IV
Part V: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part V
Part VI: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part VI

Itinerary to South Korea

Day 5: Busan

My dad and I woke up early in the morning to have a breakfast at 32nd Floor. The buffet breakfast at Park Hyatt Busan had lots of choice. I loved it so much. From the restaurant, I could see the view outside. The view itself was just fabulous.The same view can also be viewed from the lobby floor at 30th Floor.

View from the restaurant

Gamcheon Cultural Village

The first destination that we went to was Gamcheon Cultural Village. We took a cab to go this place. This village was also known as "Santorini of South Korea". This village was full with arts. You can buy a map for 2,000 at the visitor and collect a stamp around this village. 

Direction (Public Transportation):
1. Take Green Line, transfer to Red Line to Toseong Station Exit 6.
2. You will be facing an intersection. Turn right at the corner and walk straight. You will see a hospital on your right. The bus stop is right in front of the hospital.
3. Take either Bus 2 or 2-2
4. This will take you to Gamcheon Culture Village at top of the hill.

Santorini of South Korea

Credit @ Two Wandering Soles

 

We went to the community center in this village. At the roof of this community center, the running man TV show was filming with Choi Ji Woo as a guest.

In front of the community center, there was stairs to part of the village. My sister and I actually walked toward the community center from the other side of the stairs. My sister told me that she got dizzy. When we arrive at the community center, we saw a board and the stairs that we just went through was called as "Stairs to See Stars". The reason was that one felt dizzy when they climbed up the stairs.

Jagalchi Market 

It was already a lunch time. From Gamcheon Cultural Village, we then head out to Jagalchi market, the biggest fish market in South Korea, was bigger than Noryangjin fish market in Seoul. We visited one of the fish store. The ahjumma who stood in front of the store was holding a small calculator and pressed it when we asked the price for the seafood that we wanted to eat. We ordered a king crab, a raw abalone, a raw sea cucumber, and live octopus. The total was 80,000 won for 4 people. I would rate the restaurant 4.5/5 since the services were amazing. The taste of the abalone and sea cucumber was not bad at all and I would eat it again in the future.

Direction (Public Transportation): Jagalchi Station (Busan subway line 1), Exit 10.

Jagalchi Fish Market in Busan (Credit @ Two Wandering Soles)

 

Since we did not have a lot of time in Busan, we skipped BIFF square and the ssiat-hotteok. This ssiat-hotteok was very popular and became more popular after Lee Seung Gi ate it at one of the 1 night 2 days episode. For the information, please check this site Two Wondering Soles. From Jagalchi market, we headed out to Taejongdae before they closed. 

Taejongdae

Direction (Public Transportation): From Busan Station, take Bus 88 or 101 and get off at Taejongdae (태종대). This place was named after King Taejongmuyeol, the 29th king of Silla kingdom. He used to travel to this place for shooting arrows. Taejongdae was also a place to perform a ritual for rain during the droughts season. The rain on the 10th of lunar May is called as the Taejong rain.

From the entrance, we had to walk inside to the Danubi train ticket counter. It was free admission to the Taejongdae park by walking but it was a long walk from one place to another. Therefore, I would recommend to take a Danubi train. 

Fee: 1,600 won/person for a family group of 3 or more. 2,000/person for adults, 1,500/person for youths, and 1,000 won/person for children.

Danubi Train

The Danubi train stopped at 5 places:

1. Taewon Jagal Madang
2. Gumyeongsa Temple
3. Observatory
4. Yeongdo Lighthouse
5. Taejongsa Temple

 

The most famous stops were observatory and yeongdo lighthouse. From the platform, we directly went to the observatory as our first stop.

Inside the Danubi Train

View of a Tsushima island (Japan) from the observatory. It was foggy and cold during my visit.

Observatory Building

Mother and children statue in front of the observatory building

From the observatory, we then went to Yeongdo lighthouse. It was very close to the observatory. We ended taking the Danubi train since the train arrived when we are about to walk there. After we arrived at the Yeongdo lighthouse, we walked down thru stairs toward the light house. It was a long walk to the destination.The blue red looks like arrow statue called as "Light Beyond Limitation". The blue represents sky and sea, the red represents the sun, camellia flower, universe, five oceans, and six continents, and the arrow represents the light from the lighthouse. Under the lighthouse, there was a table rock called Sinseon Rock. At this rock, there is a figure called Mangbuseok, named after the story of a woman who waited for her husband who capture to Japan. 

We stopped at the red blue arrow and relaxed there for 30 minutes before we went back up to where the Danubi train was. From Taejongdae, we headed back to our hotel to take a rest. For the dinner tonight, we bought four bowls of noodle cup at the convenience store next to our hotel.  

Spa Land - Shinsegae Centum City

After took a rest, we headed to Spa Land at Centum City Shopping Center. Please click the link for information on Spa Land. Spa Land is a jimjilbang and one of the best jimjilbang in South Korea. I would recommend people to go there. They were open from 6 AM to 12 AM. In this jimjilbang, one of the running man episode filming here. I wrote a post for Spa Land itself due to lots of information about it.From Spa Land, then we headed back to our hotel with a cab. It was about 12:30 AM.

 Continue Part VI: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part VI