My sister asked the front office staff to book a jumbo taxi to all of us to this place. He said it would cost KRW 40,000 for one way. Be it!! We agreed and the driver came. It was quite a huge car he was driving and we all sat down conveniently. As the car drove through, the driver offered us a day tour using his car, which beforehand, my sister and I had already thought of requesting him and discussed on the price we were willing to pay.
Seemed like the Universe really heard us and we were granted the good driver, good car and good fee as well!!! He charged us KRW 180,000 from 9.30am to 6pm and he promised to bring us to 6 places. Wow!!! Could you believe it??? It was lower fee that we imagined and we did not have to bargain through. He was even offering us to visit more places that we initially could think of!!! Above all, we were granted with a beautiful weather!!! Sun, wind, what else??? :)
1. Haedong Yonggung Temple - probably the most beautiful temple in Korea! :)
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| First place to go and must visit in Busan - Haedong Yonggung Temple :) |
The temple was built back in 1376 and was originally known as Bomun Temple. It was destroyed during the Japanese invasion to Korea and was rebuilt in 1930s and renamed as Haedong Yonggung Temple in 1974. (Source: wikipedia.org). The temple complex is large and one of few in Korea to be set on the seaside. Personally I felt that this place was really worth visiting! :)
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| Selling local delicacies on the way towards the Haedong Yonggung Temple - Busan, South Korea |
From the entrance we passed by many roadside shops selling local delicacies. From dried seafood stuffs to fried sweet dough. Korean snacks like Odeng (boiled fish cakes) were available too.
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| Selling fresh vegetables - Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, South Korea |
Local farmers were selling their fresh vegetable produce there too, reminding me of my Bhutanese friends who were doing the same :)
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| Haedong Yonggung Temple - Busan, South Korea |
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| Tadaaa... - Haedong Yonggung Temple - Busan, South Korea |
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| Beautiful view of Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, South Korea |
I loved the beautiful view surrounding this temple. As said earlier, it was located along the seaside and many beautiful rocks beautified this place.
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| The main temple to pray - Haedong Yonggung Temple, Busan - South Korea |
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| Underground water - holy water to drink :) at Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, South Korea |
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| Goddess of Mercy, Laughing Buddha, Turtle rock at Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, South Korea |
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| Beautiful view from the top and front view from seaside - Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, South Korea |
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| The view at the other side. The stacked stones are beautiful! :) |
We spent some time inside the temple to pray, to enjoy their beauty, to express our gratitude for being there, to freeze some beautiful pictures, and finally continued our next destination :)
2. Oryukdo Skywalk
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| Oryukdo Skywalk - Busan, South Korea |
"The old regional name for the area of Oryukdo Skywalk was Seungdumal, as the shape resembles a saddle, and it was originally called Seungduma as well as Jallokgae by residents and women divers.
The construction of Oryukdo Skywalk finished on September 12, 2012 at the Seungdumal area, which is regarded as the dividing point between the East Sea and the South Sea, and started operating on October 18, 2013, with the theme of "Walking over the sky.”
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| View surrounding the Oryukdo Skywalk |
Iron columns were set up over a 35-meter-high coastal cliff, and a 15-meter glass bridge comprised of 24 glass plates and shaped like a horse’s hoof connect the iron columns. The bottom of the glass was specially produced with four attached 12-millimeter glass pieces coated with a bulletproof film that has a thickness of 55.49 millimeters, making the structure quite safe.
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| Hazy view from Oryukdo Skywalk - Busan, South Korea |
Visitors will be thrilled with the view of the waves while looking down through the transparent floor. The sea stretches out ahead of the skywalk, perfect for a photo op, as well as the best spot to see Daemado Island on sunny days." - Source: visitkorea.or.kr
And too bad that the skywalk was undergoing repair when we were there. Anyway, it did not look big too and personally, I think you can skip this place if you do not have enough time to browse Busan.
3. Seafood lunch at Jagalchi Market
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| Busandaegyo Bridge - Busan, South Korea |
Busan is very famous for its fresh seafood due to its location. And when the driver was asking us on what we would like to eat for lunch, no doubt we requested for having delicious local fresh seafood and he brought us to one of the restaurant at the Jagalchi Market. The place is worldly famous for its fresh fish and seafood.
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| Row of fresh seafood restaurants at Jagalchi Market area - Busan, South Korea |
The driver must have like the food so much from this restaurant as he pointed us directly to this particular seafood restaurant (perhaps he was getting discount or who knew, even free meal for bringing us there :P). No matter what it was, we were very happy with all the food we ordered.
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| Seafood restaurant at Jagalchi Market - Busan, South Korea |
We decided to order a small portion of seafood soup (KRW 40,000), a small portion of grilled abalone (KRW 50,000) that contained 5 small pieces - just nice a piece for each of us, Abalone rice porridge (KRW 15,000) - must try food!!!, and a small portion of grilled fish (KRW 30,000). We also ordered one bottle of Soju and 2 bottles of Terra beer to complete our meal :)
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| Delicious fresh seafood dishes from Jagalchi Market - Busan, South Korea |
And despite what we ordered were all small portions, it fed us just enough. The taste was simple yet the ingredients were all fresh and good.
4. Busan Taejongdae Park
I heard it first time about this place. Since it was included in the 6 places promised by the driver, we just followed through with his plan. Taejongdae is a natural park with magnificent cliffs facing the open sea on the southernmost tip of Yeongdo-gu island.
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| Maps and directions of Busan Taejongdae Park and Danubi Train that transported us around - Busan, South Korea |
The whole park was really big. If I had plenty of time there, I think I would spend a day browsing around the park, having a good refreshing walk surrounded by the beautiful nature. But since we had many more places to visit within the rest of the day, the driver told us to just drop by at the stop where we could walk the staircases towards the Yeongdo Lighthouse and Structure of Light Beyond Limitation.
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| Busan Taejongdae Park - Yeongdo Lighthouse and Structure of Light Beyond Limitation - Busan, South Korea |
We only had to pay KRW 3,000 for the Danubi train that transported us to the nearest location of Yeongdo Lighthouse and many other stops that we did not cover. Again, if you do not have much time in Busan, I will not recommend you to visit this place :D
5. Songdo Skywalk
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| Songdo Beach - Busan, South Korea |
Songdo Skywalk was a place where you could see a beautiful sea view, located near Songdo Beach.
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| Songdo Skywalk - Busan, South Korea |
And if the Skywalk was not enough, you could even ride the cable car from Song Marine Cable Car to see the view from the top. We chose not to take the cable car since the sky was not clear enough (hazy kind).
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| Song Marine Cable Car - Busan, South Korea |
Half an hour would be enough to walk through the skywalk and take some photos.
6. Gamcheon Cultural Village - A must visit in Busan!!!
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| Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
Yes, I said that this was a must visit place if you visit Busan!!!
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| Mural art at Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
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| Mural art at Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
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| More mural arts at Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
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| And more.... - Gamcheon Cultural Village in Busan, South Korea |
This place showed a picturesque view of a village that contained colorful houses, painted murals, shops, and cafes. I saw it many times from TV (Korean shows) and my friends' posting photos in social media. I was very happy that I finally had a chance to go there!! :)
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| The colorful houses at Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
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| The most sought after taking photo place - beside the Little Prince at Gamcheon Cultural Village - Busan, South Korea |
And the above was the most sought after taking photo place at the Gamcheon Cultural Village. Everyone - be it boys and girls - wanted to sit beside the Little Prince, overlooking the beautiful colorful houses of Gamcheon village. I did not have enough patience to join the queue though and better using my time licking the delicious ice cream from the shop nearby :P
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| So much selections of sweet desserts and souvenir - Gamcheon Cultural Village |
We did a bit shopping too - socks and souvenir from the shops nearby :D
7. Busan Tower at Yongdusan Park
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| Busan Tower at Yongdusan Park - Busan, South Korea |
And last but not least, our last destination of the day was Busan Tower, which was located at Yongdusan Park. With that, we ended our journey with our driver and he sent us back to our hotel.
8. Pork soup dinner with rice at Bonjeon Dwaeji Gugbap (not far from Busan Station)
As for dinner, we asked the hotel staff the recommended local food located not far from our hotel and she asked us to go to Bonjeon Dwaeji Gugbap for having the delicious pork soup!!! She gave us her hand-drawn map and once we reached, we recalled of the long-queued restaurant we passed just the day before.
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| Delicious local pork soup at Bonjeon Dwaeji Gugbap near Busan Station - Busan, South Korea |
Luckily there were not such long queue when we reached. We just had to wait for a while before our turn. We ordered the pork soup and sliced pork with soup. They provided side dishes of spicy chives, kimchi, raw garlic and chili to accompany the soup.
Wow!!! I did not expect that the soup was really tasty!!! The milky broth must have been boiled over hours to produce such a simple yet nutritious and delicious taste!! Fell in love with it almost immediately. We even added one more portion of sliced pork as it turned out to be soft, tender and no frozen pork smell!!! I really recommend you to visit this restaurant too!!! From Busan Station, you just have to walk in less than 5 minutes. Must visit lah!!!
So, let me wrap up the day here and more places in Busan will come out soon. Stay tune!!! :)
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