Weekend trip to Busan! May 31st- June 2nd, 2013

It's mind boggling how we are now three quarters of the way done our contracts! We will be back home in less than three months, and although we have both been talking about how much we will miss Canadian summers, we have a lot of exciting things planned to make our Korean summer just as fun. With limited weekends left, Ian and I decided to check another item off our Korean bucket list and took a mini vacation this past weekend. We traveled south east to Busan.

After school, on Friday May 31st I had to go straight to the bus terminal because our bus left at 5:40pm. Ian found out the day before that he was going on a field trip to Seoul on Friday. We didn't anticipate this causing problems as they said he would have enough time to come back to Incheon and catch the bus. Well, it wasn't until 5:37pm when I finally saw Ian running from the subway to the bus terminal. The entire time I was thinking of ways to stall the bus. If you have ever taken a bus in Korea, you know they leave on time, or sometimes even early! Crisis averted, we made it on the bus with 2 minutes to spare, and we were off on our weekend get-a-way trip!

I really liked Busan, as the city had a fun, relaxed, beach life atmosphere. We jokingly were calling it "Little Busan" as the subway system seems very basic compared to Seoul's mess of lines, but in fact Busan is Korea's second biggest city, and is no where close to 'little.' It was nice and convenient that we could use the same subway card in Seoul and in Busan. Here are the highlights from our weekend.

1. Busan Aquarium: On Saturday morning, we checked out the aquarium located on the famous Haeundae beach, the area where our hostel was also located. The weather was mostly cloudy that day, so this was a great way to start our day. It was a really cool aquarium, and maybe it is my inner-bio-nerd coming out, but I had a lot of fun walking around. There was a cool tunnel where we could walk and sharks and sting rays would swim over and beside us. We also touched shark eggs and baby sharks.

Ian with a penguin.

Nadia with an electric eel.

Life guard on duty on Haeundae Beach near the aquarium.

2. UN Memorial Cemetery: After the aquarium, we went to walk around this memorial park and cemetery for the soldiers that fought in the Korean War. There was a guard working at the entrance that saluted us on our way in and out. There were areas dedicated to each country. The Canadian area had a really nice statue in remembrance.

3. Jagalchi Fish Market: After the cemetery and a quick lunch, we headed to Jagalchi Fish Market, Korea's largest fish market. It was great we went on Saturday because it was quite busy. We walked around for a while but the smell quickly became overwhelming.

Walking around the market.

Korean style take-out. You get real bowls and plates and then an hour later someone comes to pick up the dishes. 

Squid and octopus for sale!

Rays the length of my arm, if not longer!

Woman selling sea cucumbers.

4. Busan International Film Festival (BIFF): The festival was not on then, but we walked around this area for a long time. There are lots of food stands, clothing/everything markets, coffee shops, and great people-watching.

The only thing we bought in the markets were funky socks!

5. Yongdusan Park and Busan Tower: In the late afternoon, we came across Yongdusan park, and hiked up the stairs to the tower. There were love locks and a nice view of the city. We decided not to go up the tower, but it was still nice to walk around the park.

6. Gwangali Beach: After a delicious hamburger and french fries dinner near Haeundae Beach, we went to see the other famous beach, Gwangali. It was nice to sit and watch people light fireworks with the lit up bridge in the background. We even managed to fit in a quick skype time with Ian's parents.

7. Haeundae Beach: Sunday morning and early afternoon were spent lounging on Haeundae Beach. It was sunnier that day, so we decided to soak up some sun on the beach before our bus home. I thought the beach was busy, but apparently in high season you can't even see the sand because of the sea of umbrellas that line the beach.

Haeundae Beach

The funny socks we bought in Busan.

Overall, our trip was a lot of fun! I am happy we got to check out Busan. Other updates for now include us booking our Vietnam flights for August, me finding a place to live in Montreal, and Ian being invited to two more weddings! Tomorrow is Korea's Remembrance Day and so we have a day off school. We are planning on heading to one of Incheon's beaches with some friends.