It's our second day in Busan and I sort of planned our itinerary to cover far places during the first half of the day and closer to our hostel places during the second half of the day so that we need not travel so far to get back to Haeundae. For first time visitors, do read my
introductory and earlier posts first before this one.
Gamcheon Cultural Village
Mokja (Let's Eat) Alley
Nampo-dong
Gukje/Bupyeong/Kkattong Markets
BIFF Square
Lotte Mall, Seomyeon
Gwangalli Beach - Gwangandaegyo (Gwangan Bridge)
Lovely Friday at Haeundae. The sky was so blue and cloud free!
First stop of the day is Gamcheon Cultural Village. This visit is inspired by Running Man Episode 126 where the Running Man team get to play host to guests from Busan, Choi Ji Woo, Jung Yong Hwa, Lee Jong Hyun and Simon D! Other than that, this village is also known as Santorini of Korea or Lego Town for its uniquely positioned houses like on tea farm.
To get to the bus stop to Gamcheon Elementary School (not exactly the last stop but the bus driver will tell us to get down once we reach), you will need to take the subway to Toseong station. From there, walk towards Pusan Cancer Institute. The bus stop is just right in front of the institute like the following photo: -
The bus stop for Gamcheon Elementary School is just next to the entrance to the Pusan Cancer Institute. You may catch buses 1-1, 2 and 2-2. By bus, it is not big ones like how we are used to but extremely mini sized buses, smaller than Starex. Perhaps like those mini buses in Hong Kong and Macau.
Limited space if you are one of those who came up to the bus later than everybody else. Hamburglar doll is so cute!
The bus driver will signal for you to get off the bus once reach at the stop. At the bus stop, you will be greeted with the village's map.
And to the left and behind of the bus stop, is this amazing view!
From the bus stop, you will want to u-turn and walk towards the direction where the bus came and then turn left at the first junction on your left. Walk down the alley and you will see this on the right.
Birdman?
A little further and you will be greeted by this giant fish mural. At this angle, I could not capture the fish in its full size. It is just too big! This fish is the icon of the cultural village and if you happened to see this at the beginning, it means you are on the right track.
After the fish mural, you then take the flight of stairs up towards the Haneul Maru or information centre where you get to see this signboard.
Then, above the information centre, you get a scenic view of the village overlooking the sea..
That's the staircase to take to the information centre where you can also purchase the village's map at KRW2000.
Some souvenir and snack shops
The whole village is decorated by drawings, paintings, murals and artwork!
The petit prince and his fennec fox, looking out to the village
Cheon Duksu alley
Zen cat, oblivious of my presence and undisturbed by the shutter sound of my camera
On a nice and sunny day like this, we found a cafe with a roof top terrace for some dessert
Miniature houses, resembling those in the village
Dessert of the day: Citron bingsu (shaved ice) and Pat bingsu (red bean shaved ice)
We left after about two hours and that is the entrance to the village and the closest way to the information centre. The bus stop back to the city is just opposite of the entrance on the same side as the elementary school.
There was a bus which headed straight to Nampo-dong from the village. I can't remember which one it was but it was sure convenient and easier for us to reach our next destination - Mokja Golmok (Let's Eat Alley) at Nampo-dong. I found out about this place from one of the blogs during blog hopping. Mokja Golmok is popular because of bibim dangmyeon (mixed noodles), the noodle version to bibim bap (mixed rice). By far, throughout our entire trip, this meal is the cheapest and the most refreshing dining experience I've ever had. Even my mom enjoyed this meal very much too. There is always a second time for this one, anytime.
From BIFF Square, it just a straight walk from the arch to here. The entrance to Mokja Golmok is sandwiched between a local pharmacy on its right and Coffee Bean/Accessorize on its left.
Annyeong e-mo team!
Look at the length of the makeshift stalls and the customers!
My family picked this one because I found it to be packed with the most customers. Where as, a few of us had to dine at another stall because there wasn't any more places left. But, it doesn't matter which vendor you dine with because they all sell the same thing.
Bibim dangmyeon - KRW2000
Japchae (vegetarian noodles) - KRW2500
Kimbap (rice roll), odeng (fish cakes) and chives kimchi - KRW3000
A very jolly and merry dining experience, without roof on top of our heads, nor walls around us.
After lunch, we went for a stroll around Gukje, Bupyeong and Kkattong markets. Didn't take a great amount of photographs here because we didn't really stop to look around.
Back to Nampo-dong high street, we spotted THE beauty brand - Banila Co.! The brand is endorsed by Song Jihyo and they are famous for their primer!
Then, walked around BIFF square for their hotteoks again. Just can't get enough of them! Only KRW1000 irrespective of which stall or where you buy them from.
This one has raisins in them.
The queue for this stall was the longest during the day.
Marinated chicken in spicy sauce.
We also went to Nampo station's underground shopping centre.
Cheap sale! 2 tops for KRW5000!
From Nampo, we took the subway to Seomyeon for Lotte Mall, nothing great other than this mock Fontana Trevi by Seomyeon/Lotte station. We left around 6pm and headed for Gwangalli beach!
At Gwangan station, we walked about 600m towards the beach. The bridge or Gwangandaegyo is facing us at exactly 12 o'clock direction.
Around the coastline of Gwangalli beach are these LED buildings!
Lots of them and it reminded me a lot of Gold Coast, Australia.
Except these are commercial office buildings or restaurants or food outlets instead of hotels in Gold Coast.
Trying out the Lotteria, Korean version of McDonald's. You get to wait comfortably with a buzzer to alert you once your order is ready. We actually ordered an extra one which my dad sulked for a bit. Haha..
Grab a burger and eat by the beach while watching the bridge's light show at 8pm! Fantastic meal experience, again and with a nice view. The light show is about 15 minutes.
We headed back to Gwangan station to catch the subway back to Haeundae. Along the way, we stopped by a local supermarket to buy some fresh ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast.
