It’s amazing how quiet Koreans are during a 4-hour bus journey. Maybe everyone wanted to try and sleep to get it over with or maybe it’s custom to be quiet in Korea. Wait- a 4-hour bus journey? A 4-hour bus journey to Busan, Korea’s seconds largest city. It has 3.6 million citizens compared to 25.6 million citizens in Seoul. We didn’t want to go to Busan because of its size but because Truci wanted to eat a big crab. It’s all about the food, didn’t I tell you before?
We left ‘home’ around 7, got to the bus station around 8:30 and arrived in Busan around 1 pm. Since we couldn’t check in into our hotel until 4, we decided to visit the Busan tower first. In order to get there we took a taxi… but it turned out the distance did not take us 7 minutes (as our research had told) but 30 minutes instead. The taxi driver told us it’d cost 35.000 won (about 30 euro’s). Inside the taxi, there is a screen which shows you how much you have to pay the longer you are driving. Halfway, the screen got turned off. The taxi driver ripped us off in the end… we had to pay 45.000 won. Don’t make the same mistake we did!
Although the tower and its view look pretty on the pictures, it turned out to be a lot smaller than expected. The fences on the ground surrounding the tower area are decorated by colored hearts that are locked onto it by lovers, friends, and other tourists. Needless to say, we had to do it too.
Our Motel turned out to be only 2 minutes away; it was literally just a few staircases away. The room we reserved provided one double bed, but it is possible to have one additional one added. However, when checking in it turned out that their VIP room for 3 persons was the same price and so we got an upgrade. An upgrade that gave us a lot of mirrors and more space. It became very clear we were in a motel; the mirrors being the first hint and the condoms being the second.
After settling down, we went after the food Truci wanted to try. Initially, she wanted to eat a big crab until she found out how expensive it is. When you visit Busan you have to go to Jagalchi market where you can choose your own fish for dinner… As I walked through this market and past all the living fish I kind of felt like turning into a vegetarian.
We decided to pick shrimps for our dinner. After paying, the couple that sold us the fish brought the plate upstairs as we followed. As big as the market is downstairs, the several ‘restaurants’ of the sellers together upstairs are just as big. After choosing your dinner, you can also choose how it should be prepared. For example, you can decide to let it get fried.
Not even 2 minutes away from the Jagalchi market we found a traditional fish market. Next to all the fish, what really stood out is that most of the sellers are female.
We spent the rest of our time walking around and tried out some street food here and there.
Other posts in my South Korean Travel Series:
Preparing my trip to South Korea
The way things are
Arriving in Korea
Nothing touristic, just Korean food
Gay supporters, OUT
Exploring Jeju
To the summit of the Hallasan mountain!
The pond of God
Monkeys in our backyard
Yakcheonsa Buddhist Temple
Surrounded by mist on Udo Island
Busan day one
Busan day two
Seoul in ‘one week’
A large palace with little doors
Deoksung Palace
Enter the Secret Garden
Love conquers hate
SMTOWN
Bukchon Hanok Village
Chicken and beer at the Hangang River
Hello Kitty Cafe and actual cats
Korean Engrish
No more kamsamnida