And just like that it was time to say goodbye to Seoul (for now) and move south in direction to Busan. When we planned this trip a bunch of different Korean destinations came up, but Busan seemed like a no-brainer from what we’d seen. I still want to visit Jeju one day though.
It had delicious seafood, a few great sightseeing options, and was a relatively small place which would be a nice change of pace from Seoul. It was also just a quick(-ish) train trip away, and it would propel us to the next phase of our trip. More on that on a different day.
So we grabbed our bags and got on the subway headed to Seoul Station. We had the KTX train tickets we had bought a few days before in hand, so the last thing left to do before boarding the bullet train was to grab some food. The travel time was around 3 hours, so we’d be having a reinforced breakfast on our way to Busan. And perhaps a short nap.
The train ride was calm and speedy. The scenery along the way the same boundless luscious green we’d seen outside Seoul two days before. Korea’s countryside looked more inviting than ever, and we want to go back to see what it’s like.
Our hotel was in the Nampo area so from Busan Station we grabbed the subway using our T-money cards once again. Not unlike Japan, it’s quite cool you can use a single card to ride public transportation, make payments in convenience stores, or buy stuff off of vending machines, to name a few.
Once we arrived in Busan, the weather immediately felt different. From what we’d heard and read before, Busan is usually pretty gloomy and cloudy, but the sun was shining bright. That in combination with the thick humidity meant we were now hitting a new ceiling. The rain of the previous few days now felt like a blessing in hindsight.
Soon after checking into our hotel, we found lunch in the form of delicious egg sandwiches at EGG DROP. I just made that seem like a coincidence, but it was very much planned. The food didn’t disappoint and the kids were happy eating something visually this fun. We also hit the nearby Gong Cha for the habitual post-prandial bubble tea.
Without a plan for the remainder of the day, we found our way to Yongdusan Park (용두산공원) and Diamond Tower by following directions to a Buddhist temple not far away. We had the park almost for ourselves if it wasn’t for two gentlemen looking after stray cats. They would grab the cats one by one, which there were a lot of at the park, and treat their wounds. The cats seemed thankful for the care and attention, and didn’t protest that much.
Walking through the park and exiting on the other end, we made our way to Bupyeong Kkangtong Market (부평깡통시장), where we wandered for a while searching for locals’ activity, interesting stalls, and yummy foods. The kids wanted a swirly fried potato which was probably the most disappointing morsel of the entire trip, but the homemade gimbaps we ate more than made up for that.
And just like that, we were done for the day. It cannot be overstated how heat + humidity have such a severe impact on our resistance to fatigue and overall stamina. Busan was making us realize that we had indeed decided to visit East Asia in the peak of Summer once again.
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