Monday, February 22, 2016

Precious Busan family trip- Day 2

8/2/2016


Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @Tom N Toms Coffee (탐앤탐스커피)
伏兵山壁畫村 (동광동인쇄골목)
40 Steps (40계단)
Gamcheon Cultural Village (버스정류장)
Lunch @Gamcheon Cultural Village
Dinner @Whobaldae
Yongdusan Park
Busan Tower

Breakfast was done at Tom N Toms Coffee closed to our hotel. The cafe was quite cozy with not much people. We ordered set breakfast with drinks. (45,700won) Honey bread stick, Apple Cinnamon Bread and a few Italiano Pretzels were freshly made and they tasted fantastic. The only downside was having only one staff responsible for cooking, making drinks and cleaning up the place, we gotta wait for almost half an hour for the first dish done and all of us were starving! 








After breakfast, we set off to 伏兵山壁畫村 (동광동인쇄골목) where we could explore the local Korean street art. Actually there are three routes with stairs named Sky, Paper and People which can take you a few hours to cover the whole place. It was hard for us going around with a baby trolley, so we eventually gave up, walked randomly and decided to went all the way down to 40 Steps (40계단).









The 40 Steps was a hub of transportation during the Korean War. Those who were displaced by the war gathered around the area and made makeshift housing out of sticks and tarps.  It was a place to meet family members separated during the war and a place that has since then come to symbolize the sorrow and grief of those living during the Korean War. It became famous due to the Korean show Running Man was once filmed there. Although it's a cool idea introducing the history of Busan, it would much better if English description could be added along the way.








Th The Tourism Centre was one block away. We didn't take a visit but just wandered for a while before we headed tot he metro station.





40 steps
Address: 27-53beonji, 4-ga, Jungang-dong, Jung-gu, Busan
Opening hours: Tue- Fri1000- 1800, Sat- Sun 1000- 1700

Our next sightseeing spot was Gamcheon Cultural Village (버스정류장). From Jungang Station we could take Line 1 to Toseong Station, then took bus 2 from exit 6 of the station. 

Our first time taking metro and we got the wrong direction. It was really different from the one in Hong Kong coz we could only get interchange in some designated stations. We got stuck coz there were hardly anyone could help us in English. It took us some time to figure out how to catch the train we wanted.









Finally we arrived at Gamcheon Cultural Village. Many restaurants were closed due to Chinese New Year and we just randomly popped into one next to the entrance. 

We had no ideas on what to each, so we decided to order one each. (33,900won) Pork Sirlon with rice was not special. Taco rolls was just soso. The most surprising one was Bimbim soup noodles. Probably was because of the hot spicy soup curing us under the cold weather.











Before exploring the highlight of our day, we bought a map from the tourist centre. Visitors could get free postcards after getting all stamps from different stations.


Famed as Korea’s Santorini, this colourful village has it’s own artistic and historic charm that continues to lure its visitors. The cheerful blue, yellow and pink hues a delight to the eye. It certainly was one the most picturesque place I have ever been to.






It was way too cold and we couldn't resist the tempted smell of the instantly made local snacks. (1,000won/ each)






Spreaded out below us was a panorama of endless rows of low-rise cubicle homes climbing up the steep hillsides. 






We continued our hike going uphill and saw the most popular spot, the Prince! People were very well behaved queuing up for photos.







































We were all tired and actually going uphill was the shortest way to the entrance bus stop. However, we decided to go downhill and rest a bit in the cafe. After getting some refreshing drinks (800won/ each), we made our way to the bus stop again.






























By the time we arrived at the bus stop, it was almost 6pm. And we headed back to a restaurant near our hotel for dinner. 








































We tried Korean barbecue at Whobaldae that night. We tried all kinds of meat they offered, their signature fried rice and a bottle of suju wine and it cost us only 119,500won with incredibly great service! Unlimited side dished were also served. We could hardly try to cook by ourselves but kept eating and drinking! The staff kindly helped us to cook the food to its best, cut and distributed to us. We were quite thankful bumping into a high quality restaurant. 





Even though we were exhausted, we still made up our mind visiting Yongdusan Park as it was just 5 minutes walk away from our hotel. It was such a nice respite from the hustle and bustle city, especially good for taking a walk after dinner. Gwangbokro Fashion and Culture Street was in search of the entrance to the park. Some parts of the escalators were not working at that time, so it was a bit of exercise going upstairs! It was quite a trek, but the view at the top was stunning. We didn't bother taking the trip up to the top of the Busan Tower but just wandered around watching the breathtaking view.











While all of them couldn't stand the tiredness and headed back to the hotel, Joey and I sneaked out to Lotte Mart shopping for snacks and fruit (15,820won), and of course street food! (1,000won/ skewer)
 How cute it it! But couldn't think of any chance to wear it in Hong Kong!





What a packed but joyful day!

Total expenses for 7 =222,320won
Breakfast @Tom N Toms Coffee (탐앤탐스커피)        45,700won
伏兵山壁畫村 (동광동인쇄골목)                                 /
40 Steps (40계단)                                                /
Gamcheon Cultural Village (버스정류장)                  /
Local snacks                                                        1,000won X2 =2,000won
Drinks                                                                 800won X5 =4,000won
Lunch @Gamcheon Cultural Village                        33,900won
Dinner @Whobaldae                                             119,500won
Yongdusan Park                                                    /
Busan Tower                                                        /
Lotte Mart                                                           15,820won
Street food                                                          700won X2 =1,400won

7 comments:

  1. Love the pictures and the stories of your travels! I'm visiting my daughter in Busan in September. We will have to see some of these places!

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    1. That's great! Busan is a very nice place to visit! Enjoy your stay there!

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  2. Notice you took a baby stroller with you, so are those street stroller friendly, as I know busan is sort of a hill city, with mostly steps. Will be going there in Chuseok so your experience is a good info for me. TQ

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    1. Frankly it is not so baby friendly, we did have a hard time and gave up some of the sightseeing spots. Better use baby carrier!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Were you only there 2 days? If not, what did you do the other days? I will only be in Busan 2 days this September but I wanted to pack in as much as I can

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    1. Hi Jpeti003 I stayed for 6 days which allowed my big family to have enough time sightseeing. Actually I am still working on the rest of the blogs. There are whole lots to do like 40 Steps Cultural Tour Street, Gamcheon Culture Village, Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park, which can be packed in one day. Haeundae is a bit far so if you have only 2 days I'd rather recommend you to visit Seomyeon with lots of nice food and Nampodong seeing all the markets and try seafood at Jagalchi Market. You may take a ook at my brief itinerary here. Have a nice trip!

      http://travellinglittleeyesbigworld.blogspot.hk/2016/01/precious-busan-family-trip-preparation.html

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