Precious Busan family trip- Day 1

7/2/2016
Can't explain how precious this trip means to us! It has been a long time not having a family trip together during Chinese New Year! My elder sister's wedding in 2013, then she got a baby in 2014, then the first CNY visiting relatives after my wedding in 2015. Finally was able to make time for travelling!

As I mentioned, planning a trip for 7 people, a big group with both elderly, teenagers and a baby was kinda rough. We exchanged some Korean Won beforehand in Chungking Mansions in TST at HKD1= 150.6won, planning that HKD3500 each would be enough on a whole. I decided to keep HKD2500 each in the pool for food and transportation (around 2,450,000won), then give out HKD1000 each for self-use. It gave me another headache to keep so much money.

Flight schedule: (Hong Kong Express: HKD2516/ person)
0930- 1340 UO673 (Hong Kong to Busan)
1425- 1720 UO674 (Busan to Hong Kong)

Itinerary of today:

Hong Kong Airport 

Hotel Yaja Nampo Lotte
Gentle Monster Showroom
Lunch @local restaurant
Gwangbokro Culture and Fashion Street
Guk Je Market (국제시장)
Bupyeong Market (부평시장)
Dinner @Nampo Samgyetang (남포삼계탕) 

Arriving at the Hong Kong Airport, it took a long time for us to queue for the boarding passes since many people were on their vacation during CNY. The gate to board was really far away and we were in a rush getting there. What a shame that we were unable to take a group photo in front of the display showing where we were heading to.

Had a pretty great sleep on the flight and we finally arrived at Busan. It took a short time only to go through the custom and pick our baggage. Maybe Busan was still quite new for people to travel to. 

Carrying so many baggage and a baby, we decided to catch the comfy limosine taxi reaching our hotel without haste. (35,000won)

Hotel Yaja Nampo Lotte was an hour away from Gimhae International Airport, locating in the heart of Busan’s downtown district. The rooms were stylish, spacious and comfortable. Initially, we booked the 2 bedroom apartment and another double-bed room. But we were notified that the apartment was under maintenance and we were offered 4 double-bed rooms at last, occupying the whole floor. They were clean and came with toiletries and nice skincare products. Some rooms even came with kitchenware. The the staff were friendly and helpful as well. We all had no complaints about it. (HKD7065/ 4 rooms/ 5 nights)

This was the area serving free hot chocolate, coffee and tea where we got many cups of them every day under such cold weather.

Hotel Yaja Nampo Lotte

Address: 11-10 Donggwangdong 2-Ga, Jung-Gu, Busan 

Tel:+82 51-247-1030

As all of us were drained, we rested a bit and started to explore the places nearby only. Walking down the Gwangbokro Culture and Fashion Street, an eye catching showroom attracted both mothers. They just fell in love with the fancy lighting and trendy sunglasses.

Gentle Monster Showroom

78-1, Gwangbokro, Jung Gu, Busan
Tel: +82-051-254-7898 
Opening hours: Mon- Sun 1200- 2100

Were in a state of hunger and we gave up looking for the restaurant we planned to try. There seemed to have many hidden gems in the alley and we were surprised by the popularity of one of those. Local people came-and-go and the price were particularly cheap. We ordered six different kinds of noodles and a plate of Gimbap. It only cost us 33,500 won in total!

After filling our stomachs, we wandered around the Guk Je Market (국제시장) and Bupyeong Market (부평시장). The huge area was with shops sells nearly everything from fruits, vegetables, clothes to household wares. There were also lots of places to grab food and drinks.

Tried the hot buns (2,000won/ 2 buns) and skewers (6,000won/ 2 skewers) under freezingly cold weather.

Would like to try Fried Chicken Joint (거인통닭) for tea time. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we all decided to end our day early with an early dinner at Nampo Samgyetang (남포삼계탕).

We ordered Samgyetang, Red Ginseng Samgyetang, Black Ginseng with abalone Samgyetang and a roast chicken to share. The staff seemed unhappy because she assumed we would order 1 set for each. Anyway, we didn't do it at last because we didn't want to end up wasting the food by not finishing them. We all thought that the side dishes and roast chicken were exceptionally great. The Samgyetang here had very well cooked chicken with a broth that had been simmered for a long time. It was soothing but relatively tasteless. The flavour was subtle. We needed to season up the soup with some sea salt and black pepper, but once we did so, the soup really came into its own. (65,000won)

Nampo Samgyetang (남포삼계탕) 

Address: 16-1, Nampo-gil, Jung-gu, Busan 

Tel: 051-245-5075 

Opening hours: 1000- 2130 

Headed back to the hotel and saw lots of interesting street art on the way.

Bought 7 Tmoney (+ top up 10,500won in total) at the convenient stores for transportation for the next few days. Bought a pack of eggs (1,200won) for baby nic and 2 banana drinks (2,600won) as supper.

Everyone especially this little monkey slept shortly after an irritating day.

Total expenses for 7 =HKD7065 +155,800won
Hotel Yaja Nampo Lotte                           HKD7065/ 4rooms/ 5 nights
Limosine                                                35,000won
Lunch @local restaurant                          33,500won
Buns                                                      1,000won X2 =2,000won
Skewers                                                 3,000won X2 =6,000won
Dinner @Nampo Samgyetang (남포삼계탕) 65,000won
Tmoney                                                  10,500won
Eggs                                                       1,200won
Banana drinks                                          1,300won X2 =2,600won