Weekend Escape to Beautiful Busan!

Last weekend, Mike & I took a last minute trip down to Busan. We were not sure what to expect for the weather this time of year, but it turned out to be a beautiful weekend with warm 70F days and bright blue skies.

Busan is the second largest city in Southeast Korea. (For those of you who don't know, Seoul is in the Northern part of South Korea). It is right on the Sea and is a major port city with well-known beaches.

We took the KTX train, only about 2.5 hours down to Busan, and found an awesome hotel overlooking Haeundae Beach. Little did we know that the Busan Film Festival had just ended and the Jagalchi Festival was just begining.

Waiting for the KTX at Seoul Station

Just a mere 2 1/2 hours later, we were in Busan. Just enough time for a good rest after an early Saturday morning train ride. Immediately, we were off to the Jagalchi Fish Market. This is a very large fish market right on the water in Busan. There is every kind of fish you can think of. You can buy the live fish there and eat it as well...they will prepare it raw or cooked for you.

Here are some pictures...

We opted for some cooked food. The smell of fish is very overwhelming, so we went to one of the outside vendors where the women cook up the food right there for you and got some Pajon (korean pancake with green onions), Gimbap (kind of a sushi roll with just veggies inside) and some spicy bbq fish (no idea what kind of fish it was).

Ladies cooking out lunch

Enjoying our lunch

After our tour of the fish market in downtown Busan, we headed over to our hotel on the famous Haeundae Beach. We stayed at the Grand Hotel with a beautiful view of the beach from our window. Here it is...

We spent most of the days wondering around Haeundae Beach area and enjoying the beautful weather.

On Haeundae Beach, there was an area with food vendors. I imagine they are very busy during the summer season when the beaches are very crowded. There is fresh fish of all kinds available in teh tanks in the picture below. I cannot read the signs, but if it is like the Jagalshi Fish market, I imagine they will prepare it to order as well...

Sunday, we left Haeundae beach and headed to see some other parts of Busan before our afternoon train back to Seoul. We wondered aimlessly (poor planning on our part) for a bit until we finally found Gwangan Beach and stopped for some lunch.

The afternoon train took us back to Seoul! We will have to go back now that we know our way around Busan. It is a beautiful city. It is not what I think of when I think of Beach Towns from the Eastern U.S., but I am a sucker for the sand, sun and ocean. It just soothes you, no matter where in the world you are!

Busan...we will be back!