Made it to South Korea!!!

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I spent my last night in Japan in Fukuoka but there wasn't really anything to do in there. I went to the tourist information to ask for some guidance and the girl just kept saying "shopping, shopping" after many back and forth of "shopping" and "no shopping" she gave me a map to Canal street (or something like that.) I imagined a little Venice... but no... it was a shopping mall that the only thing it had in common with Venice was how easy one can get lost in the alleys!

The next day I took the ferry to Busan from Fukuoka in the late afternoon. Once I got to South Korea I got my passport stamped and the officer had a good laugh at the fact that I was staying at the "Kimchee guesthouse" haha.

I Proceeded to the metro and made it to my hostel. In the room I met one girl from Jakarta, Indonesia, and soon after 2 Czech girls walked in. We started talking and soon we were all on the floor talking about the sightseeing spots in Busan.

I really find it better to stay in hostels with shared rooms than hotels by myself since I get to meet other travelers and explore the city with them. After planning some sight seeing we were all starving so we went to grab some Korean food together!

It was my first introduction to Korean food (thank goodness one of the Czech girls speaks Korean) and when the food arrive so did a lot of side dishes. The girls told me that Koreans love to eat and all the meals come with "free" sides, which usually includes kimchi and a whole lot of fermented vegetables!

The next morning started with a big typhoon so we were unable to get out of the hostel until noon. It really rained and the wind was crazy strong, trees fell down, streets were flooded, signs had fallen down... it was crazy!

At noon we were ready to go!

My new friend, Santi, and I made our way to the metro station where I got a 1,000K stuck in a machine! I had to go talk to the information center to get my money back... the guy was not happy! Haha Once I got the ticket off we went to see Busan!

Our first stop was the Beomeosa temple.

Once we got out of the bus we realized how strong the typhoon was last night and this morning! Branches and trees were on the streets and leaves everywhere! Signs had come down and there were teams of people cleaning everything up.

This temple was so beautiful! I was impressed by the colorful detailed painting all over the roof and the columns. I was used to very bland temples in Japan with exception of the very bright red ones. This temple had every single color, plus it was decorated with chains of colorful lamps going all the way to the top of the temple!

So pretty!!!!!!!!!!

Aren't these color just magnificent?!?!

We then went to the Gamcheon cultural village that looked like the Brazilian favelas! Rows and rows of houses one on top of the other, these ones were very colorful and there were hidden shops all around them.

Very random street...

The famous little prince and fox

After getting lost on our way down we headed towards Biff square (Busan International Film Festival Street) and walked around the many people trying to see celebrities. Apparently it was film festival week so the chances of seeing someone famous were pretty high, and by someone famous I don't mean Brad Pitt, I mean some Korean celebrity!!

We didn't quite make it on time to see all the hustle and bustle on Seomyeon alley, one of the most famous street markets in Busan, but I saw enough to figure out it was just like any other street market.

By then it was dinner time so we headed over to a street with lots of food... weird looking kind of food!

We started walking down the street and I noticed that most of the stalls had a large container with what seemed like ketchup with things floating on top! In my head I thought "I am NOT trying that" it did not look healthy, neither tasty!

We kept walking and I started seeing the big pattern... cart with ketchup looking sauce, cart with all fried food, cart with ketchup looking sauce, cart with fried food... it looked like I wouldn't have much choice! We finally decided on a stand and Santi ordered the ketchupy looking dish and some fish in a stick, I ordered veggie dumplings and some veggie rolls

In my last day in Busan I woke up at 5:30am and was ready to leave by 6am to see Haedong Yonggung Temple and a little more of the city. My friend Bianca highly recommended this temple but she forgot to mention (well, intentionally forgot) that it takes FOR EVER to get there!

After the metro we had to take the bus, the thing was... everything was in Korean!

We finally caught the right bus and were on our final leg to the temple. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the street and had to walk for about 20 mins up the hill... good exercise!

When we got to the top I was so surprised by the beauty of it. The temple is by the water and it's simply beautiful!

Since I had to catch a fast train to Seoul in the afternoon we quickly stopped by one of Busan's famous beaches but since there was a huge typhoon the night before it created like a small tsunami and part of the sea side restaurants and shops had been destroyed and a lot of people were cleaning after the mess.

Busan was so pretty but my time was cut short due to the Typhoon, I wish I had more time there but now I'm super excited for Seoul and seeing my friend Bianca!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!