A Weekend in the Miami of Korea - BUSAN (+ Ulsan Jazz Fest & Hiking)

Busan is the second-largest city in South Korea and known as a summer vacation destination with its Miami-esque Haeundae Beach, trendy shopping, and luxury resorts. We have a three-day weekend for Hangeul Day, so I decided to spend to of those days chilling in Busan. (Hangeul Day celebrates the unique Korean writing system created by a king to increase the literacy rate amongst the poor.)

Busan Day 1 - October 9

Going to Busan today! I meet some friends and we take an hour bus down south, arriving in Haeundae at around noon. We still have a half-hour subway to take to Seomyeon where our hotel is for the night. We drop our bags off and search for a nearby lunch spot my friends had been to before. It's a Chinese restaurant called 마라당 (Maladang). We order 마라샹궈 (mala xiang guo), where you can choose all your meats and veggies yourself and they fry it up for you. Though it's delicious, it's also made with chili oil and is a bit too spicy for my taste. After, we chill at a cafe for a bit with drinks and cakes before catching a bus to Jagalchi Fish Market. It's the biggest fish market in all of Korea full of tanks teeming with sea life of every kind, both recognizable and completely foreign. It reminds me of an aquarium or the fish section of Petco except hell version. You can choose your aquatic creature of choice and one of the Jagalchi Ajummas will serve it up to you fresh, so fresh it may even be wiggling on its way to your mouth. Personally, I don't think I could look my meal in the eye before sentencing it to death, but I also just had a very filling lunch. Excuses, I know. We make our way up to the top floor observatory. The weather is perfect today. Here, we have a beautiful view of the harbor and the city itself. We can even see our next stop in the distance, Busan Tower. Let's go! The peaceful park surrounding the tower and the cafe with decent views make this stop worth it since we find the tower itself to be closed due to high winds. Slightly bummed, we relax in the attached cafe and take some photos since we're still pretty high up after all.

Next we make our way via subway to Haeundae beach. It's now 7pm and fully dark so the beach itself isn't much to look at. But it's the perfect time to see the city all lit up. We overshoot the subway station by one stop so we get a nice walk along the shockingly empty beach. I've heard Haeundae Beach is just as popular at night as it is during the day. People have picnics and drinks all night, completely filling up this insanely large beach. Now any loitering is prohibited because of corona. At the south end of the beach is Bay 101, a yacht club/restaurant jutting out into the bay. It's packed with people dining and snapping photos. The view of the Busan skyline is gorgeous from here and the skyscrapers look impossibly tall. We scope out a spot just past the crowds down on a large ledge closer to the water. There aren't railings here so it's become a pretty popular instagram spot where people pour water on the concrete to create stunning reflection photos. Now there are only a few small puddles left, but there's a line behind each one. When one line dwindles, we take our turn trying to get good pictures. It all seems like such a silly experience, but when in Rome...

From there, we take a cab to, you guessed it, a BBQ place. Anga is apparently one of the best BBQ restaurants in Busan, and it did not disappoint. The meat was all so delicious and came with an array of vegetables to grill alongside it. Our waitress kept coming over the help us clueless foreigners grill, but it was relaxing not having to worry about burning anything. In the cab back to our hotel, we pass over Gwangan Bridge and glimpse Gwangalli Beach with its powdery sand and illicit roman candle displays. And here's me, slowly falling in love with this city.

Busan Day 2 - October 10

We wake up the next morning with only one goal in mind: the APeach Cafe in the Kakao Friends store. Kakao is a popular messaging app here and has a bunch of cute mascots that you know they've capitalized on. This three-level store sells everything: Ryan-shaped shower heads, 4-foot-tall Neo plushies, phone chargers, luggage sets, golf clubs, the list is literally endless. They also have a cafe on the fourth floor themed entirely around APeach. Since it doesn't open till 11 am (like many cafes in Korea), we decide to wait for an hour at a different cafe with breakfast sandwiches. However, after our trek up three flights of stairs, we realize it actually doesn't open until noon. Luckily we're in a shopping district so we head back out to check out some stores. We also hit up some smaller shops as well, but I don't buy anything. Though I am tempted by a blazer that looks like it has a jean jacket spliced into it and a jacket that's one half dark green and one half black. Back in the APeach Cafe, we're the first ones to order. I rebelliously get a Ryan mango smoothie and we sit and take photos while soaking in all the pink.

Next we head to, can you believe it, another cafe. A dog cafe to be specific. I always question places like this, but I suppose the dogs will always enjoy someone to play with. We don't spend too long because we're meeting up with some other teachers from Ulsan. We meet along Gukje Market food street in BIFF Square. The Busan International Film Festival is held here every year and the streets feature the handprints of famous actors. Today it's lined with street food stalls. I steal a couple dumplings from a friend before we head over to a nearby clothing market. We wander around checking everything out, but nothing catches our eye. Right across a busy street is the final destination on our short trip: the book street. It's a narrow alley lined with shops upon shops stacked to the ceiling with books. It's a paradise. You just know I have to buy an old Korean book. It's not surprising to say that I'm the last one to meet up with my friends on the other side of the street. Finally, it's time to head back to Ulsan. We pick up our bags from the hotel and catch the next train home. I can't wait to come back here!

Jazz Fest - October 17

A week later, I find myself heading to Taehwagang National Garden in Ulsan for a jazz festival. Since most festivals around Korea have been canceled this year, my friends and I jumped at the chance to experience anything really. My bus drops me off a bit of a walk from the garden, but the stunning sunset quickly makes up for it. I walk along the river path a bit to a pedestrian bridge. The sky has turned a mix of orange, blue, and pink, reflecting itself back in the river. The weather is cool and clear with a slight breeze. It's honestly breathtaking. I cross the bridge directly into the park with its swaying silver grass fields. Soothing jazz floats down the dirt paths as I wander. I bump into a few friends as they enter and we follow the music to the stage. We're greeted by disinfecting sprays and Keunaegi - the Ulsan mascot. We take our seats, meet other friends, and just relax. Most of the songs are English songs but a few Korean ones are interspersed. Now it's fully dark and fully freezing. We've only seen a couple of singers, but we're not completely fond of the current one. So, we take our leave and head to get some food. There's a good 12 of us eating so the KBBQ place we go first tells us they don't have enough meat to serve us all and we're turned away. Luckily the next restaurant we go to seats us. They only serve one dish so you know it's gotta be good. It's jjimdak - braised chicken with veggies. It's delicious and the chicken seems to melt in my mouth.

Ganwoljae - October 18

The next day I'm up early to catch a bus to the outskirts of Ulsan. I catch the bus at around 9 and meet two friends heading the same way. We get off after a half-hour to switch buses but find the next one doesn't come for another hour. We wait at a nearby cafe and head out again at 10:30. We get to the base of the mountains an hour later and meet the others joining us, feeling bad for meeting them so late. At the base, there is a movie theater, a science museum, outdoor rock climbing, and other interesting things. We bypass all this for the trail heading up. It's decently crowded at this hour and time of year. Fall is especially perfect for hiking in Korea, and Korean's love hiking. We pass many the ajeosshi and ajumma decked out in the latest hiking gear barrelling up or down the path. The first part of the trail is a combo of rock steps and dirt paths leading up. It's quite an intense start but the fall colors make everything worth it. Around halfway through it switches to a paved road of switchbacks to the top. It feels never-ending, like we're stuck in a loop and each corner we turn brings us no further up. In all, it takes us 3 hours to reach Ganwoljae, our final stop. It's a ridge between two peaks filled with silver grass. It's gorgeous and well worth the hike. We take a seat to have some snacks and soak in the views. It seems like everyone and their mother had the same idea today. There's a ramen shop up here with a line that seems to wind down the mountain. I'd always prefer a more peaceful setting in nature, but everyone's having a good time sharing makgeolli or taking silly photos. We start our trek down at 4 and it takes us half the time to reach the bottom. We're all starving so we head to a traditional restaurant near the base. I feel bad for the other diners having us gross hikers come in and all take our shoes off to sit on the floor. At least for me, the smells of delicious food seem to cover up any other... smells. I get kalguksu, knife-cut noodles is a seafood broth. Delicious. It's around 7pm by the time we leave so it's more difficult to get back into the city proper. After glancing at the bus schedule, a friend and I decide to skip the hassle and split a cab back to my place where she'll have an easy time getting home from there. I love living in the city, but it's so nice getting out into nature and seeing some beautiful scenery. Korea sure has a lot of it.

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Thanks for reading! I love getting to see more beautiful things in and around my city! Check out my Busan and Ulsan trip video below!