3 Day Trip To Busan

A 3 Day Tour visitng Busan and Masan: [30th-1st July 2002]:

Journey to Busan: It was the month of July in 2002. We decided to spend our summer vacation in some coastal area and enjoy the beach. Busan-the southern most and second biggest city of Korea with lots of sea beaches was the unanimous choice. Our enthusiasm clubbed with the fact that this was our first long distance travel in Korea, landed us at the Suwon train station 90 min ahead of time at around 7:30am. The train arrived at 8:55 am and we hurried into it and settled ourselves in our seats.The train was fully a/c and a very comfortable one. In general trains in Korea maintain schedules almost to perfection.

It started moving and soon we started enjoying the landscapes of real Korea. Till now had only seen the concrete jungles in Seoul and nearby areas but now we were viewing a totally different Korea. The rice fields, the high mountains and the clouds together made a unforgettable impression in mind. As we traveled more and more towards south we could see every inch of available plain lands being used for agriculture. As a matter of fact almost 70% of Korea is covered with mountains.

First Day in Busan City: We reached busan station at 2pm. Five hours of travel in Korea is considered as very long distance travel because of the small size of the country. We knocked the information centre which was located just outside the station exit. The gentleman was kind enough to explain us the route and bus numbers destined to Haeundae Beach. Within less than an hour we were there.

Chandra and me in Busan.

About Haeundae Beach: Its one of the eight Wonders of Korea, is the largest beach in Korea and combines a beach with a hot spring. This beach, with gently curving sands which stretches about 2km-long , attracts about 120,000 visitors. Open from July 1 to August 31, the average water temperature is 22.6c . It is ideal for swimming because of an inclination of 10 degrees and single meter water depths. There are bathhouses, shower rooms, and locker rooms run by the public service group. The deluxe hotels along the coastal road are equipped with a variety of amusement facilities for elegant and energetic pleasures.



Typical Haeundae beach scene in Summer.

Since it was summer vacation, the beach was over crowded. Some how we could manage a small space for us to keep the belongings and we jumped into the water.


Chandra in Haeundae beach.

We collected a lot of shells and beautiful stones which the waves would bring every time with it. We spent a excitement filled 2 hours there and went to an underground aquarium and shopping mall just beside the beach.. Busan Aquarium is one of the biggest in Korea. There we saw a beautiful car aquarium too. It was a real car filled fully with water and lot of fishes inside. We bought some traditional handicraft items and one pearl necklace. The pearls were of very good quality and at reasonable price.
We had almost no energy left and so decided to refuel ourselves. Here most of the seaside restaurants does very good business as they serve fresh sea food dishes which are very popular among visitors. We didn't take the risk of trying raw fishes and opted for Bibimbhaap, a famous Korean dish with rice and lot of different vegetables.The meal was very delicious and wholesome. We spent some more time there enjoying the breeze and a panoramic view of the sea.

Journey to Masan from Busan: It was almost 5 pm by now, and we decided to head towards Pradeep's house. He stayed in Masan, which was again two hours journey by train from Busan. The trip from Busan to Masan was a life time experience. For most of the time the train went along a river and the view was so wonderful.

Masan is a comparatively small city. It was almost 7pm and as promised Pradeep was there at the station to welcome us with a big smile. It took another 20 min to reach his appartment and immediatly after refreshing our selves we occupied our seats in the dinning chairs. The dinner prepared by Pradeep was one of the tastiest we had ever had. We were fully tired and soon after the dinner we fell asleep.

Day 2:
Busan City tour: Next day early morning we took the train to Busan.The enigmatic view of Sunrise from the train window was heavenly. We reached Busan at 9am and decided to take conducted Busan city tour.There are many courses to choose from but since we had already visited Haeundae Beach so we chose the Tajeondae course.The city tour Bus was elegantly decorated and was very comfortable. It had headphones in every seat and had the option to choose from 5 different languages including English. So we got running commentary about all places and facts as and when the Bus moved by some important places. There were around fifteen tourists in the bus and we found out that most of them were Japanese.Since Japan is very close to Busan, so many japanese tourist visits Busan.


This nice japanese family was there with us in the City tour.

Taejongdae Resort : First destination of the City tour was Taejongdon Resort. One of the most famous sights of Busan, Taejongdae Resort offers not only a beautiful craggy coastline, but many wonders of natural science. We were dropped at the peak of mountain from where we could have a full view of the Sea. One can easily realize the vastness of the sea. We enjoyed the scenic beauty of that place for some time and then again got into the bus .

Enigmatic view of the sea seen from Tajeongdo resort observatory.

Jagalchi fish Market: Our next stop was Nampodong Jagalchi fish market which is the largest sea food market in korea. The market runs between Ch'ungmu-dong and Namp'o-dong, right next to Pusan Harbor. It actually has two main sections: one for fresh seafood, another for dried seafood. The name of the area comes from Jagal (small rocks) and ch'i (a pure Korean word describing villages next to the seashore). Most of the vendors are middle aged women called Jagalchi ajummas. There are many restaurants in this place which serve fresh sea food in raw form.



Typical day in Jagalchi fish market .

Yongdusan Park: [Dragon head hill]-Our next stop was Yongdusan park. The park has many things to offer to the tourists like large oceanarium, bell tower, octagonal pavilion, flower clock, and monuments of naval hero Yi, Sunshin, and independence fighter Ahn, Hui-jai.The famous pusan tower is also in this park .The observation deck at the tower gives a spectacular view of pusan city and the sea .On a clear day one can even see Japan.

Busan tower on a clear day.

Piff square: Is famous for international film festivals. The nearby street also know as "The street of stars" has eight famous theaters and is always filled with movie loving mass. It was fun to move around these streets.

Gukje market: The Bus then dropped us to Gukje market. Here one could shop for clothing, silk, linen, curtains, bags, glasses, and many imported items in wholesale prices. So it always remains a favourite place for the tourists . 20 minutes alloted was too short a time and after hurriedly buying a few dresses we had to rush back to our Bus half heartedly. Gukje market being the last sight seeing spot of the tour, our Bus headed for the final destination and dropped us at Busan station at 2pm and the fun and excitement filled City tour came to an happy ending.

Good Bye Pusan: The train to Masan was scheduled at 4pm so we had another two hours to spend .To our good luck we could see a beautiful park on the opposite side of the road, very near to the Busan train station. We took underground passage and wow! there lied a huge shopping complex underground. Since we could not do much shopping at the Gukje market due to time constraint, we now took the opportunity to look around leisurely and did some more shopping and then headed towards the park.The park was very green and shady The greenery of the park and the cool breeze refreshed us and provided us with a well deserved rest .After some time since it was almost time for the train so we had to say goodbye to Pusan city with a promise that we will visit again whenever we get a chance .

After reaching Masan we went out for dinner with Pradeep and had Samgyopsal, a famous Korean barbeque dish. We spent that night in Pradeep's apartment.

Day 3:
Next morning we had to very sadly bid good bye to Masan and Pradeep and headed back for Suwon. We got back to our apartment late that evening.

This was our first long trip together in Korea after we got married in Jan 2002 and we really enjoyed every moment of it. This trip will forever remain in our heart as one of the memorable event .

Soccer World Cup

Soccer world cup 2002 logo

National sentiments at Peak: 2002 World cup fever was at its peak and I bet one could recognize South Korea even from moon. This part of the earth would look all red.

Gathering in front of City hall Seoul during World Cup.All in Reds

The world cup fever gripped not only Koreans but also the foreigners like us who moved with the flow.Tens and thousands of fans in red would gather to watch match around every giant screen on road side. It was a wonderful example of harmony and togetherness among the country people where everybody rose above to become just Koreans.No one would deny that this bond of love was a major factor in taking South Koreans to the final 4 for the first time in 72 years of world cup history. It was a once in a life time experience and I am glad and feeling lucky to have witnessed those pulse throbbing moments.

The D-Day: It was 14th of June 2002.The D-day. I, my wife Chandra and Daryl-My American friend, started our journey from Suwon towards Daejon for the Poland vs. USA match. It was almost 3 hours of journey by Car.
Our excitement and enthusiasm landed us in Daejon almost two and half hours before kick off. Since we had time we went to a nearby local market, parked the car there in a small Parking lot and after a little eye shopping headed towards the stadium by walk. The stadium was an architectural masterpiece which reflected the image of traditional Korean farm house. We enjoyed traditional dance performance and participated in so many events held outside the stadium.


With Daryl in front of Daejon World cup stadium

Outside the stadium with U.S.A.fans

Outside Daejon stadium with the statue. The small kid on the left is not a statue.

The Match: Most interesting was that even though the match was between USA and Poland but in every part of the stadium all one could see was red and more red, girls, boys, old and young, family and pets all in red singing the most popular Ooooo Philsung Korea.

Inside the Stadium while the match is going on

We all were too excited and to add up our excitement Poland stunned everyone with 2 goals within 5 minutes. Soon there was the third goal from Poland, score board showing 3-0. USA finally break through with one goal. Poland finally won the match 3-1.At the same time in Incheon, Korean team had won the match against Portugal. Korean team had entered second round. People from all corners came out on the street to celebrate Korea's victory. Music was banged and people were dancing on the streets. We too were charged up. It was a wonderful moment.

Post Match Climax : But little did we know that something more shocking was waiting for us.We reached the parking lot and to our utter surprise the front gate was locked. All our enthusiasm and happiness vanished with one single sight of that small lock hanging on the gate.The wall around was almost 2 meter high and there was a leaflet on the car window.I managed to climb up the wall and bring that small leaflet. It contained the bill and a phone number .We called at the given number but nobody picked up the phoneAfter calling thrice we realized that the phone rang just behind us inside one restaurant which too was closed.We were totally shocked .It was almost 11 pm and most of the shops were closed .We rushed to a mobile police van but they could not help us. It was a new city for us .We felt totally helpless. A Bar was still open just on the opposite side of the road. The bar owner understood that we have landed in soup but he could not understand English.I used my broken Konglish-a mixture of Korean and English, and made various gestures and postures to make him understand what had happened.One more hour passed. The streets were now almost empty. With every passing moment we grew more and more tensed. We did not know what to do next.The bar owner and his wife tried to comfort us by giving some water and news papers to sit on. Some passersby too sympathized with us but no body was ready to break the lock. The bar owner at last called up local police. The police came around 1 am. They were surprised why we parked our car in that small parking lot instead of placing it in the stadium parking lot and started asking more questions. Knowing that we were Samsung employees they did not bother us much but were of no help either. We were turning crazy because of tension and fear.

Finally 119 for Rescue: Finally they called headquarters and decided to call 119. 119 is the emergency call number in South Korea. In matter of minutes there was a huge Red vehicle in front of us which looked like a fire brigade with around more than 15 policemen pouring out of it. After filling some official documents they helped us in breaking the parking lot lock. We were relieved and by the time we got into the Car it was 2 am early morning.We can never forget this incident ever in our life and neither can we forget the support that we got from the Bar owner and his wife. We reached Suwon at around 5am and headed for a deep sleep.