To be honest, I knew nothing about Busan, except the fact that it’s the second largest city of a country that I enjoyed travelling to. Equipped with one outdated Busan travel guide book, I invited my friends for a 3 days around this port city and I have to say, it was one of our best trip ever! We were initially wary that 3 days would be too long to stay in a city that’s not as happening as Seoul, but at the end of our trip, one week was definitely not enough and we’re already planning the second visit next time! And here is the introduction of Busan to you in my point of view.
1. Economical
Though Busan is South Korea’s second largest metropolis after Seoul, the pricing for food and goods is much lower as compared to the capital city. Take a bowl of Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) for example, it cost me RM45 (15,000W) in Seoul, while I enjoyed it at RM20 (7,000W) in Busan. While it’s pretty hard to enjoy a meal (not street food) within RM15 (5,000W) in Seoul, the options are aplenty in Busan. For avid shoppers, the price tag in Busan is very budget-friendly too! We managed to find a shop that sells shoes at RM30, shoes for both men and women! And I even managed to buy a pair of handmade leather shoes for only RM150 for my mum!
2. Less crowds
My friends has never really liked crowded places and we’ve always tried to avoid those with too many tourists. Since Busan is still an emerging tourist destination, we enjoyed the quiet streets and lesser crowds at iconic landmarks such as the Yongdusan Park, Busan Tower and the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Thanks to the small crowds, we had ample time to pose for multiple group shots and even managed to capture a few pleasant shots of these places! For heavy posers, you will have a lot of time to perfect those jump shots!
3. Beautiful temples and landscape
While in Busan, we visited two temples, the Beomeosa Temple and the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. We’re all free thinkers but what blew us away were the details of the temples and the surrounding landscape. Since Beomosa Temple is situated in the middle of a mountain, we were rewarded with a stunning vista of the distant mountains and surrounding greenery. It really felt like we could stay there forever. On the other hand, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple sits on a cliff of a mountain facing the ocean, we took quite some time walking towards the temple and it was all worthwhile when we were rewarded with a great view of both mountain and sea as we ascended the last flight of stairs. We also quenched our thirsts with mountain spring that’s available at the temple!
4. Cultural experience
It is not uncommon to find a street full of non-Koreans around Seoul’s prime area such as Myeongdong, Dongdaemun and Gangnam. In Seoul, we didn’t really get to see how the locals go on with their everyday lives, what they eat for breakfast (since bakery and coffee shops are at every corner) and how they spend their free time. Whereas in Busan, we had rice early in the morning just like locals and played ddakji with other kids in the park. I found this trip to Busan more culturally eye-opening than my prior visits to Seoul!
Though Busan may not be as happening as Seoul, it is worth visiting for those who would like to experience the Korean culture without having to look too far. Even though not everything is as tourist-friendly as Seoul, it definitely felt more ‘Korean’ than Seoul and best of all, everything is very affordable! We’re already planning our second trip there!
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