Korea 2014 Part 1: Busan

I really should blog about Wuhan first. But I feel like my memories of my recent Korea trip with my babes (seriously I can't bring myself to say friends or girls THEY MUST BE CALLED BABES) are fading away?!?!??!?! Dafuq. And also because almost everyone is overseas it makes me want to join them. Right now I have my Facebook album, Livia's and Weilin's instagram on my tabs to help me piece the trip together.

It's my 6th (WTF 6???? 6???????? WOW! TIME FLIES) overseas trip with Livia and Weilin and 3rd with Yanhong (she was damn happz in Hawaii so she couldn't join us)!!! And my second time to Korea!!! It was a rather short trip but we visited both Busan and Seoul! Basically our route was AirAsia one way to Busan, KTX up to Seoul, then flew AirAsia (one-way) back. I don't remember how much were the tickets exactly, but I spent less than or sliiiightly above S$200 for each ticket. YAY budget airline promotions!

Breakdown of my expenses for future reference. The exchange rate was 807 won to S$1, sigh -
Busan Suk Bak Dot Com Guest House (3 nights): 61000 won ~ S$75.58
J Guesthouse (3 nights in a quad room, 2 nights in a triple room): 155000 won ~ S$192.07
KTX (Busan >>> Seoul): 54400 won ~ S$67.41
Food, shopping, hair and etc for 9D8N: S$946
Airfares: S$400 ish

Grand total: S$1681.06 (ish)

*flips hair*
Not bad considering the obscene amount of masks I bought + other nonsense + I dyed my hair + we went to two cities.

I wanted to type our trip was a super chill and super non-touristy one. Then I remembered what we did at night...so I shall retract the super chill. But it was definitely non-touristy. This is all thanks to our resident Korea expert and GPS Livia. :) And also to Weilin and Yanhong for always being spontaneous yet chillax and ever so agreeable at the same time it is always a pleasure to travel with you all :') I think the few things we 'argue' about goes like 'SHOULD WE CLUB TONIGHT???' or 'SOJU/BEER???' or 'IS THIS GUY CUTE???' or 'POFF (our slang for plastic surgery)??????' and we usually come to a consensus anyway. So, I reiterate, B E S T travel buddies, EVER.

May 1 ~ May 2

On the day of the flight (which was at night) I could barely contain my excitement. A week before, Ed got really sick and I was worried he'd die while I was away and I couldn't administer the necessary medicine so I left Ed in the good hands of Dr RY Lee.

On the back of my dad's truck, fish, luggage and humans in tow.

My dad sent RY home, then sent me to the airport. THE AIRPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though I live the furthest I always end up being the earlier one. The other early bird is Weilin. Yanhong and Livia joined us soon after and blah blah airport stuff excitement coursing through my veins blah blah boarded the plane, transit at KL, made Livia watch Frozen (she likes Olaf) and halfway through the flight from KL to Busan, Weilin asked me to look outside:

It felt like I was in space. :')

Arrived in Busan 20 minutes early on May 2! Took the train from the airport to our Guesthouse which wasn't open for check in yet so we deposited our luggages and went off!!!!!! The weather was awesome by the way. Except when the wind blew, then it'll be freezing. I was wearing t-shirt + a thick cardigan so it was perfect whee. Headed to Nampo-dong for lunch + cafe hopping~!

Our first meal in Busan, Palsaek (팔색 삼겹살).

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Yes we had churros immediately after lunch. It was delicious.

Where the Busan International Film Festival is held...I think.

Bee Cheng Hiang??!?!

Streets are filled with beautiful flowers :')

Unlike the soggy, flattened and pink kind in Singapore.

Walked into a giant Artbox and it took my money and gave me cat tape and other stuff I don't need. :( also got a really cute Starbucks card (for RY who wants to own all the Starbucks cards). Livia wanted to bring us to this hipster cafe but ... IT WAS CLOSED T_T So we went to Cafe Colombe instead. It has a resident cat. I am happy. :D

Mish mash.

CAT!

A very bad photo of our very good tour guide translating the menu for us.

Earl grey cake, matcha cake with azuki, half an orange drenched in syrup, yuzu tea and various snacks.

From the other side lolol. The cakes were good. Not too sweet nor cakey. Why do we not have cakes like these in Singapore...

Cakes are 5000 won each, yuzu tea 6000 won. Have no idea how much the orange cost. 

｡◕‿◕｡

In the evening, we went to Jagalchi fish market!

Top two photos are just stalls outside the actual market (bottom left hand photo).Witnessed an octopus crawl out of the tub... and the ahjumma just plonked it back in.

We got two giant prawns, scallops, live baby octopus and a flatfish sashimi (above). Everything was quite salty. But we had soju and various ban chan to mix and match. Total cost was 20250 won ~ S$25 each!

This happened:

Hahahahaha I don't even.

When dusk fell (wah so romantic but actually running out of transitions lol) we headed to Lotte Department Store which is nearby (sorry cannot remember) (Livia is the best) because there was a zoo (?!) and an observatory of sorts.

Let's just say... I hope someone is taking proper care of them...

Gwangan(Wtf took this from my Instagram somemore sibeh fail)

Busan Bridge :)

Here is Yanhong vandalising decorating the wall with our names hahaha. Koreans LOOOOVE to ...decorate walls. It's as if they go around with markers/correction fluid in their bags in case there is a blank wall somewhere they have not scribbled on.

Got Krispy Kreme at the same mall and saw so much food on sale?!?!?! They all looked soooo appetitising and relatively affordable!!!! DAMNIT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN PHOTOS. Singapore please step up your 8pm sushi HAHAHA. Anyway, our first day in Busan came to an end. :-D We headed back to our hostel (which is quite awesome btw, minus the waiting to shower part) and hit the sack in preparation for Day 2!!!

May 3 ~ May 4

Plans for today: Taejongdae Park!

But first let me show you what Weilin and I had for breakfast -

Toast, milk and cereal were provided by the hostel. We bought the strawberries (a big tray somemore) from a convenient shop nearby for ... 3500 won ~ S$4.35!!!

SO FUCKING CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they were all so pretty. :') We didn't finish the strawberries in the end lol lugged it around for a few days...really too many liao.

Took a bus in Korea for the first time!!! Why do you two look so excited hahaha ke ai si le.

It is impossible to stand and not grab on to anything because the buses are really one kind. It's like a roller coaster basically.

Resident Koreaa AKA banilatte AKA Livia Chua

It was kinda like a mini trekking experience with tram rides up and down the park. The views were super amazing and because of the weather NOT MUCH SWEAT WAS INVOLVED. I can't even describe how happy I am. It's like climbing Bukit Timah Hill and only needing one tissue to wipe off the sweat afterwards. If that ever happens I will run for president.

Waffles for snack :P

It was filled with whipped cream and apple jam. This is a combo Singapore needs right now.

I miss it. :-( It was so light and just crunchy enough and fluffy inside and it was just the right amount of sweetness.

Yanhong educated us about the rocks that look like kueh lapis. I don't remember much but Earth + Time + Science = Pretty Rocks.

People just queuing up to take photos at that spot Weilin is sitting lol.

Living life on the edge ya.

Made our way down to those precarious looking platforms...

...that are surprisingly stable and comfortable.

Close up of our constantly squirming live seafood.

We had sea squirt, baby octopus, unknown shelled thing and a slug... costs 12500 won ~ S$15.48 each.

We only finished the unknown shelled thing and the baby octopus. The sea squirt was 90% cleared. But the slug was just disturbing because of its colour. And we later realised it was so chewy because... the muscles clenched when touched. I'll just leave this here.

 

Most Scenic Award jiu shi ni de liao.

Special shoutout to the best lunch I've had in a while introduced by Livia.

DWAEJI GUKBAP (pork bone and rice soup). Mine was with pork innards.

Don't let the seemingly bland-looking soup fool you. It is packed with umami goodness, so milky from the pork bones, and so satisfying I could eat it everyday. Add the condiments however you like and enjoy~

Then, Livia brought us to her favourite Busan cafe - La Vie en Rose :D

Deco on the 2nd floor. I think. I LOVE IT.

Waffles!!1

Coffee and waffles~

Spent the bulk of our afternoon there, talking about everything and anything. :') The cafe was rather empty and so spacious it felt like we owned the place. I don't think any cafe in Singapore can compare. Not their fault la land is expensive here so everything tends to get cramped. It's okay I chill in my bedroom and talk to my babes via whatsapp.

This happened.

(That's a giant puff of cotton candy if you can't tell.)

Fantastic dinner happened.

Soju happened.

And Manjun's birthday happened too~ we facetimed her while drinking. I think.

Club Grid happened.

☆*✲ﾟ*｡(((´♡‿♡`+)))｡*ﾟ✲*☆

This is how I know Livia is NOT okay hahahahaha.

Btw I was totes taking care of them too. Probably. We take good each of each other.

Nah price breakdown for you courtesy of Livia.

Summary: The three babes got pats on the head by a really tall and fucking handsome dude (who noticed us because I poked him to make way, you're welcome), we got to breathe fresh air by dancing on the podium and yelled at a lot of people to speak English when they tried to talk to us.

Holy shit just remembered this crazy dude (whom Livia stole ice from wtf still say she's okay somemore) who grabbed my arm and started asking where we were from and when we replied Singapore, he began talking excitedly, "ME TOO!!! YOU KNOW BUKIT TIMAH??? TANJONG PAGAR????" LOL wtf managed to run away thank god.

I'm surprised my hearing is still intact because it was so bloody loud in the club?!?!?! Don't know why we tried to unscramble/translate korean in our ~happy~ state. BUT! It was super fun!!! :-D

May 4

We had food after clubbing (I had mandoo with ramyun) before going back to crash. I vividly remember being fascinated by how bright it was at 5am and sent everyone a snapchat...lol. Woke up relatively late to fucked up ears that wouldn't stop ringing...oh god.

Thank god we had comfort food just a stone's throw away.

Soon dubu (tofu stew) ~~~ mine is with innards again. 

The covered stone pots were what the rice was served in initially. You are supposed to scoop out the rice into another bowl and quickly pour hot tea into the stone bowl that will have rice stuck to it, then cover until you are done with your soon dubu and rice. Then proceed to enjoy this rice-tea-porridge combination that supposedly has a myriad of healing properties. It is delicious~

Health level up.

I had a hotteok after lunch. IT WAS DIVINE.

Destination for the day was Haeundae Beach!!!

Flashy cars spotted on the way to the beach.

Also, we need food trucks. That sell booze. Booze on the go.

Mandatory touristy shot.

LOL

All taken en-route to the lighthouse

Not a good picture but aiya.

Our dinner was Okkudak (oven baked chicken~~~~)!!!!!!

This is... fried chicken.

Oven baked chicken~!

Onward to Gwangalli beach to see the Gwangan Bridge!

We also saw people playing with fireworks. Sadly we couldn't find the supplier.

Plonked ourselves at Cafe de Paris that is famous for some epic strawberry/mango thing called 딸기봉봉 but it was sold out T_T

(Luckily we managed to squeeze in some Baskin Robbins while walking around)

And thus conclude our short 3 days and 3 nights stay in Busan, the most photogenic city I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. I wish I ate more hotteoks and had the chance to devour more dwaeji gukbap. TILL NEXT TIME, BUSAN!!!!

Next stop: Seoul!