KOREA 2014: DAY 3 ~ BUSAN: UN Memorial Cemetary, BEXCO, APEC Naru Park

19 OCT 2014

Deciding that we had enough of mad rushing around for the past few days and being pushed to the brink of exhaustion, today was a relaxing day of strolling about and observing the culture and architecture of Busan.

Good morning from our hotel room:



The stop to get off from is Daeyeon station and there on it was really just a relaxing stroll allowing our eyes to take in whatever we could. Here is the rather scenic and iconic route we took if you want to follow:

Stepping out from the station exit 3; follow the road and walk uphill towards the sea. At the first intersection you will see this:






And Busan Museum is the first place of interest indicated by the dark blue post within the picture. We did not bother going in but we took a walk around the garden area for some photos.





Walking further down the road (it is just a straight path) we came across a bus stop belonging to that of the tour bus; yes there is actually a cultural bus that takes you to these places that we went to/are going to. I am unaware of the cost but that is something those interested might want to check out.

Next iconic building is the Busan Cultural Center which we took a walk by the side to capture some beautiful trees (the entire building is huge but I'm not sure if it's worth entering if there's nothing going on ie if you're attending some show)




The Busan Cultural Center is beside the UN War Memorial park and following the signboard and taking the left pathway downwards, you will reach the main UN War Cemetery.



Saying hello to the two guards, this monument is on your left.

Note that the war involves the UN nations uniting to fight China which helped North Korea invade South Korea so if you're Chinese I suppose they either don't allow you in or alert you because they did ask us where we were from


I personally found this place beautiful in its appearance and got pretty sentimental learning about the history of this war. Personally, I never knew much about this war so it's a real eye-opener. My DMZ tour (later on in this holiday) gave an even more in-depth commentary on the history of the war so I must say I was very enlightened and was glad to be able to link the story back to this place. Enough of boring all of you with the deep educational talk, down to pictures of the beauty of the place.

Everything was very neat and the different countries were neatly segregated with gorgeous sculptures erected for each group. I have to admire it as a beautiful garden well-kept by the volunteers who were seen around the day we were there.










After spending the whole morning at this serene place, we took a straight bus down to the more metropolitan side of Busan at BEXCO. Once again yet another place made quite redundant to visit unless there is an exhibition going on but a photo of the iconic building is a must for me.



Across the road holds two major departmental stores; Lotte and Shinsegae both of which contain a food court (very similar to the Japan concept). We first went to the one at Lotte but the menu was pathetic and so we hopped over to Shinsegae. Note: LOOK FOR THE ENGLISH MENU (usually found near the tray return area) It contains the menu for all the stalls within the premise because each shop only displays the menu in Korean. Ordering once again is by the power of pointing.

Thing is, like every other such food courts located within cities in a high-end departmental store, they like to feature a variety of international cuisine so they had middle eastern, indian, thai and japanese good just to name a few.

Me and KH ordered from the pull-dough soup store because we saw so many people tucking into the huge golden bowl we decided we had to try it.

Ta-da!



It is really like Mee Hoon Kueh; and chili is added yourself. No meet but it was fulfilling anyway because floor and the soup was commendably yummy.

Cups and a water dispenser was also available and remember to return your trays after your meal.

A walk after lunch was mandatory and we took a walk towards the Busan Theatre (yet another iconic building to take a photo of); exit from the back of the Shinsegae building and you will find yourself at the destination two small roads down.





The APEC Naru Park is opposite from the theatre and it truly was a park to take loads of gorgeous photos:





The whales on the bridge!




After the slow walk, we were headed back to our hotel to catch the airport limousine bus so back to the Lotte it was where the subway station was located.





Getting off at our stop (by the way the T-money card is applicable here in Busan's subway as well) we equipped ourselves with some drinks and tidbits for the trip to Jeju.



Lugging our luggage from Riveira to Novotel where the pick-up location was for the bus limousine; I have to tell you that the experience was horrendous.

I was comparing it to the one in Japan, they both run on a fixed schedule and usually drop by those bigger hotels to pick up the guests and send them to the airport. However, the hotel I stayed at actually helped me book the tickets in advance which was told to be not possible here in Korea by Riveira (ie they couldn't do it). So arriving at Novotel, we got to the lobby and asked the hotel staff just to be told to get down to the bus stop in front and wait for the bus. That we did. When the bus arrived, I frantically flagged it down just for the bus driver to be unable to understand English but kind of chased us back to the hotel lobby area where we found another airport limousine bus waiting so we guessed that was the correct one. Double checking with the second bus driver, he too was unable to answer, merely grabbing our luggage and loading them into the bus. The signs on the bus were useless as well, showing that it was a round trip from Gimhae to the hotels.

True enough, we did drop people off and pick up people along the way; ending up with a sole woman who was dropping at the airport. Thank god she was there to advise us that the domestic airport was the second stop when she dropped off at the first one.

I was extremely disappointed because I would have expected the bus driver facing tourists on a daily basis would have been friendlier and better equipped with basic English.

The airport is small with only two levels but immigration and clearance is a lot easier since it is an internal flight. Check-in is available only one hour before departure so we waited on the first level watching the announcements and checked-in at the earliest we could.

After which, we were able to eat dinner. I did not have a good appetite and didn't fancy eating too much before take-off so hello to my cute dinner:



HM and KH had pork cutlets and we were off through the gates into the small boarding area with only about 10 gates.

Our flight was unfortunately delayed and the notice was only in Korean so it was a bit annoying but I guessed the meaning and realized that our flight was pushed by about fifteen minutes and hence we dropped a message to our host in Jeju about the delay. Enough time for a final selfie in Busan before we said goodbye to it



Despite the delay, the boarding onto the small plane was fast and so we were almost right on track. The flight from Busan to Jeju was extremely short; it cost us about 40SGD which was reasonable. They provided a drink and a snack within that barely an hour flight (I didn't even take a toilet break). Upon arrival, we found Kitty holding a board with HM's name and went towards her, only to have her grab our bags and run to the bus stop, snapping this picture in a rush as well:



We took a short bus ride to her place; yes the T-money works here on the Jeju buses too and with her help, the trip was remarkable less painful than that of the one at Busan.

We found Kitty off AirBnb and her apartment was located a short 10mins bus ride from the airport and it was a short 5min walk uphill to her apartment which had a security lock The residential area is extremely quiet so take note to keep your volume down. Her main door is also locked with the same electronic lock which she taught us how to activate.

Her bubbly daughter who speaks very good English came out to say hi before she went to bed. We were not allowed to drag our luggage because they left scratches on the floor so she brought some clothe for us to place our baggage. The room was a bit of a squeeze for three people and HM offered to sleep on the floor so we reshifted the balcony to fit all our bags there.

The toilet is right next to our room which makes it convenient, first door the moment you enter the 3-room apartment. The room is also equipped with a floor fan and we kept the window open (and mosquito net closed) throughout the night so it was cool enough. There was an extension within the room which made charging our stuff easy with the multiple ports. Also cable was provided within so we could watch TV inside our room (but we didn't have time and energy to)

We discussed our itinerary with Kitty and asked for her advice as well and informed her the time we would like to have breakfast; 8am as our driver was due to pick us up at 9am. And off to dreamland in preparation to explore Jeju the next day.

I'll talk more about her and her warm family the following days but here's the link to book her conveniently located apartment: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/729304