Korea D-5 – Riding Roller Coaster pt.2

We planned to visit South Korea in Spring because we want to see cherry blossom festival. You'll find cherry blossom from end of March to April in South Korea. But the flower usually only last 1-2 week on each cities. You could check all cherry blossom in South Korea here. We decided to enjoy cherry blossom festival at Jinhae Gunhangje Festival in Busan (one of popular place for cherry blossom festival). So we dedicated D-5 to D-7 (3D1N) in Busan *SUPER EXCITEDDD*.

You can go to Busan using bus, plane, or KTX and we decided to use KTX! *YEAYY* (Find the reason why we decided to use KTX on previous post, South Korea Spring Trip 2018 Preparation). Korean Train Express (KTX) is South Korea's high-speed rail system. The train is not operate for short distance (you won't find this train at Subway station). I also know KTX after watching Train to Busan movie XD

We visited Gamcheon Hanok Village & APEC Naru Park on our first day in Busan. Busan here we come!!

TRAVEL WITH KTX

We exchanged the ticket on our first day when we arrived at Incheon Airport. We chose morning departure at 7.30 AM and another storm starts to begin.

We have to go to Seoul St. to ride KTX. It's only 3 stations from Chungmoro St. and we don't have to transit. But I woke up late!! We off from our Studio at 7.10 AM. We never go to Seoul St. before, so we don't know that the station is quite big. So we have to run ups & down stairs to catch our train. Alhamdulillah that our train has not depart from station. I was to tired already in the morning for our D-5. We were so lucky because we prepared our belongings a night before & our studio is near to subway station. We also had store our luggage to our last accommodation a night before (accommodation after we're back from Busan in Myeongdong). So we didn't bring heavy luggage to Busan.

Tips:

If you plan to go in early in the morning, make sure you have prepare your belongings a night before in case you wake up late like me :'' It's better for you to prepare snacks or foods also in case you miss your breakfast & so you won't starving.

It takes 2,5 hours from Seoul to Busan using KTX. The weather was gloomy and about to rain when we departed from Seoul St. I hope that the weather would be sunny when we arrive at Busan. But the rain started to fall not long after the departure. After having breakfast we decided to take a nap.

We welcomed by rain when we arrive at Busan Station around 10 AM. Seems like the rain will last longer. Once we arrived at Busan St., we exchanged our ticket to go back to Seoul (to secure the seats & in case we wake up late again :''' ). We chose 8.30 AM to avoid delays after what we experienced.

After we exchanged the ticket, we tried to call our Hotel to ask if we can store our belongings before the check-in time. We used public telephone since we don't have korean phone number. We tried many times but none is success. We even asked ahjussi for help but still not succeed.

OLDEST EOMUK IN SOUTH KOREA, SAMJIN EOMUK

Since it was about lunch time & we did't have proper breakfast, we decided to eat at Samjin Eomuk near Busan St. I bet you're more familiar with fish cake, they called it Eomuk. We know this place from vblogger Ria SW when she was in South Korea. Actually it's not a place for having meals but for having snack. If you're here you should visit here.

We stayed here quite long at Smjin Eomuk because it's still rain and we had to change our itinerary. Actually we planned to Jinhae Gunhangje Festival and Daejeo Ecological Park to see canola flowers field. But since the two place were an open space & still rain outside also we have our belongings with us which is uncomfortable to bring. We decided to Gamcheon Hanok Village using bus.

We bought umbrella at convenience store next to Samjin Eomuk. Finally I have the white umbrella XD When we asked for bus to Gamcheon Hanok Village to the owner, he asked to take a picture with us. He said that he met many tourist from Indonesia. He thought that we're from Malaysia since we wear hijab and the others also think the same. But we forgot to take picture with him.

We noticed that many people here can't speak English compare to Seoul people. We asked to many people how to go to Gamchecon Hanok Village using bus. It was the same with the Ahjussi on public phone and on the convenience store.

GAMCHEON HANOK VILLAGE

It took 45 minutes to Gamcheon Hanok Village using bus. The scenery was beautiful even it was still rain. We can saw the beach and many trees started to bloom. The road is quite uphill & tortuous. We had to exchange bus once. I forget which bus we take at first, if I'm not mistaken it was bus no 1003. On the last stop we changed to bus no.1-1 or 2-2 to Gamcheon Elementary School Bus Stop.

all day raining at Gamcheon Hanok Village

deserted streets at Gamcheon Hanok Village

The rain didn't stop when we were in Gamcheon Hanok Village. It was uncomfortable when you have to bring your belongings in the rain, and the wind quite strong that time. Lucky me I brought waterproof bag. Sometimes we have to stopped to walk when the wind was strong. I noticed that many cherry blossom trees was on top of the hills. And we found deserted streets on top of the hills at the end of the road. It was only us there that time. We even argue if we should walk to this road or not since we didn't find other people passed by. The view was so beautiful, so many cheery blossom trees here. I didn't capture with my camera, but I swear it was really beautiful. We agreed not to take further since the road really quite #coward

It's hard to get good picture when it's rain. The colorful houses is not seen since the rain poured all day. I couldn't get the intagramable picts here :( We only here 1-1.5 hours. Since we can't stand the wind, we decided to go back to hotels.

BACK TO HOTELS - BUSINESS HOTEL HAEUNDAE S

Our 2nd accommodation is near Haeundae Beach at Business Hotel Haeundae S. We know this hotel from our friend & booked at Traveloka.

We took bus to the hotel and it was the wrong choice. Please remember when you're stay in South Korea, you really have to pay attention if your accommodation near to bus stop or subway station. They usually give you details transportation how to go to your accommodation, but we forgot to check that. We had to walk quite far on the bad weather. It was really cold that day. Surely we welcomed by bad weather when we were in Busan. We just noticed on D-6 that our hotel is near to subway station T.T

We decided to have rest an hour before going to APEC House.

APEC NARU PARK, HIDDEN GEM OF BUSAN

Actually we planned to Haeundae Beach & APEC Naru Park in the morning to see the sunrise. But we can't put this on D-6 since we'll go to Jinhae early in the morning or D-7 since we had to go back to Seoul early in the morning.

It was still raining when we walked to APEC Naru Park. We didn't see many people on beach (of course with this weather who want to go outside except for us *lol*). It was 9 degree celcius that time *blessed our strong body*. We started to walk from The Westin Chosun Hotel. And we welcomed by VERY BEAUTIFUL SCENERY!!

I had check before with google view that this place have a good view. But I didn't expect the view could be this beautiful back then.

The rocky cliff, wooden stairs & trees after the rain is so beautiful. And we found the beautiful red bridge.

I won't get bored if I walk here everyday. It's really heal my mind after disastrous D-1 in Busan. I would like to walk to APEC house but Indar didn't agree since it was getting dark & only two of us here. So we decided to go back with different path. And guess what? We found cherry blossom trees on the way back :)

BUSAN STREET FOOD

We decided to have dinner near to our Hotel. While we searched the restaurant, the wind came so quick yet so strong 'till my umbrella broke :(

We found this restaurant near our Hotel. We decided to eat here because we can eat while standing and of course because we can see the food in front of the restaurant XD