Busan, South Korea: Day 3

Day 3: Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Songjeong Beach, & APEC

The third day I didn’t have as much planned as I did the second. When I woke, the sky looked a bit grey and it was drizzly outside. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect, it was decent enough to not need an umbrella.

Once dressed and ready to go, I took two buses to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is a special place because it is situated on the coast of Busan when temples are normally situated within the mountains. The images looked pretty cool in my research so it was a spot I definitely wanted to go to. Because it was drizzly, I was very careful walking throughout the temples since all the stairs and steps were made of stone and appeared pretty slippery.

After snapping a few photos and admiring the ocean’s view, I saw a sign for a pathway that led to The National Fisheries Science Museum. It was right along the water’s edge and the admission was free so I figured why not check it out. The walk along the water was nice but once I approached the museum I was a little confused. From the outside, the place looked deserted! There was not a person in sight. Was this place even still functioning?? I then found the entrance and was even unsure if the doors would open but they did and there was this one lady sitting at a desk who welcomed me in.

The museum was like any other science/aquarium you would normally see but the thing with this one was that it was so empty! I literally saw only one family throughout the whole place and only two employees, including the lady at the front desk. Needless to say I didn’t take my time going through the museum. I actually half ran through the place just because it gave me the creeps so much!

Finally I was out and had to find my way back to the bus stop. I back tracked back to the temple and came up to the same bus stop I took to get there.

My next destination was Songjeong Beach. Busan is a coastal city so there are a few beaches you could go to. Before heading to the beach though, I decided to check out some abandoned railroads that supposedly had some artwork on it. The railroads were located at the original Songjeong Station which was now an art space. I actually had to climb through a hole in the shrubbery to get to the railroad tracks. It was a little disappointing seeing the art there because it was much less than I expected. There were only about three structures, one built of pipes, a wooden train, and a wooden love seat. It didn’t take long to view everything and soon I was finding my way to the beach.

Songjeong Beach was really dull in comparison with other beaches I had seen in Busan. The area surrounding the beach was quiet and the shops looked empty. I was really starved for lunch at this point but with nothing appetizing looking around, I figured I would just head to my next destination and look for food there.

Where to go next? I decided to head back to the Haeundae area to check out the APEC House there.

The name Nurimaru APEC House is created by combining the Korean words nuri (“world”) and maru (“summit”), and “APEC House,” which refers to an APEC conference hall. Collectively, it means “a house where the world summits gather together for an APEC meeting.” (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/)

So basically the APEC house was a place where world leaders get together to have a meeting. I don’t think this place is used often. The last time the one in Busan was used was in 2005. I actually think this place is used more as a museum and tourist attraction than actual meeting place for the world’s leaders. The APEC House was honestly a bit boring but with it being settled next to the water, it made for a pretty view. Surrounding the APEC House was also a little trail which was pretty nice to walk. There were many tsubaki flowers in full bloom which made the walk that much more enjoyable.

Once I left the park, I suddenly saw my phone dropped to 12% battery. Oh no! I hurried up and looked up how to get back to Gwangalli. At least from there I know how to get around without using my phone, just incase it would die on me.

After a forty minute bus ride, I was back in Gwangalli and still starving! I find that when I travel I sometimes forget about feeding myself or look past the fact that I hadn’t eaten. Maybe it’s just being too busy doing so many things or me just being picky about food. So this whole trip I really wanted to eat Korean fried chicken. When I had it in Seoul it was so yummy and crunchy and fried chicken is one of my favorite foods! You can take a girl out of the south but not the south out of the girl! Unfortunately, all the fried chicken places I had seen were selling chicken only in large portions. As much as I wanted to eat it, I didn’t want to pay so much for food I couldn’t finish. So as I got to Gwangalli, I stopped by a fast food fried chicken chain, Mama’s Touch for some food.

I was really hoping that this place they would at least have a small personal size order for one person, but all their fried chicken came in big boxes obviously meant for sharing. So I opted for a fried chicken sandwich instead. It wasn’t anything special but because it was 4 pm and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet, it was delicious! Just the reboost of energy I needed.

The rest of the day was spent just resting and relaxing in my room. I didn’t really mind not being out and looked at it as a chance to save my energy and cash for the last day.



xx
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