Busan
Our journey from Yeosu to Busan got off to an interesting start. When we’d left the ferry the night before a man in full army gear had approached us and given us some tourist leaflets for the island we’d just left.
This was all a little odd but he was being friendly chatting to us in Korean so we just smiled and took the information.
When we arrived at the bus terminal the next morning (which was right across town from the ferry) the same man from the night before was asleep in the street outside the main entrance.
Now this is most unusual in Korea to see someone asleep on the street, and when we entered the terminal he’d set his clothes up very orderly on one of the seats.
We both debated if we should get him a drink and some food and decided that we would, big mistake. I think honour and reputation is embedded in Asian cultures in a way we can get it wrong inadvertently.
Anyhow, I took the drink and food out to him and gently woke him and offered him the goods and also reminding him we’d met the night before. He proceeded to start shouting at me very angrily and waving his hands so I quickly left the food etc and went back inside.
Richard was sat in a cafe and we had an hour to wait for the bus, so I decided to go for a walk.
On my return the man had already been over to Richard and given him a jacket, over the next 30 mins he kept coming back and giving us his clothes, food, and some tablets, in between walking up and down the station talking to himself.
I did a bit of googling on how to respectfully give him his things back with thankfully he eventually did, and we left on the bus with him saluting us from the terminal.
Busan
We decided to stay in one of the coastal neighbourhoods (Haeundae) in the city and it was getting to dusk when we arrived and had a walk along the sea front.
There were huge skyscrapers lining the beach front but there were lots of restaurants and great links to the metro so a good base for exploring.
There was a sand sculpture event on, pretty impressive
Next morning we headed out to Gambeon cultural village
After a very steep walk up a hill to get to the village it was almost like being in Greece. Colourful houses, narrow lanes, filled with cafes and shops, and again street art.
Busan really is a great city, I love a place that has a Metro, they are so easy to get around and really cheap!
We spent the next couple of days wandering around the coast, and interesting neibouthoods
We weren’t decided where to head after Busan. However a woman at the bus stop on Jeju Island we got chatting to had suggested Gyeonju, which was about an hour North of Busan (it’s so random how we decide where to go!). But again it turned out to be a good recommendation.
Gyeonju
There are train systems throughout Korea but the buses have been so easy and cheap that we have stuck with them.
On arrival in the town we weren’t really sure what to expect, as usual we hadn’t really done much research on the place.
We dropped the bags off and it was still only early afternoon so we headed out to a park right night to the hotel.
There are large garden areas dotted all over the town which have grass mounds that are tombs from the Silla empire ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silla).
The surrounding area looked really pretty so we headed out the next day to a temple complex about 10 miles away.
Although the bikes were a bit rickety and the brakes were a bit suspect it was fun to ride out and get a bit further without walking.
We arrived at the temples feeling a little sore, but it was quite an impressive complex, very busy with tourist from within Korea who were wanting to chat and find out where we’d been and what we were doing in Korea. People seemed very proud and often thanked us for visiting the country.
Heading back thankfully it was mostly downhill so we cruised along without much effort.
That night we wandered through the park and it took on a whole new atmosphere.
It really was the perfect stop before leaving Korea and so worth a visit.
So after nearly a month it was time to head back North to get our flight back to Australia.
It’s amazing how once you are in Asia you can jump to different countries relatively cheaply, which has allowed us to have that flexibility in our somewhat erratic route of travel, but how wonderful!
