Busan

Busan is a big city surrounded by gorgeous mountains on one side and the ocean with sandy beaches on the other. The population of Busan is over 3.5 million people. If you stay in the touristy sections, language is not an issue because most everyone could speak some English. We saw a lot of foreigners in the city; some were vacationing, some military, some English teachers, some living/working there, etc.

Busan is South Korea’s largest port and the world’s fifth largest port. We drove past the shipping yards in the taxi and it reminded me of Seattle’s port with giant cranes moving huge shipping containers on and off trains, trucks, and ships.

On the stairs of the Busan Station

We took a taxi from the Busan Station to Haeundae Beach and found a large variety of hotels to choose from. After walking around a bit, we decided on the Sunset Business Hotel which was next to everything (the beach, the aquarium, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, etc). It turned out to be very clean, modern, and comfortable at a reasonable price. The robes, slippers and towels all said Ramada on them, so they must have recently changed companies.

The view from our room on the 12th floor

Busan looks like most any other big city with a lot of high-rise buildings, traffic, pedestrians, neon signs, shops, restaurants, etc.

One great thing about South Korea is the public transportation. In every city there are buses and taxis, and in the larger city there are also subways. It’s so nice being able to travel to another city, see what you want to see, and not having to worry about having or renting a car. We hopped on the subway a few times to see other parts of the city.

There were a lot of shops in the subway near Busan Station. We found a great t-shirt 🙂

There is a Chinatown near the Busan Station. Surprisingly, there were a lot of Russian stores here.

We walked around the city a lot and went away from the touristy areas for a while. It never takes long to find local markets and vendors.

Back on Haeundae Beach, there is a lot of westernization. We did go to Starbucks because I ~~am addicted to~~ love their green tea soy frappuccinos and soy milk is surprisingly hard to come by in Korean coffee shops.