Haeundae Beach

Haeundae Beach, along with Seogwipo's, are the best known beaches in Korea. It even features in a Korean tsunami disaster blockbuster. It's very popular with Korean visitors in summer. It was shoulder season and rather windy so I was spared the crowds.

It's a fairly long beach at a couple of km but South Korea being a populous country, it becomes a wall of humanity in peak season.

I created a panorama of the beach using photo-stitch. Click on the image for a full size version.

The aquarium where visitors can see sea life that would never come near this beach.

Curious sculptures on the other side.

The backdrop of high rises on one side.

And the other.

The promenade is popular with cyclists.

The busy avenue just behind the beachfront.

The main artery leading to the beachfront.

"Friendly ice cream store that gives the impression of having always been around". I'd have to give the translator full marks for using the correct tenses. I didn't try the store though.

The side streets of the area were filled with eateries and shops selling tourist merchandise.

A couple of photos from my evening excursion.

Night as bright as day seems to be par for the course in large Korean cities.

Arrival in Busan

The hotel owners were very kind to me, the wife always had a small treat like a sweet or a small bottle of yogurt when I went out exploring. So it was a little sad to leave. I always bear in mind: I will not pass this way again, i.e. any people I meet or places I see will be just the once.

I took the 600 bus back to the airport. By now I knew where the stop was, where I should have hopped off on arrival. It was pouring throughout the trip. Lots of margin to check in, but the flight was delayed and I only reached Busan late afternoon. Then I had to tackle the public transport, which involved first a short overhead light rail system, transferring to the metro system.

The worst was yet to come. The hotel was in the middle of the nightlife district, so the area was thick with signs. The GPS location from the booking site was wrong, but I didn't know it. I wasted time looking around in case the coordinates were slightly off. In the end I used the location from Google Maps and this turned out to be correct.

After dinner I explored the district. These chequered flats caught my fancy.

Koreans like big shopping edifices like this.

This was a little sidewalk market selling trinkets.

The room was very comfy, even if the fittings were a little worn. There was little street noise, the airconditioning worked, and the WiFi was fast. The shower was strange. The bathtub drained onto the bathroom floor where the floor outlet carried the water out.

Myeongdong by night

I ventured out to have dinner and see what the nightlife was like. In a few words, bright and bustling.

Lots of young people in the pedestrian streets.

Every street and alleyway was packed.

Ice cream and coffee are also favourites here.

Have your photo taken with your fave cartoon animal.

Myeongdong by night is not for the claustrophobic.