Idd Salimi

Okay here’s the second day of our unplanned trip. We woke up by the ajumma’s phone call reminding us the check-out time is at 10am (because we checked-in at 10am previous day) around 9.30am. Well it’s amazing seeing 6 of us taking shower and getting ready in 30 minutes!

After so much hassle in the morning we went to have breakfast at Coffine Gurunaru which is near the station. Unlike our usual fancy Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik, Roti Canai… (and the list goes on) we had coffees and thick bread with whipped cream as our breakfast. Now, why should I mentioned that? It’s 10.46pm and I am hungriehhhhhh~ Be patient, stomach… in a few days we will get what we’ve missed for this 1 and a half years… ANYWAY, after our healthy breakfast, we went to Haeundae Subway Station to keep our bags in the locker for our next destination, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. It is rare for a temple to be build near the shoreline, most temples in Korea are located in the mountain. To go there, you can take a bus number 181 at Haeundae subway station exit 7 and get off at ‘Yonggungsa Temple’. You won’t miss it because there is some sign on the bus, and usually the bus driver will inform you the stops if you tell him where do you want to get off. It took around 20-25minutes to get there from the Haeundae bus stop.

From the sign (refer photo above) we still need to walk for another 10-15minutes but don’t worry, you don’t have to do any hiking or climbing to reach there. Just follow along the road and you will reach a small market and you will immediately know that you are almost there. Follow the sign (or the crowd) and voila!

Unique dragon head lamp post along the road

The Chinese Zodiac animal line up along the road to the temple

This boy really love his horse :P

The temple from afar

Can you feel it? Can you imagine the tranquility of this place? I was just imagine there is a small village built in this kind of environment, far away from the city where everything is less complicated~ *sorry almost fell asleep*

Friends that lend you their hand is a friend indeed… :)

Can you find them? Funny when it’s getting colder people tend to wear something dark – black. Why?

Okay! Still! No swimming okay?

From Busan with LOVE~

Okay, after that we’ve decided to went back to Busan city. From Haeundae subway station, we’ve got help from a curious-kind hearted ajossi who give us a small subway map and pointed out exactly where we should transfer and get off. It took around 40-45 minutes from Haeundae to Busan station. The subway is a bit smaller compared to Seoul’s and the time interval is a bit longer.

After we’ve arrived, we checked and buy the tickets to make sure none of us will be standing all the way to Seoul (from previous lesson) and since it is still too early, (and we are hungry) we kept our bags in the locker and went to check-out nearby places.

The first thing came to our view is the signboard of China Town. We figure it’s a foreigner area so we might have luck with halal restaurant around here.

Maybe because it’s a weekdays, the street looks deserted, lots of shops looks gloomy. Most of the restaurants are Chinese restaurants, but we’ve found Russian (and maybe Mongolian..?) restaurant here and there but we’ve got no luck with any halal restaurant.We only found a mart that sells halal food and it is new but unfortunately no restaurant for our empty stomach :(

We ended up having Lotteria for dinner and move to another market called Gukje Market (국제시장) which resemble a lot like Namdaemun in Seoul. To get there we ride the subway and get off at Jagalchi Station, went out at exit 7, walk a bit before turn left and go straight. Unfortunately the market is near closing time but we managed to buy some very cheap T-shirts that we won’t get in Seoul at that price.

Then we went to an area which resemble Myeong-dong, it is called Gwangbok-ro Shopping Street (광복로쇼핑거리). The street is full with brand names and coffee shops and full of youngsters. Around here you can get to Yongdusan Park which is up on the hill but don’t worry, they have escalators for that! Unfortunately most of us are too tired to snap photos and I can’t find photos around this place in my camera :P

I guess that’s all. The thing I love about this trip are the facilities and information provided by the tourist center. We can always keep our bags in the locker (it is quite big, and cheap too), we can rely on the information given on the map, the staff at the ticket counter is very helpful (they are also aware of other information like places of attractions, motel, etc) and the transportation is good. Even I am the only one who can understand and speak a bit Korean, we’ve managed to enjoy our unplanned trip successfully (yeah, maybe lack of planning lead to time wasting here and there but hey, we all aware of the risk!). Overall, we get our lazy bums to Seoul feel refresh and our relationship is closer than before. I miss them already~

*I will update another Busan trip which took place recently around Christmas.