rachrachchang

Apr 7, 202310 min read

NOV 2022 - South Korea 🇰🇷 부산

Updated: Nov 11, 2024

1 November, Tuesday | At 10ish pm, I was on the way to the airport! My mum was worried and went to the MRT station with me, she asked if my friend can take care of me.

"Haha, I can take care of myself la"

(don't worry)

I am taking pictures of my luggage for two reasons. One is so that I don't forget what it looks like, and two, for my blog post!!

I decided to take the MRT to the airport since my house is quite near + I am pretty early! When I arrived at Changi Airport Station, my luggage wheel seems off. I saw some rubber parts on the floor leh

(WAIT, IS SOMETHING WRONG??)

Okay, so officially I am experiencing a crisis now!!

One of the wheels (1 out of 8 tires) already fell off!!! It looked like more to come???

I sent the picture of the wheels to my family and dad called immediately, wanting to come down now to fix the wheels.

We no longer have a car and I was already at the airport la, I think nevermind la. I will see how, hopefully, the luggage survives the holiday.

Dad could hear the sounds the wheel was making when I was on the line with him HELPS 🤣 He told me to find some conductor tape in Korea and wrap it over the wheels (to cushion it), the first question in my mind was how to tell the person what I'm looking for ah??

The moral of the story is to check luggage wheels before traveling, especially after years of inactivity due to the pandemic or whatever.

I made my way to board the T4 Shuttle bus. While I was waiting for the T4 bound shuttle bus pick-up location, I met this auntie there and we talked for a while, I found out she is taking the same flight as me! I hope she has fun on her trip with her son to Korea! (Her son was already in Korea for Business)

Char was already at Terminal 4! She took Grab there, bc she thought that's what I did.

(No leh hahaha)

We went to check in our luggage and hers was 14kg while mine was 11kg. I noticed my luggage was rather empty after I packed everything I needed for the trip, SUS but good!

Ending this day with 生日快乐 to YS, XIE XIE NI 对我很好很好 💕

He is the biggest takeaway from our cluster chatbot project!

DAY 1 // 2 November, Wednesday | We couldn't believe we are here waiting for our flight to Korea, it felt so unreal!! I kept going to the toilet to try to cough out my phlegm, and occasionally I vomited...

出国前，不可以生病...

Loving this Uniqlo sweater!

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 0130 hours, but something was wrong with the aircraft, we could only board the plane at 0137 hours. It took off at 0205 hours and Korean Air food is meh

It was also difficult to sleep on the plane, my back consistently hurt from the posture and I was coughing a lot.

(I heard fellow coughers, HI THERE)

In 6-7 hours, we landed in 대한민국!!

Time: 8.45 AM KST

I was consistently anxious and worried that I would cough at immigration clearance! Thankfully I managed to hold it in and collected my luggage successfully. I subscribed for data roaming on my phone while Char got e-sim, hers did not work...

While I went to buy T-money for both of us, she was outside the convenience store, trying to troubleshoot her data plan and cleared!

Then we headed to B1 with our luggage to take AREX, we booked the tickets via Klook but needed to scan QR to change for their physical tickets.

We boarded the 10 am train and arrived at Seoul Station at 10.51 am.

(Seoul was colder than Busan)

Before we took our pre-booked KTX, we went to grab brunch at Paris Croissant! At this point, we were just tired and couldn't wait to take a nap later on KTX to Busan.

(I ordered a hot latte to go with my ham & cheese sandwich, and that's 12,900 won)

Our train will be on Track 5 and this makes me think of TRAIN TO BUSAN (we really going to Busan haha)

We got on safely but did not see any luggage racks, so it became arms day for us as we did our very best to put our luggage up there^

Char's one was heavier so this crisis was bigger, then a neighbor ahjussi helped us to put it up! While the others (including men), did nothing lol. Maybe girlfriend sit beside them, they cannot 😂

The train departed at 1320 hours! During the whole ride, all I was thinking of, was how to bring the luggage down later...

(Char sharing the same thoughts too)

REKT BUT SAFE!

Our train arrived at Busan at 1605 hours! We felt like it would be a rush to go to Haeundae Beach today, as the sun sets at 5ish pm, and we still need to travel to our hotel to drop off our things.

We were kinda lost after arriving at Busan station, how to get to their regular Metro from where we were and my luggage wheels were making this horrible noise. BUT WE WERE JUST SO EXCITED TO BE IN HANGUK!!!!

After a few turns and confusion, we arrived at Seomyeon Subway Station, and with some help from gmaps, we made it to our Hotel!

Browndot Business Seomyeon

> Suppose to insert a video of the hotel room, but guess which smarty pants deleted the video due to lack of storage space on phone, FML

I had to take a picture of where the exit is so that my dad feels safe seeing that we know the way to the exit, in the event of an emergency:

(featuring Char at our door)

The room is quite unique, we have a double door. Not sure if it is there to separate the shoe area from the main living area!

We could see the other buildings from our window, and Char pointed out that the green roof building reminded her of Forensic Heroes V!

I didn't even know Season 5 is out. The show is not fully out yet, Char had to wait for the weekly episodes and I am someone who cannot wait, once I start. I decided to wait until it is fully released before I start binging!!!

We kinda just nua in our hotel for a bit, exploring the room and TV programs:

(annyeong gyeoul unnie from Hospital Playlist)

Then we left our room to head out for dinner! The reason why I took pictures of exits and walkways often, is because I can't seem to tell the difference or remember the way out of huge places such as this underground shopping mall.

On our way, we also needed to find the conductor(?) tape in order to fix my luggage wheels. I have to say when in need, Daiso is really the go-to place!!!

(I also got my toothbrush, and dental floss at Daiso)

Our attempts to find their SeoMyeon Market/Food Alley was tragic! It seems to be right here but not here, or we expected the place to look different??

We ended up just randomly walking around, enjoying the city view of Busan! (this is one of my favourite things to do, to go with the flow)

Forgot to update: Busan is 19 °C this evening!

(the weather is just right hehe)

We were not feeling the street food at this point, and after browsing the various options, we ended up at Lotte Department, with a 50,000 won dinner!

Our mains were good! But the cheesy pork cutlet was so-so...

On our way back to our hotel, we passed by a WeWork location and got reminded of our new friends from HT Sprint. We later found out KC and their team went to India for holiday + Work From Hotel (so fun leh, I also want!)

Okay, then we took turns showering and went to bed after a long exhausting day of more than 12 hours of commuting!

The toilet and shower are separated, so it can be quite troublesome, especially when it is the time of the month, and mine came on the 1st...

BUT SO FAR SO GOOD IN HANGUK!!!!

DAY 2 // 3 November, Thursday | 굿모닝!!!!!!!

The separate toilet and shower also confused Char! Right before we left the hotel, she suddenly couldn't remember if she had brushed her teeth following this morning's shower, since normally she brushes her teeth while showering.

Today: 17°C, 날씨가 좋다

Metro Things

We took the Metro to Toseong Station, and exited the station but had difficulty finding the bus stop in front of the Pusan National University Hospital. It felt like a mini tour of their Medical Center hah

The bus up to Gamcheon Cultural Village was bumpy and filled with turns! We got off at the very last stop (thank god it is the last stop, if not I don't know where to alight)

Gamcheon Cultural Village | 감천문화마을

IT'S SO PRETTY IRL but then when we try to take pictures of it, the whole view minus points liao.

Small eyes problems - cannot never take a nice selfie with glaring sunlight...

So in the end, all you see is a picture of me, without any view:

We didn't purchase a map, so we toured this village randomly! It is so beautiful and peaceful here~

I thought it was an actual person at the counter of the Community Center!!

Loving all these little artsy things here and there!!

We were in search of the Stairs to See Stars! After reading why it is called the Stairs to See Stars, I suddenly was not keen to walk up 148 steps.

At this point, we met an ahjussi on the way too and he constantly waited for us to move up the stairs. He speaks good English and has a friendly face. However, I was cautious in the beginning, after watching many Korean crime dramas, you never know bruh

He brought us to some not-well-known spots along the way and revealed that he is actually a tour guide here (maybe checking out the place again before the tour?)

This is the view from above, across the village:

The stairs down looked like the stairs to hell 😂

Reminder to self: please don't try to be funny on your way down these stairs!

We walked out of here without any plans and see where this path leads us to! We ended up on a completely different street and took a bus to the nearest Metro. We got off after hearing a fellow tourist family (the dad) commenting on the Metro station nearby.

(I trust men in directions and navigation heh)

Not sure how there aren't many food places around here, but tailoring shops?? We decided to check out Twosome Place! However, it was past noon and there are no more bagels, so we got a cheesecake and two lattes for brunch:

Mood~

Is it the way Korean men dress? This Oppa looks good-looking from the back already!!

After the quick recharge, we are on our way from Goejeong to Haeundae Station! The way to our destination:

Haeundae Beach | 해운대해수욕장

Loving this (and the material used)!

The weather was not too cold, the sky and the sea were so blue. Today's a good day, just to be living.

Earlier, we googled and saw the activities we can have near the beach, so we made our way to Blue Line Park!

The walk was more than 30 minutes and also when we were closer to the location, there was a snake on one of the steps, and everybody was freaking out.

Rachel saw no snake, but okay haha

Blue Line Park | 해운대블루라인파크

We saw a long queue to purchase the express train ticket and also their capsule thingy, so we made the choice to walk (since the capsule thingy doesn't stop at any of the checkpoints).

Char wanted to see the glass floor attraction, which is the 4th stop, so we walked for more than an hour on the trail there. Along the way, the view is awesome!

I saw a very chic photo spot on the way:

Daritdol Skywalk @Blue Line Park

As a precaution, and to ensure visitors do not damage the glass surface of the skywalk, we have to put on shoe covers. At this point, I felt like one of the crime scene investigators hah

I think they are not done building the full attraction, and maybe because I have seen better, I was moderately impressed by this

We wanted to get back to the Mipo Station asap before the sun sets, to enjoy seafood at Busan! The only express train ticket purchasing counter is a machine booth, which does not accept our Youtrip Card... Guess the only choice we have now is to walk all the way back...

Thankfully at the next stop, Cheongsapo there is a ticket-purchasing counter managed by humans! We got our 1-trip ticket back to Mipo station at 14,000 won for 2 pax!

It started getting chilly, so coat on while we waited for the express train.

(+1 for the experience of sitting in a train that moves sideways haha)

Note: the sun sets at 5ish pm!

We reached back safely at Mipo, before the sun set:

Then we made our way back along the stretch of shops we saw earlier for Busan seafood!

We have to try their sashimi right? I always see people eat Abalone Porridge on TV programs and Char wanted to try one of their main dishes too. The one she wanted was sold out, so she got a cold spicy soupy dish with sashimi.

OMG, IT IS A LOT OF FOOD!!!! (they gave us so many side dishes, I am dying)

The bill is 105,000 won!

Char and I both got some phobia of sashimi, after this meal 😂😂😂😂

The walk back along the beach, then to the Metro station was so peaceful! It also started getting cold, especially when the wind blows.

(wearing my coat, all the way up to my neck because I cannot afford to get a chill, given my current condition)

Before we got back to our Hotel room, we dropped by one of the convenience stores for our much-needed digestion aid:

DAY 3 // 4 November, Friday | Today we will be leaving Busan and moving to Seoul! I felt our Busan trip could be longer, but we have so much to do in Seoul leh

We are here at Busan Station! My luggage wheels still made some noise after we added a few rounds of tape on the tires, they sounded much better than on Day 1.