CEBU, Philippines - After three days of touring around Seoul, it was time to move on to another city. We were told that if Seoul is like Manila, Busan is just like Cebu. In a famtour sponsored by Air Busan and HanaTours & Travel, I had the chance to tour around this dynamic city.
Busan, formerly spelled Pusan, is located at the southeastern most tip of the Korean Peninsula. Being tagged as an international city, it is a gateway that connects to Europe, Asia and America. The city has hosted a lot of international gatherings in trade, tourism and sports. It attracted a lot of sports enthusiasts when it hosted 2002 FIFA World Cup and APEC in 2005. It may be Korea’s second largest city but, just like the Queen City of the South, Busan is definitely one of Asia’s most lovable and livable cities.
The weather was really unpredictable during our entire stay and it was drizzling when we arrived in Gimhae International Airport but that didn’t hinder us from going around town. We wanted to go shopping first but our tour guide, Ms. Ju Hee, insisted that we dropped by Haeundae Beach. It was only a stone’s throw away, adjacent to where we were billeted, so we decided to just cross the street and voila! The view was just breathtaking! The long stretch of its shoreline and the beauty of the beach is so fantastic and undoubtedly picture perfect that it reminded me of Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. It’s considered to be Korea’s most loved beach so it’s not surprising that thousands of local tourists and even foreigners come to visit the beach most especially during summer and during the first sunrise of the year.
After dinner, it was certainly time to go shopping. For style conscious individuals, Busan is the place for you. Not known to many, Busan is the home of the world’s largest department store, the Shinsegae Centum. Each floor is packed with the best labels in the world from beauty products, accessories, clothes, shoes, bags and a lot of things you can think of – Shinsegae Centum has it all. It closes early so I, together with my new found friends Xenia, Sheila and Ish, transferred to another shopping haven called Home Plus. It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and it’s cheaper. We went home satisfied with smiles on our faces as we were able to buy pasalubongs for our loved ones back home.
On our last day, it was finally sunny and cloudy. Before leaving this dynamic city, we visited Yongdusan Park. “Yongdu” means dragon’s head and “san” means mountain. According to our tour guide, many Koreans believe that the shape of the mountain park looks like a dragon’s head surfacing from the sea. I didn’t really see the resemblance at all or understand her explanation but from the spot where I was standing, what I could see was the beautiful structure of the Busan Tower which stands 118 meters high. Aside from taking photographs of the flower clock, octagon pavilion and the monument of Admiral Yi Sun Shin, what makes this 69,000 square-meter park more interesting is the opportunity it offers for a panoramic view of the entire city. Yongdusan Park is one of the must see tourist spots in Busan.
Of course, shopping is not yet over! It became our favorite part of the itinerary. We dropped by Lotte Department Store, Nampo-dong Street, Gukje and the Fish Market for last minute shopping. It was so much fun, shopping in the streets!!!
It was definitely a great experience being able to travel to Korea, exploring around the historical city of Seoul and touring around the sights of Busan, but the friendships I made with the rest of the delegation were truly measureless.