Adventures, anecdotes and advice from three months exploring Busan
South Korea's most popular beach is Haeundae, found on the northeastern end of the city. Famous across the country as a place to see and be seen, Haeundae explodes into life during the summer when the entire beach is covered in both parasols and people who are less interested in swimming than looking good.
The Nurimaru House was built for the 2005 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit, which brought together the leaders of its twenty-one member nations. With a striking location in Dongbaekseom Park overlooking Haeundae Beach, the house now serves as a memorial to the meeting.
It's impossible to define Busan by just one trait. Is it the soaring architecture, the public artworks, the relaxed way of life, the beaches and relation to the water, or is the odd moments of eccentricity? All of these things and more are captured in this batch of photos. Each one might have been taken anywhere, but together? That's Busan.
South Korea's film industry has been absolutely killing it for the last decade or so, winning admirers across the globe for their character- and plot-driven movies which tackle every genre imaginable, from western to comedy to thrillers. Since arriving, we've been watching a lot of Korean flicks, and are almost always surprised and entertained -- traditional Hollywood fare, this isn't.
Every region in Korea has different dishes, and we didn't realize how much we were missing out on until visiting Gyeongju, which was our first time outside of Busan. There, we tried out two famous specialties and loved them both. Taking a culinary tour of South Korea would be a blast.
We'd spent the first of our two day trip to Gyeongju within the city confines, and dedicated the second day to sights further afield. After a breakfast of questionable nutritious value at Dunkin' Donuts, we hopped on the bus that would take us to the sea.
A man-made pond in the middle of Gyeongju, Anapji has been impressing people for over thirteen centuries. We strolled along the pond while the sun was setting, when the park is at its most gorgeous.
Present-day Gyeongju might be a busy city home to 300,000 Koreans going about their stressful, modern lives, but the ancient past is never far away. Just within the downtown area, there's a number of historic attractions, dating from the days when this was the most important city on the peninsula.
Occupying a gorgeous swath of forested hill country about eight kilometers outside Gyeongju, the Yangdong Folk Village preserves the buildings and customs of Korean life during the Joseon Dynasty. In 2010, this historic village was named a UNESCO world heritage site.
Gyeongju is a small city 50 miles north of Busan, known as the "Museum Without Walls" due to its incredible wealth of historic treasures. This was the capital of the powerful Silla Kingdom which ruled most of the Korean peninsula for nearly 1000 years (57 BC – 935 AD) and is without a doubt the most rewarding excursion you can make from Busan.
