Camping at Songjeong Beach

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Photos by David Smolak. Check out his Instagram and Tumblr for more of his photography.

After a pretty disastrous camping experience on Bijindo Island in early June, I was feeling slightly wary that “Camping at Songjeong Beach” was one of the last fixtures on my Korean Bucket List. To give you some context, I was incredibly under-prepared to sleep in the sand at Bijindo. I brought no bedding of any kind; light, ineffective clothing, and very little food for an overnight stay under the stars on a relatively deserted island. I’ve had some pretty terrible slumbers during my time in Asia (Tokyo stairwells, anyone?), and Bijindo certainly qualifies as one of the worst.

Thankfully, every situation is one to learn from, so when the last weekend of June was all cloudless and sun-drenched, I decided I would go whole-hog on preparing for a night and day at Songjeong Beach. Three bags full of blankets, pillows, chunky sweaters, sweatpants, and a two-person tent later, I was hailing a cab with my fellow Montrealer, David, our sights set for Songjeong Beach.

I had forgotten how much I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Songjeong Beach (my last visit there was in mid-August 2013). Comparatively smaller than Haeundae and Gwangalli, Songjeong was still teeming with the excited chatter of groups sipping soju and wild shrieks of children building sandcastles when we arrived at 10:30PM. After we set up our sleeping arrangements, we gathered the necessary supplies for a “millennial sleepover” – beers, snacks, and plenty of ammunition for a three hour game of “Never Have I Ever”, all to the tune of crackling fireworks exploding overhead. It was truly the childhood experience I had never had!

Overnight at Songjeong was much more restful than Bijindo had been, although, the tent basically became on oven at around 7AM with the sunrise. David and I rose with it, taking an early morning dip in the ocean and settling into a day of sunbathing. Eventually, the locals of Busan’s famed “surf beach” began to spill out of the numerous surf shacks lining Songjeong’s main strip. We watched a dozen surfers warming up, their brows dripping and tensing up with sweat and pain under the hot sun. They took to the water and rode baby waves onto the shore until well into the late afternoon. Around them, children splashed and frolicked happily under the hot sun and their parents’ reproachful eyes. David and I took in the sights and sounds of Songjeong Beach until the sun disappeared behind the clouds at around 5PM. With my sunburn in tow, I headed back to Haeundae at the close of yet another weekend in Busan.

Songjeong Beach is the perfect location for those looking to camp in Busan on a sunny weekend – a small and quiet beach buzzing with families and couples, offering a great ambiance. The biggest draw for those Frugal Freddies is that Songjeong is free of charge for camping, and thus, totally free of troubles.

Directions
To get to Songjeong Beach, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Haeundae Station (stop 203), and go out exit 7. From here, take either Bus No. 100, 100-1, 139, or 142. The ride should take approximately 20 minutes, depending on traffic. Get off at Songjeong Station and walk 600 meters until you reach the beach. Alternatively, a cab from Haeundae should cost approximately ₩5,000.

Bujeon Market

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

What originally started as a simple trip to H&M in Seomyeon quickly turned into a detour into the heart of Busan’s largest indoor market.

Located in one of Busan’s commercial centres, Seomyeon, Bujeon Market occupies over a half dozen streets and alleys. There are literally no vacant stands – every stall is filled, with vendors selling everything from fresh produce to ajummas visors to sides of pork to cow heads to fresh seafood. There are smiling ajusshis spraying down buckets of fish and and crustaceans with a hose. There are the unsmiling ajummas separating the good onions from the bad. There are cats and dogs with seemingly no owner wandering around on top of giant stacks of ginger and garlic cloves.

The market itself is obscenely cheap, especially on the produce side. I almost felt pangs of jealousy for those who live closer to Seomyeon than I. While I do enjoy my own neighbourhood market (Jungdong Market), Bujeon is one stop shopping for anything and everything that is lacking from your new (or old) Korean apartment/kitchen.

The atmosphere of Bujeon Market is relatively relaxed, despite the larger crowds. It’s perfect for people-watching, so grab a seat in the middle of the market on one of the circular stumps in the waiting area for a brief repose. Life feels much easier when you’re simply cocking your head towards the direction of a persistent vendors trying to attract you to their booth, or perusing barrels of grains and nuts for a new yogourt topping.

Directions
To get to Bujeon Market, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Seomyeon Station (stop 219). Take exit 15 and walk straight out for about five minutes. Bujeon Market will be down multiple side streets on your left.

Oryukdo Island Cruise

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Multiple trips this year (to Bijindo, to Boracay, to Samgwangsa Temple) have really transformed my simple appreciation for sunsets into a genuine love for sunsets. Beyond the “nice Camera Reel, br0” aspect, sunsets give me exactly what I need, no matter what mood I’m in. If I’m having a bad day, the setting sun is a reminder that tomorrow is new day. If I’m feeling insecure, it reminds me that night will cover things like a blanket and provide some anonymity. If I’m in a good mood, sunsets push me over the precipice into a free fall of total bliss.

This was the case last weekend when the girls and I packed up our things after an afternoon on Haeundae Beach to ride a ferry around the Oryukdo Islands at sunset. While we had a nice day crisping in the sun, we were all individually in weird places due to external circumstances. We really needed to close the weekend out on a high note, y’all.

We reached the Mipo Ferry Terminal at the end of the beach, and purchased a ticket aboard the 6:30PM ferry. We had about 40 minutes to kill, so we ate, drank, derped, and were merry in the ferry terminal, (a true testament to the “Bumnaegol 3”). Afterwards, we boarded the vessel with about a dozen others, ready and raring to see Busan’s coasts, islands, and of course, the sunset.

The Oryukdo Islands are (depending on the time of day) five or six rock islands, proudly protruding from Busan’s choppy waters. They are pretty famous throughout the city because these are typically the first masses that people see when sailing into Busan. They are pretty clearly uninhabited given that they are literally mossy rocks offering little to no shelter, with the exception of “Lighthouse Island”. If you haven’t already guessed, this rock houses a large white lighthouse with a series of winding stairs and observatories (we unfortunately didn’t make a pit stop here). The islands are a pretty random thing to be so widely admired, admittedly, but with the sun peeking out from behind them, I began to see why people enjoy them.

I’ve seen my fair share of sunsets on Busan’s coasts and beaches, but it was such an experience watching it from the water. At one point, the sun was hovering over Busan’s famed Marine City, casting shadows of the iPark, Zenith, and Exordium buildings over the water. We had incredible views of Diamond Bridge, Gwangalli Beach, and Igidae Park – it was basically a (boat) trip down memory lane of all the things I’ve seen and experienced in Busan.

After the boat made it around the Oryukdo Islands, the winds began to pick up. The other passengers opted to descend to the lower decks, but Mary, Steph, and I wrapped ourselves in our beach towels and blankets to continue watching the (now hazy) skies and sights. I huddled for warmth with my arms wrapped around my girls and felt so blessed with life in Busan.

The entire trip back to the ferry terminal was a practice in the very real phenomenon known as “sunset gratitude”. This is where my friends and I repeatedly tell each other how happy we are to have met one another and how lucky we are to be living in such a peninsular paradise. It’s basically like a drunken heart-to-heart, without the alcohol.

The 70 minute Oryukdo Island Cruise is certainly worth the price for the views of Haeundae and Gwangan. I recommend you take an evening ferry on the weekend, since they run more often than during the week. Get out there and practice some “sunset gratitude” of your own!

Directions
To get to the Mipo Ferry Terminal, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Haeundae Station (stop 203). Take exit 3 or 5 and walk straight out until you reach the beach. Turn left and walk along the beach ends. Continue down the road and the ferry terminal will be on your right. The Oryukdo Island Cruise costs ₩22,000. More information can be found here.