Visiting Korea: Day 4 at Busan

Our plan for the day was to spend time at the Eastern section of Busan (near Haeundae area). From JungAng station where we were staying, it was a long subway ride towards Jangsan station. At exit 5 we took a cab to Haedong Yonggungsa (about 8,000 won), which is a temple located right next to the sea. At the entrance itself, you will spot 12 zodiac-related statues. Have fun looking for yours according to the Chinese calendar! If you love the sea view as much as me, you will be glad to know that the temple is located right on the ocean with strong waves crashing into the rocks just below it.

From Haedong Yonggungsa, we headed to Haeundae station for lunch. We ordered a medium portion of Seafood soup at a restaurant near Haeundae Beach. It costs 40,000 won and contains crabs, huge clams, squids etc. After filling up our stomachs, we walked to the beach. It is still a beautiful sight even in winter. However, definitely too cold to swim. You can still enjoy the view and feed the many, many seagulls there though.

Our next destination was Dongbaekseom (seom is island in Korean). This place is famous for being the place where the APEC meeting in Busan was held. You can enter the Nurimaru APEC House to see for yourselves the place where the leaders met. From this site, you will also get a good view of Gwanganlli Bridge on a clear day.

After exploring Busan's nature, we decided to change gears and headed to the Busan Museum of Art next. It was a disappointing visit though as there is not much on display despite the huge museum size. I wouldn't recommend stopping here unless you really love abstract art or you are trying to avoid bad weather.

Next up, we paid a visit to Busan Cinema Center (Centum City subway station exit 6/12). Busan is after all famous for the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and hence we made a quick stop here. There is a library here for movie enthusiasts with magazines containing information on the BIFF held throughout the years. We rested at the library for a while then walked back towards the Shinsegae Centum City Mall which is the world's largest department store and even contains a spa, ice rink ,cinema, huge book store and a Jurassic-themed park, named Zooraji. Zooraji is located on level 9 and is admission-free. It is on open air grounds so it may be closed during bad weather. If you can, do visit Zooraji! It was quite a nice unexpected treat.