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Spring in Korea Part 13 – Oryukdo Skywalk & Gwanggali Beach

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here.

Next on our itinerary is Oryukdo Skywalk. As Busan is a hilly city located next to the ocean, there are at least 3 of these new skywalks that I came to know of in my research. We went to two of them – this one and the brand new Daritdol Observatory (on our last day). Another one that we didn’t get to visit was the even newer Songdo skywalk.

What’s a skywalk? Its a glass walkway protruding out from a small hill out to the ocean, so you can see the crashing waves right below you.

From Dongnae we took two different buses to this place. The skywalk is located in a quite neighbourhood sparsely populated by condominiums and schools. We actually disembarked the bus about 1 km too early, due to the confusion of similarly sounding bus stops. But it gave us an opportunity to appreciate the stunning beauty of the rugged coast. 

 

The skywalk is located at the very end of the road. You need to climb steps up a small hillock.

 

The skywalk, though quite short, gives a breath-taking view. In the beautiful afternoon light, blustery early spring winds, you can see clearly forever.

I guess just like any skywalk, it is not for those who suffer from vertigo. They make you wear these shoe protectors to prevent the glass from getting scratched.

 

There’s another set of steps to take you down onto the rocks near the water. That’s my daughter down there looking up at us at the skywalk.

It just amazes me how beautiful the natural landscape in Korea is. And the people are so environmentally conscious that there is no rubbish sighted anywhere at all. Hopefully one day Malaysia can be as advanced as Korea are today.

It was a good walk here, burning off some of the extra heavy lunch we had earlier. As i mentioned, Oryukdo is really at the end of the road, so there’s a cul-de-sac here where the buses wait for passengers to fill up. From Oryukdo, it is a short ride to Gwanggali beach.

Being a harbour city, there are many popular beaches here in Busan. Two of the most popular ones are Haeundae and Gwanggali. The former is by far the more well-known one – in the summer the entire width of beach is packed with deck chairs and umbrellas. We’re going to Haeundae tomorrow, so today we are ending our day at the nearer Gwanggali.

Gwanggali separated from the main road by about 4 blocks, all jam-packed with restaurants and bars. I asked directions for the fastest route to the beach from this lady and her adorable son on a scooter.

They were on the way to the convenience store to buy some groceries. The lady was Korean, but she could speak Mandarin with us.

Gwanggali is right in bustling city. You sit down in one of the bars or restaurants facing the beach and sip cold beer. The entire stretch of road here is also dotted with many high-rise luxury hotels.

The biggest feature of Gwanggali, besides the wide beach with powdery sand, is the Gwangandagyeo Bridge running across bay where the beach is located. At night, the bridge is lighted up.

It’s a little early to see the lights, so we went for dinner.

After 5 days in Korea, we still haven’t eaten jajangmyeon. So with some directions from the nice cashier girl at GS25, we found one just off the beach.

This was a good, authentic jajangmyeon dish. But unfortunately, me and my wife suffered food poisoning from this meal. It didn’t affect me badly (besides making me throw up my dinner twice later that night), but my wife had it much worse. She suffered diarrhoea the entire night and stomach cramps the next day.

Food poisoning aside, we went back to the beach after dinner.

The lights change colours every few seconds, so it’s a like a dazzling light show. Every year in October, this beach hosts the International Fireworks Festival. Tonight, though, the promenade facing the beach is pulsating with after work young adults having dinner and drinks.

From here, we walked back to the main road and took a bus back to the hotel.

So another long, long day completed.

Next – our last full day in Korea.

 

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