Happy New Year, everyone. It is time again for my 2018 in review. For the record, this is the 11th year I’ve been doing this. The following are the past ones: 2017 201620152014201320122011201020092008 So let’s get on with this rather eventful year (if you are wondering why 9 and not 10, read one of the earlier post) New job Yes, I started a new job in February, on the 4th day of Chinese New Year. Yes, before you say, “again?!” let me just say that this, in hindsight, was for the better. Who knows what the next year will bring, but for the time being, things are good and I’m…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here.   So ends our sojourn in Busan and Jeju. It was an enjoyable trip, we got to see most of what we planned to see. Comparatively, this trip wasn’t as packed as our other trips, mainly because there is a lot of traveling intra-city. Jeju, as we expected, is full of attractions and surprises, and another few more trips there would still not satisfy us. Busan com as a second city to Seoul, has its own, distinct flavour. Being a seaside harbour city, there are nice beaches and waterfront attractions. Weather-wise, being at the south,…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here.   From Dalmaji Road, it was a short cab ride to Daritdol Observatory, the penultimate place on our itinerary. This is the second skywalk we visited during our trip, the day before we had visited Oryukdo. Daritdol was newly opened at the time we visited it, our cab driver hadn’t even heard of it. It was a good thing that I knew roughly where it was so i guided him there. Daritdol is located at the end of a narrow seaside road lined with seafood restaurants. This area within Haeundae is called Cheongsapo, hence the…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here. Day 6, our last full day in Korea! Unfortunately, my wife was still suffering from the food poisoning from the jajangmyeon the night before. So we had to cut down on our itinerary for the day. Originally, we planned to spend the entire day in Haeundae area. There are many tourist attractions here, so planned to visit Haedong Yonggungsa Temple in the morning, then visit Dalmaji Road, followed Daritdol Observatory before ending the day in the famed Haeundae beach. We cut out Dongbaekseom island and Haeundae market from our itinerary to reduce walking. Dongbaekseom is…

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…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here. Day Five in Korea! And our second last full day. Today is another very packed day. This is the view from our hotel room.     We are first going up north out of Busan to Beomeosa Temple, then stop by Dongnae on the way back for lunch. Then we are going to Oryukdo Skywalk, and have dinner around Gwanggali beach and spend some time walking around there.   When I was planning for this trip, I had wanted to visit both Beomeosa and Geumjeung. The latter is a mountain fortress with a hiking trail…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here.   We left Gamcheon at about 4pm taking the same bus we took coming here. We went back to Nampodong / Bupyeong market area to shop for some clothes and shoes at the open air market. As we mentioned in the earlier post, the whole area of about 20 blocks is filled with shops and stalls in the evenings. They are actual a few different markets merging together, so it is hard to know where one ends and another begins. But our plan of action is simple – start at Nampodong main street and walk…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the beginning, click here.   From BIFF Square, we took a bus to one of the biggest attractions in Busan – Gamcheon Culture Village. Getting to here is a little tricky, as there the subway does not extend here. So we took a special green coloured tourist bus from Seo-Gu Office, this large traffic intersection near Jagalchi Fish Market. The problem is that there are many bus stops here, including in the centre of the intersection – between traffic lanes… After asking around, we spotted the small green bus, just about to leave! If i remember correctly, this green…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the very beginning, click here.   From Jagalchi, it is a short walk across the main road to our next destination – BIFF Square. It’s a, well, square where there are stalls selling food from morning to night. This is where they have the annual Busan International Film Festival since 1996.       In the side streets, the stalls and shops go on forever, selling clothes, souvenirs, snacks sundry goods. All along the walkway at he centre of the square, there imprints made by stars who have appeared in the film festivals. Most are Korean stars, there are…

This post is part of an ongoing travelogue. To start at the very beginning, click here.   Day 4 in Korea! It’s a bright and early day for us, we have a packed itinerary today. The weather’s here been windy and cold these few days, but sunny when the sun comes at in the afternoon.  The view from our hotel room in the morning. In the distance you can see Gamcheon Cultural Village, where we are going later today. But for now in the morning, we are going to Jagalchi Fish Market and Changseongdong Eat Alley. Jagalchi is the biggest fish market in all of Korea, befitting of the harbour…