Haeundae Beach
It's June! WOW where did May go? We have only four months left in South Korea! How time flies. This post is greatly overdue about our trip to Busan. Sorry for the delay but it has been quite busy. Our school schedule is crazy long so we are physically exhausted. But onto the post!
We had a long weekend in the beginning of May so we went on a trip to Busan. The weather was a little chilly for the beach, but we needed to get some vitamin D in our system.
The first thing we realized was Koreans definitely do not want to get tanned. They will cover there whole bodies; long sleeve shirts, pants, blankets, umbrellas, and even camping tents. We were the only people in bathings suits, well except for the other five foreigners on the beach. Even though the weather was chilly, we managed to get some color, Alan turned lobster on the third day so we knew it was enough sun for the trip.
Ganga Indian Restaurant
During our stay we had some great food! We left thinking that if Mokpo offered the same variety of food as Busan we would both enjoy life here more. Our first day we had Indian food, non existent in Mokpo, except for when I decide to cook some. It was good, a little sweet and the mango lassi had a lot of pulp in it, but it satisfied the craving for a different meal than the usual flavors. Walking around the first day we found a french bakery and cafe which would be our breakfast spot for the next three days. Brioche Doree. All I can say is if this bakery was in Mokpo, I would gain a lot of weight. Their menu was mainly french and everything we tried was delicious. The main hit was their super awesome croissant dough waffles. Alan ordered it all three days. I tired the eggs Benedict, croque madame, and ham and cheese croissant. Everything was great.
The weather was not on our side on the second day so we decided to hit up Shinsegae Centum city. If you are not familiar, it is the biggest mall in Asia... We did not do any damage, thank Buddha... or else our savings would have a big whole in it. So we just did some window shopping and walking around.
Depending on what you are looking for Centum City can be better or worse than the Gangnam area in Seoul. For instance, if you are in the market for ultra-luxury items, or a whole building/boutique for a single designer, Gangnam might be a better place. But as a single mall, with 9 floors of shopping and things to do (grocery store, ice skating rink, movie theater, spa, food court), it certainly is bigger and better. Speaking of spa, if you ever have the chance to visit be sure to check out spaland, it's cheap, huge and awesome! Worst case you can't find something in Shinsegae, it's directly connected to another giant department store (Lotte) and both are only feet off the subway.
Shinsegae Centum City
On our last night we went over to Gwangalli beach to see the Diamond bridge and to eat at Sharky's. It was Cinco de Mayo so we were in search of some margaritas and a good burger. Sharky's has a great view of the bridge so you can enjoy your food with a view. The restaurant itself is literally a dive bar geared towards Westerners, so if you need the ambiance of a restaurant I wouldn't recommend you going. The food on the other hand is quite good! Alan had the steak burger and I opted for the avocado burger (voted best burger in Busan the last two years). They were both juicy, well seasoned, and paired well with margaritas. Finding good food and margaritas on Cinco De Mayo was successful!
All in all, our trip was great. We didn't want to leave the beach city. We eneded our trip with a last visit to Brioche Doree and had dessert. A sweet end to a wonderful trip.
