Day 3- Busan station, Damalji Hill & Spaland

On our 3^rd day, we took off to Busan Station where the Damalji Hill is located. We took Line 1 from Haeundae to interchange at Seomyeon Station before reaching our final destination at Busan Station.

We stopped at the famous Paris Baguette while waiting for our train at Busan Station to have our light brunch. We ordered some custard buns, doughnuts, tarts, 3-in-1 hotdog+cheese+corn, curry doughnut puff? And not-to-be-missed every morning, coffee. 

Clean, modern and elegant interior (Suitable as hang out place for young peeps)

Loving their cute take away coffee cup ∩__∩y

Raining all day long ︸_︸

We took a bus and realised how silly we were when we realised that the actual location is near where we were staying which is Haeundae beach *palm-slap on the forehead* And the bus driver just stopped us at a random bus stop when we told him that we wanted to get to Damalji Hill as both of us couldn’t understand each other. So, we were left aimless at the bus stop and in the end, we just took a cab to the place as it was just 10-15 mins away. What an adventure!

Upon reaching Damalji Hill, we immediately spotted the beautiful gingko trees.

Coffee really makes the world goes around in Korea. There’s literally one on every corner and all in between along the street! We stopped by at “Angel In Us” café which is famous for their pastries and coffee, of course. In fact, it is one of the most franchised cafés in Korea, aside from the Paris Baguette as it is more focus toward the high-end district. 

Me posing in front of the coffee and beans ^_^;

The cosy environment suitable for catch-up with friends and colleagues ^^

Overlooked the nice view points and cafes on the way down

Walked down to enjoy the view  (❁´◡`❁)*

Posing with the 600 year old gingko trees ^^v

Hubby's classic throw leaves act =.=

Stumbled across a temple (When spiritual meets nature)

The buildings in Damalji Hill were aesthetically pleasing as they resembled the artistic street of Busan. Most of the buildings were modernist architectural and consist of wedding studios, art studios and etc. Some of the buildings were blending modernist European style architecture with plenty of open-concept cafes. 

A hint of autumn (❁´◡`❁)*

Overlooking the breathtaking Haeundae beach

Panaromic view of the beach

Tree branches along the street

We managed to queue up for free Shrimp burgers when we stopped by at McD along our way. 

Hubby just can’t get over the new “toy”!~

After the exhaustive Damalji Hill, we wanted to look our for some relaxing place and headed over to our first trip to Korean spa, one of Busan’s biggest and most modern “jjimjilbangs” (Also know as public bath here). In fact, it’s called the Spaland and is located in Shinsegae department store. We were greeted by smiley customer service at the entrance and paid Won 35,000 (RM105) for 2 pax which is considered cheap given the facilities and variety of rooms. I guess it’ quite common for the Koreans to have public bath here.

When we went separately to the public bath house (gender-separated), I was perplexed to look at the nudity roaming around the room. O.o And we were given two mini towels to cover. I was just completely taken off by the people walking in front of others. It’s just funny to get looks from the peering eyes and the "ahjumas" had no issues with that as it was a norm to them.

The first room had around eight separate baths and claimed to be good for both the skin and blood, heated to various degrees. The temperature for the baths was averaging between 37 degree to 40 degree. Some pools were still and serene while others had bubble effects for “water massage” feeling.

After showering off, we met at the gender-mixed area and were intrigued to try the variety of saunas which were waiting for us. We tried the 52 degree of “Pyramid Room” which is the so-called “angle of energy collection from the universe”. After few minutes, as we were unable to stand the heat, we moved forward to the “Hamam Room” which resembles the Turkish bath house and “Body Sound Room” which was good for the bones, I think. But, my personal favourite was the “Green Room” where serene and peaceful music surrounded the room which claimed to be good for mental stability.

After the relaxing saunas, we were ushered towards the “Relaxation Zone” with massage chairs and guests were enjoying the chairs with their own personal TVs. But, that didn’t fancy us too much as we were more intrigued with the massage chairs. The chairs were placed as same level with the capsule machines which claimed to burn Xxx calories upon sleeping in it for an hour along with some facial and hair parlours.

We enjoyed the massage chair so much and it was so different compared to those massage chairs in Malaysia. Every touch gave us the “oomph” sensation and we were so looking forward to the chairs when we were back in Malaysia.

We only stayed for four hours in Spa Land as it is one of their restrictions unlike most of the other “jjimjilbangs”. We had our light dinner in their food court and enjoyed our makgeolli before making our way back to the hotel. We really enjoy the Shinsegae “jjimijilbangs” and thought it will be great if they have Thai/ Balinese massage as well. It will be a perfect complement! Overall, we are looking forward our next trip to other “jjimijilbangs” in Busan if we were to re-visit Korea in the future.

That’s all for the day before we took off to Seoul the next day ^^v

XOXO
sassycat

Day 2- Gamcheon Culture Village, Nampodong, Jagalchi market, Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park

Anyeonghaseyo! :) On the next day, we thought of having an early morning stroll along Haeundae beach. However, upon hearing the raining sound once we stepped out from our hotel room, I just dropped the idea and trudged back to our bed in dismay. Being a lazy bump, I continued with my beauty sleep while hubby decided to go ahead with his initial plan *ZzzZzz*

A walk on the long clean beach in the morning 

High-rise condos near the beach

Awesome beach for picture taking despite drizzling

When hubby finally done with his morning stroll, I was awake just in time for light breakfast. As we did research well on where we wanted to eat in the area, we headed straight to the place in Haeundae market. We were looking high and low for Granny Gukbap, however, we did not find the restaurant and so we just settled for a decent place along the street.

We had Gukbap (pork and rice soup) and kimchi pajeon (pancake). 

It’s just perfect for warming us up（*^＠^*）

After the heart-warming meal, we headed our way to Gamcheon Culture Village or better known as Korea Santorini. With our pre- planned itinerary, we took the Subway Line and walked to a nearby hospital where the bus stop was right in front of it. We took Bus 1 which took us to Gamcheon Culture Village which is located at the top of hill. Korean bus drivers can be quite nerve-racking, mind you! So, be sure to hold tight if you are standing on the bus!~

The morning fresh air in Gamcheon was especially refreshing. Probably due to the place is far from city and has lesser amount of vehicle which makes the morning air fresh. We were greeted by colourful galore of houses. With pastel paints, quirky arts and brightly coloured wall murals, Gamcheon Culture Village reminds me of colourful houses in the Netherlands. Just feel happy looking at it (❁´◡`❁)*

Wavy rainbow sculpture stands ∩__∩y A rather interesting optical illusion

Selfie against Colourful Background.

Us posing against the colourful “cottages” #^_^#

View from the observatory deck 

Hubby’s comical act with his umbrella antic ^_^;

Mural of a huge fish which made up of painted wooden fishes.

However, we didn’t manage to find the huge fish as it was raining at that time and neither did we follow the path pointers to find the way.

Due to heavy rain, we didn't explore very much of the village and headed to a nearby café to have a cup of cuppa instead.

Small little caffe in GamCheong ^^ I noticed that most of the cafes in Korea are self-service and in fact the staffs are a little on the non-smiley side compared to those in Taiwan. 

Selfie against Pinned Up Notes

After the cultural visit, we walked to Nampo-dong area in Busan for shopping and sightseeing. 

Shopping in Nampo-dong is highly recommended for skincare and cosmetics. There had the biggest variety of products such as Etude House, The Face Shop, Skinfood, Nature Republic, Missha, Tony Moly, Innisfree, Holika Holika, Too Cool for School etc

Here’s my shopping haul: 

Too Cool for School’s Best-Seller Egg Mousse Soap, Pore Solution Mask & 2-in-1 Lip Scrub what comes with lip balm as well. Am loving their quirky packaging, not sure how it works though ^_^;

And they're so generous with the samples ^_^" 

After some warm up shopping, we settled down at little Korean Dessert Cafe in Nampodong. Since Caffe Bene is making a wave in Malaysia, we were intrigued to try some of the shaved iced cafes here.

Our yellow powder bowl of “Sul Bing” with chunks of NY cheesecake and bits of almonds. Loving their mildly sweet powdery flavoured iced (❁´◡`❁)

After our cheesy weezy dessert, we decided to travel up to Jagalchi market, Korea's largest seafood market. We were stunned by the enormous octopuses that were displayed along the street. Most of the seafood there were gigantic in size and too bad we did not get to try the octopus raw.

The street is brightened up by mini flags of the various countries

Plenty of shops selling seafood along the street outside Jagalchi market

We popped over to BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) in Nampodong which is 1 station after Jagalchi market. We wanted to do shopping and snacking around the area.

As there’s not much shopping to do around the area, we decided to walk up to Busan tower which is just a stone throw away from BIFF. On our way up...

Selfie Against Yongdusan Park

Little temple before the tower. There were also statues and mini exhibits and museums. We took our time taking pictures before we got to the tower itself.

To reach there we were just climbing up the staircase. 

Feeling the love *love locks*

Posing with "Choi Ji-Woo" #^_^#

We eventually made our way to the top and were in awe at the panaromic view from Busan Tower

There were actually two levels at the top. The lower level is for chilling out with a small little cafe whereas the upper level is just for seeing the sights. 

360-degree observation platform (Night view)

The neatly tucked city

Magnets filled with messages

Selfie Against the Panaromic Night (With Sleepy Face)

We wrapped up the day by having some Korean noodles at one of the restaurants nearby. 

It was a tiring but awesome night with alot of sightseeing and beautiful sceneries. Till then, next entries with more beautiful sceneries, exciting adventures and ...

XOXO

sassycat