Down to Busan and on to Tongyeong
“There are loads of ‘love hotels’ in Busan”, Helen informed me, “not sure I want to stay in one of those”. Several hours later we traipsed down a less than salubrious looking alleyway and checked in at a place called the ‘Leibstay’. Leib is German for ‘flesh’…. Luckily our hosts were uninterested in our potential antics, or our flesh, and seemed to be more intent on giving us as many small presents as they could (two silk purses, a couple of juicy tangerines and some small cream-laden bootees with which to refresh our feet), perhaps as compensation for our surroundings. Though dominated by dodgy ‘rent for an hour’ places and strip joints, this area of Busan turned out to be the most vibrant and interesting area of town by far. Close to the sprawling fish market, our local streets were also teeming with seafood stalls and restaurants, many displaying a dizzying array of crustaceans and molluscs in large water tanks outside. Huge King Crabs packed into tiny spaces, hundreds of shrimp doggy-paddling over each other and squid darting from one end of their tanks to the other. We didn’t know whether to be amazed, saddened or impressed and ended up feeling a mixture of all.
Seafood vendor, Toseong-dong, Busan
The unfortunate combination of love and crabs, Toseong-dong, Busan
Toseong-dong, Busan
Jagalchi meal, Busan
Toseong-dong, Busan
Intrigued and fascinated, we headed down to the Jagalchi Fish Market, once again as the heavy rain started to come down, and spent time admiring the downright weird variety of slimy and spurting creatures in large bowls, kept alive and well with hosepipe feeds of seawater that gets transported away through huge grills in the floor. There seemed to be a quite disturbing correlation between the activities at the hotels just up the road and the sights we encountered here. The abalone in particular reminded us of a human female, let’s say, and the distinctly phallic spoon worms left nothing to the imagination either (they’re also known as penis fish and it’s easy to see why). It’s possible here to select the delicacy you’d like to try and have it taken to the upstairs area of the market to restauranteurs who either cook it up for you, or serve it raw, sashimi style. Apparently some people love to slurp on raw sliced octopus tentacles that are served directly after the animal is killed – the nerves in the limbs keep it twitching for ages, giving the sensation that you’re eating it alive….
Jagalchi Fish Market, Busan
Jagalchi Fish Market, Busan
Jagalchi Fish Market, Busan
Jagalchi Fish Market, Busan
We took a less revolting approach and opted for a cooked seafood pancake and abalone porridge (the wee beastie chopped up and mixed with a savoury rice soup, a little like risotto) washed down with copious amounts of soju at a cheap and cheerful little eatery. Another distinct, local and wonderful Korean experience, watching the fishermen sell their wares from huge inflatable pools outside in the rain as we quaffed and munched on stuff they’d caught earlier….
Busan is a huge place and getting to the places we wanted to see took an age. Sometimes it was just about worth it, such as the sea-side Buddhist temple at Haedong Yonggungsa, a beautiful place indeed but somewhat spoiled by all the other tourists in Korea being there at the same time and taking over two and a half hours to reach….Others were not, such as the Busan Art Museum with its reputation as one of the leading art spaces in Asia. It was derelict and undergoing reconstruction. Nearly four hours wasted getting there and back…..
Haedong Yonggungsa temple
Haedong Yonggungsa temple
Haedong Yonggungsa temple
Haedong Yonggungsa temple
There were better experiences. We took a trip out to Gwangali Beach to see the weekly drone show at night. Hundreds of small lights brilliantly coordinated to form a variety of Asian themed pictures, such as dragons and archers. Interestingly, the bus back was actually the highlight of the evening. Crammed full of slightly inebriated bar-hoppers, we chanced to catch a bus that’s renowned in Busan for its internal ‘decoration’. Much of the available space, other than the seats, was occupied by a multitude of stuffed animal toys. Slogans and newspaper cuttings filled more space, along with ‘lucky’ four-leaf clover leaves. All were designed to amuse you on your journey and it worked. The driver himself was the most courteous guy you could meet, personally greeting passengers as they boarded and saying goodbye as they left. We were the last off and he made a show of stopping the bus mid-road to allow us to cross in front of him, enthusiastically waving us off as we walked by. Back in the seedy delights of Toseong-dong on the way to the hotel, we came across a mobile karaoke maid. A middle aged woman, pushing a large cart in which her audio gear was presumably stored, was roaming the streets with a microphone, drunkenly singing and encouraging those around her to take the mike and join in. At that time on a Saturday night there were loads of willing punters, all of whom made unearthly noises, caterwauling away like their lives depended on it. Others around came to watch and danced away like drunken idiots. Most amusing indeed.
Gwangali Beach, Busan
The village of Gamcheon stood out as the main highlight. An area built for working class families in the 1920s and 30s, it began to sprawl in the 1950s due to the influx of thousands of penniless refugees from the Korean war, who built further up its steep slopes in haphazard fashion. An urban regeneration project saved the entire area from being demolished in the late 2000s – residents were encouraged to paint their houses in vibrant colours and adorn the streets with art-themed decoration. Nowadays it’s touted as a ‘cultural village’ and is a major tourist draw. Like most places though, Korean tourists tend to stick to designated, obvious areas, in this case one main street, and left the rest of the village quiet and begging to be explored by the likes of us. We spent ages wandering around the maze-like alleys and snickets, discovering tiny, hidden art installations and small craft shops before rejoining the rest to get our horoscope from the wonderful wooden machine at the top of the village. A small red ball is dispensed, which you hit with a rubber mallet, and your future destiny is revealed. We’re children of 1972, so in the Korean zodiac we’re considered as ‘Rats’ (of course) and the horoscope therefore applied to both of us. Apparently the coming year looks good, particularly next April when we’ll each be receiving precisely 1,000 gold coins.
Gamcheon Village, Busan
Gamcheon Village, Busan
Gamcheon Village, Busan
Gamcheon Village, Busan
Gamcheon Village, Busan
Gamcheon Village, Busan
After another largely drunken evening of craft beer and soju and another venture to Jagalchi Fish Market, this time for steaming scallop stew, we blearily made our way to the coastal town of Tongyeong, our final stop in Korea, to do a little walking and relaxing in the many islands that dot the bay.
Turtle ship replica, Tongyeong
The city is associated with one of Korea’s favourite sons, Admiral Yi Sun Sin, one of history’s greatest naval commanders who fought at least 23 engagements with the invading Japanese forces in the 16th Century, winning every one of them. He’s credited with designing an improved version of the famous ‘Turtle’ ship whose most prominent feature is an enclosed roof for a deck, dotted with sharp spikes to prevent hostile boarding. A few impressive replicas line the harbour in the town.
Tongyeong Harbour
Tongyeong Harbour
Tongyeong market traders
Tongyeong market trader
Though the town is pleasant, we were keen to get out of it for a few days. We caught a ferry to Bijindo, an hour-glass shaped island, effectively two wooded hills separated by a beachy isthmus. The weather had at last decided to look favourably on us in Tongyeong and all our remaining days were spent in lovely sunshine, so we were in great spirits as we reached the tiny dock and prepared to tackle the hike to one of the peaks. Despite tales of trails being overrun with trekkers, we were the only ones on the walk. The calm peace of our steady uphill slog felt a million miles away from the usual busyness of Korea. We picnic’d on a rock at the top, a selection of cheap gimbap, some tangerines, some soju (as ever) and finished off with the town’s speciality ‘Ggul-Bbang’ – honeyed dough-balls filled with red-bean paste or sweet potato and covered in almonds. Not too shabby a meal at all. Unfortunately the hamlet just over the isthmus where we’d hoped to get some fried fish at the end of the walk was totally shut-up, this being well past the height of the season, so we spent a couple of hours doing absolutely nothing at all on the beach. With the exception of the Seychelles, I’m not sure this has happened before on this trip….
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
Bijindo Island
We did a further walk on Mount Mireuk, this time accessed by a long and high cable car. The hike took us up and down wooded hills until the Temple of Miraesa suddenly emerged from the trees. Without doubt this was the most picturesque setting and remarkably peaceful place we’ve seen in Korea. There was just us in the courtyard of stunning temples with nothing but birdsong and sunshine for company.
Miraesa temple, Tongyeong
Miraesa temple, Tongyeong
Miraesa temple, Tongyeong
More time in town revealed further delights – a small sculpture park, a ‘mural village’ where, like in Gamcheon, locals have attempted to tart up less attractive houses with colourful artwork – arguably less impressive, but no less worthy for that. More fab food too. Noteworthy was the mackerel stew with beef bulgogi and plump scallops for company, and our last dinner out in Korea – a further scallop stew with the fattest hunk of fried squid imaginable (so large it came with scissors to cut it into manageable chunks).
Tongyeong
Mural village, Tongyeong
To round off our time here we popped into a photo booth. There are many of these things all around the country and they allow you to dress up in silly hats and other paraphernalia and have your picture taken in moronic poses. We couldn’t resist and after we’d worked out how to do it, tried on a few likely and mostly matching head-outfits (being laughed at all the while by passers-by who could see what we were up to through the window). First was a watermelon hat (we think), then something that looked like a duck, a combination strawberry and cream set (or the latter could have been a cloud, it wasn’t clear) and finally sunflowers. What we didn’t expect was the very rapid turnaround time between shots – we managed to do the first three but ran out of time for the sunflower, hence our final shot was a complete balls-up. We pinned one of our prints up in the foyer along with hundreds of others. As far as we could see we were the only westerners and we were certainly a good 30 years older than most. Who cares though – it was great fun.
Mucking about in Tongyeong
We left feeling stupidly giddy and made our way through the seafood market back to the hotel. Another roaming karaoke person was busily pushing their cart through the fishy waters running down the corridors, drunkenly singing random snippets of songs and chasing the stall vendors around. It was only 4:30. He was dressed in a dress and looked like a clown. I took a photo of him. He spotted me and started to give chase. We ran (jogged really) through the market as he pursued us, no doubt thinking we’d make great victims to torture and good for a bit of cash. Alas for him, his karaoke cart slowed him down and he was no match for our fleetness of foot…
We were reluctant to leave Korea. Everyday brought something wonderful or remarkable or memorable. We came with expectations that the hype surrounding the country was no doubt just that – hyperbole that could never even get close to reality, but to be honest, we were completely wrong. It’s a place we’re already talking about returning to at some point, particularly for the food which is every bit as good as you’ll hear. We sampled expensive restaurants, street food, little local eateries, cafes, markets and pretty much the full range of Korean culinary delights. Every one of them was superb. “Apart from the raw prawns”, says Helen…..
Back to Busan now to get the ferry over to Fukuoka. It will be our second time visiting Japan and having done the major sights on Honshu over a decade ago, we’re looking for some lower-key delights on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.
Simon (31st October 2025)
As always I continue to be bowled over by your updates & impressive photos.
So glad you are having such a wonderful and varied time x x x
What advocates for travel, history, geography, architecture & food (not sure im tempted to try squid though)
Thanks Clove- nice to know you’re following us. It’s not the squid you should be worried about btw, it’s the many fish that look like they’ve just escaped from a horror film. Why anyone would pop a penis fish into their mouth is beyond me……
And yet another memorable time in Korea
The hats suited you both not sure about all the fishy stuff
Enjoy Japan. I loved it there back in 1989. Xx
Yep – a lot’s changed since then, but you’d still love it. You should persuade Ian to come out here and have a few weeks….
Photos look great! Love the photo booth photos.
Yeah – it was a fun as it looked. Mid-life crisis stuff no doubt….!!
Glad you had so much fun in korea, love the silly hat pics. Enjoy Japan!! X
Oh yes – Japan is proving to be busy but fabulous (just as expected)!
Have loved all your Korea posts, especially all the food and alcohol stories, just amazing. You both look so happy. The photo booth photos are just brilliant, am still laughing 😆
Ha ha – glad you liked them. That was tremendous fun. We thought Korea mght be a little so-so, but not at all – wonderful place