This is a long over-due post so let's get things started, yeah? I just realised this was a month ago *sigh* so much for updating things better... oops...
Thursday 6th June was a national holiday and my school also gave us Friday off so, woohoo! 4-day weekend! What was also nice and convenient for us here in Gwangju was that there's now a bus that goes from Emart terminal all the way to Busan (and even to Haeundae beach) without the need to go into Seoul first. Me and Hanneke went together and met up with her friends before they left Korea.
We spent Thursday getting to Busan, it took about 4 or 5 hours in the end, but it was only a short walk to Haeundae station and then to our hostel. There's loads of places to stay around there and we managed to get a last-minute booking at Hello Guesthouse. We went down to the beach - only a short distance from our hostel - and walked up to the end where the small harbour is. We ended up grabbing a taxi and going a short way up the hill to Dalmaji Road, where we could walk through the trees and look back down on Busan and the sea as the sun went down. We were able to get a cab back to the main part of town too, which was lucky as it's a little far to walk but at least it's only a cheap fare.
Thursday night we went out to one of the Thursday Party bars before moving on to Fuzzy Navel where the barmen did tricks spinning bottles and things with fire. We ended up in a very quiet Wolfhound Irish pub for a last drink before making our way back.
On Friday we went separate ways; me and Hanneke went on the train to 경주시 Gyeonju whilst Melissa and Jongun went to another part of Busan (they had more time than us and were going to Gyeonju the next week anyway). It took about 90 mins but was worth it! Plus I think each single-trip ticket cost us about 6,000 won/£3.50, which was awesome.
We had gorgeous weather that day too - we walked although there are plenty of bike hire places and most people seem to cycle instead. Each place was a little far but slowly strolling around was fine, although we didn't have time to see everything in just one afternoon. We walked around some of the main historical sites, firstly 첨성대 Cheomseongdae (the astronomical observatory), then through the park/over the hill where there was once a fort to Gyeongju National Museum.
