I think it's good to mention now that my itinerary was very weather based because a lot of places in Korea is not sheltered and the inconvenience of getting drenched is really high. So imagine my disappointment when weather forecast said it would pour on the two days we were in Busan :( #criesincatsanddogs #okaynothatsnothowitisused But thank God, there wasn't rain at all the two days we were there, and even for our time in Seoul it only rained a little despite the weather forecast. So we were really grateful.
Breakfast at Toyoko-Inn is not bad! Quite a variety of food and we saw different food items during the two mornings we ate there. While it's true that we ought to have gone out to eat but it was just convenient. They had porridge, kimchi/seaweed soup, pasta salad, rice, anchovies, sausages, eggs, toast, coffee (tasted great) etc.
The view overlooking the side of Busan Train Station was good too.
Thereafter we went to this place called 168 steps. I actually found this on someone's video blog and goodness the taxi driver we talked to actually couldn't figure out where it was. It didn't help that neither google maps nor naver maps seem to be able to adequately inform the taxi driver on how to get there.
Soooooo I set at the front and then gave directions using hand gestures. The people of Busan are really too kind already. The Uncle legit trust me to give the correct directions and we somehow landed at the foot of the 168 steps. The journey up via car had a super steep incline and it was drizzling slightly, I'm glad we took a cab from Busan Station (5000 won).
Isn't it cuteeeeeeee and look, there is a cute monorail!
Apparently the history behind the steps was that it would help to connect the people living above quickly to the main area below (closer to busan station) instead of having to walk a huge round. To help with the fact that the steps are super steep, this monorail is built.
You don't have to pay for it, just enter the monorail on the second floor of this entrance on the right of the stairs.
When you enter, remember to press '3' and then close the door, the monorail will then go up on its own.
Some of the things we saw on the way upppppppp and when we went down the stairs later.
Check out the view! You can probably take some nice pictures here against the various backdrops. There are about 3 of them, and give me the same vibes as Gamcheon Culture Village.
We walked down the stairs and it was THE MISTAKE OF OUR DAY. Haha no la basically climbing up is A LOT EASIER than climbing down. It didn't take us very long but we had to be careful walking down (accident prone here) and at least we had (rusty) railings to grab onto for support.
Learn from our errors, climb UP and take photos along the way, then monorail down. This pretty part with loads of little houses was around the middle of the steps but somehow there were a lot of koreans also taking pictures here (and they all took a while) so I grabbed some photos and left~
We then headed towards Busan Station and literally winged it on the walk down. But I tried to take some pictures as I can to help direct you to 168 steps walking from Busan Station so here it is:
From Busan Station, cross the road to the other side where you should see Angelinus Coffee and Lotteria.
Along the way you would see these signs so hopefully they help you guide you!
At this particular intersection (sooooo sorry I couldn't figure out where exactly this was...) there was this display of a bus and a female bus conductor. If you look at the lamp post, the brown signs provide directions to 168 steps.
The sign is in essence pointing to this tiny alleyway which will bring you through the homes instead of having to walk one big round (as instructed by google maps).
And then this sign...
Walk straight...
At this point of the road, you will see this alleyway with pictures and things mounted on the wall talking about the history of this place
At the end of this alley you will see this.
At this point we saw an old uncle bringing chinese speaking tourists around and he asked in korean if we were looking for the 168 steps. I tried to explain we have just gone and he was so nice he sort of insisted we can follow him and he would bring us there. People of Busan you guys are da best~
After climbing those colourful steps, your google maps should be able to bring you in the general direction to reach the foot of this staircase (40 steps with flowerpots in the middle), where I bought this sugar candy (Ppopgi 뽑기) from the ahjumma manning the small shop on the left. She was so sweet she kept telling me she is giving me the one she just made and that it was still warm. I took a while to understand but thanked her when I finally understood hehehehe.
Also this sugar candy lasted me the entire day as a snack.
After these steps, turn right and walk and the 168 steps should be immediately on your left!
After this we headed back to Busan Station to take a bus to Shinsegae Centum City (신세계 센텀시티). I noticed the train would take longer and since it was past peak hour we took a bus there instead. Bus 1001 took us from the bus stop just outside Busan Station all the way to a bus stop which was outside Shinsegae also. Bus ride was only 40 minutes!
This was the only bus ride we took the entire trip and we could not figure out from the internet if we need to tap out as well. In any case we copied the people before us and 80% of them tapped their card when they exited the bus. I was happily playing Pokemon Go on the way there.
After alighting we looked around and decided the easiest way was to go underground towards the subway to head to Shinsegae. We took the lift/stairs at exit 1 and after just a minute of walking and following the signs saw this big atrium area and the signs for Shinsegae.
Shinsegae Centum City holds the Guinness Book of Records for the largest shopping complex in the entire world. Our itinerary only allowed us 3 hours here sobs.
Surprisingly, probably due to the fact we had very little time and we skipped a ton of floors, we did not find this place all that difficult to walk or confusing in any way (coughs at suntec city singapore) and we did enjoy the shops that caught our attention. There was also duty free here so we had immediate refunds on many of the items we purchased here. Grab a map of this place to help you zoom in on places you want to go, and which floors which might not be of interest to you.
This is the counter of Peter Jansen, a brand based in the UK that had the cutest souvenirs and stationery all in the shape of this odd rabbit.
We ate at the food park here which had loads of korean food and even fast food like KFC. Interestingly, there was a skating rink behind the food park and I enjoyed listening to kpop while having our food.
The food park works using a centralised ordering and payment system from this one counter pictured above. If you ask for an english menu you will receive one to help with your ordering.
After paying you will be given a buzzer with a number, and you need to pay attention to the screen to see when your number buzzes.
Then we realised. Siao liao. When we ordered we didn't take note of which stall we were ordering from, and every stall on the screen was in korean. LOL. Winged it by walking up to the only store that seemed to be calling for a customer and it was 100% ours. Dead.
Here's our food!!
The above is samgyeopsal (pork belly) rice set.
The above is a seafood noodle soup. Even contained crab inside woaaah.
I didn't take a lot of pictures while I was shopping but I would say the selection is limited to people in their 20s to 40s for the floors focused on fashion. We did walk around the floor designated for sports and some of the shoes, bags, etc were rather affordable!
Thereafter we were too tired and had to take a break at a cafe called Dore Dore. You will find this place in parts of Seoul as well, and the cafe specialises in cakes.
We bought this cake and we had NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE EATING. We concluded it was a chocolate cake, although I ordered it thinking it might have been a red velvet cake. I struggled to read the sign D: It was delicious and we sort of managed to finish the entire thing although it was a huge slide heh.
Most people would know that there is a Spa Land here in Shinsagae but due to the lack of time we decided not to go to the spa (as we also did not back in 2017 lol) and just head off to the beaches of Busan! A bit regrets though >< However I had actually done way too much shopping here and so did my mum so we were wondering how to also handle all our shopping bags when we go into the spa. Can the locker even fit haha. Next time then!