Busan: Vibrant City - Walking with Wally

The main reason that drew us to Busan? The colourful Gamcheon Culture Village!

And while we visited the village, the place that struck me most was the Jagalchi Market with its lively atmosphere and fascinating sea creatures.

Where we went

Gamcheon Culture Village

Take the bus to the entrance of the village and don’t try to walk! The road up is extremely steep. We were tempted to try, but were so relieved when we boarded the bus and saw how insanely steep the road was.

It can get crazy crowded at some parts of Gamcheon Culture Village, especially nearing the entrance near the Tourist Information Centre! And there was also a winding queue to take photos with the iconic Little Prince and the fox statues against the bird’s eye view of the village.

But stray away from the crowds, get lost, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by vibrant art pieces in peace. And getting lost is easy with the many twisting alleys! Even with the map we bought from the Tourist Information Centre, we still got lost a couple of times.

But the map was fun! It was great trying to locate all the stamps situated within the village to redeem a prize – but we failed as we couldn’t find the remaining one. We had lots of fun trying though!

Jagalchi Market

I’m not the biggest fan of seafood (I don’t eat most shellfish), but Jagalchi Market is definitely a must-visit even if you don’t intend to eat there!

It was fun to walk through the bustling atmosphere in both the sprawling indoor and outdoor markets. We decided to eat at one of the stores after it started raining – and the hotpot made our tummies happy.

I got a bit squeamish when we spotted one of the stall owners skinning eels alive. And this pulsating sea creature made my hair stand. We later found out that it’s a Busan delicacy eaten as an aphrodisiac for men called Gaebul, also known ironically as the “penis fish” even though it’s a sea worm.

Gukje Market

The afternoon before we wanted to visit the Gukje night market, WJ drank a bottle of soju. Just one.

And then he became drunk – so drunk he fell into such a deep sleep that at one point, I thought he was dead. I even checked if he was still breathing. He must have been having a nightmare too, because he let out a blood curling scream that shocked me from the show I was watching on TV.

After he finally got up from a nap that lasted almost 5 hours, we walked to Gukje Market where we found most of the stores in the midst of closing. Thankfully, we still managed to get some night market snacks!

Yongdusan Park & Busan Tower

There was a Buddhist temple there too.

Kakao Friends flagship store

We visited the Kakao Friends flagship store as I wanted to buy some Apeach stuff because I thought her face is so sickeningly cute. We also took a peek at the Apeach cafe but everything was expensive!

Where we stayed at

The Airbnb we stayed in was quite cosy but still bigger than we expected. And it had a full kitchen which we didn’t get the chance to use as we ate out for all our meals! We only used the microwave to warm up our snacks at night. The location was really convenient too, with convenience stores and eateries nearby.

We stayed at V1 Motel as it was closer to the airport and we didn’t want to get up extra early for our morning flight. It’s a bit sleazy-looking on the outside, but it was clean enough and a short walk to the subway station with a direct train to the airport.