Pusan travel review & recommendations by Father_Son_Cycle

PUSAN (or Busan) South Korea

Pusan is the main port city of the south of South Korea. It is a fairly large modern city from where large amounts of cargo are exported throughout the world. It is also where ferry boats go to and from Japan several times a day, and this was our reason for going here.

My son Sam (19) and I (51) cycled here from Ireland as one of the latter stages of our journey to Tokyo, Japan. The distance cycled by this point was 14,235km after nearly 9 months on the road. Check our blog at: www.bugbitten.com/father_son_cycle

Pusan is fairly large and spread out so it has several centres of activity. Many visitors stay in the Port / Main Rail Station area, some in the busy Busanjin area north of there and many like us stay in between the two in the Jwacheon Dong area. The other main areas are around Dongeui University and the beach area of Haeundae to the east side of the bay.

FOOD & DRINK
Pusan is a delight for 'foodies'. Korean food is similar to Japanese food but more spicy. Kimchi is a pickled cabbage dish which accompanies many traditional meals. Noodles or rice are the main staple and beer or tea is the most common alcohol drunk with food along with 'Soju' a potent (and cheap) Korean vodka-like spirit. There are many chain / family restaurants as well as traditional backstreet establishments. Korean barbque restaurants where you cook your own meat or fish at your table are everywhere. Fish is obviously popular in Busan due to its location. Coffee bars are popular for snacks or meetings etc and there are countles Dunkin Donuts as well as Starbucks on almost every city street. Prices are lower than Japan but higher than China. The two of us generaly ate our way through around 50,000 Won average per day (around 25 UK Pounds). Haeundae is a great place to eat sashimi (raw fish) in quality restaurants at a good price.

WHERE TO STAY
We stayed in the Beomil-Dong area just north of Busan Station. There are many hotels here. The cheaper ones tend to be 'Love Motels'. This is a Japanese / Korean phenomenon where couples can rent a room (often themed - medieval, high-tech, country cottage style etc) and fully equiped with internet in the room, plasma TV screen, DVD player, cosmetics, hairbrush, refreshments, condoms etc. These are great value for 'ordinary' travellers at around 30-40,000 Won per night. They have secluded parking and tend not to be at all sleazy. Love Motels can be found in all South Korean cities / towns and usually around the central / station area. I have to say that in our case, a heavily bearded man in black lycra cycling shorts asking for a room with an attractive teenage boy lurking in the background did arouse some suspicion but we were never turned away (or arrested).

Busan is a great place to spend a few days or even more. The people are very friendly and there is plenty to do in this busy city. It certainly grows upon you. It is not as expensive as Seoul (the capital) and there is a spacious clean feel about it. The busy commercial harbour ads an air of excitement to the place.

Korean is a different language to both Chinese and Japanese so knowledge of neither will help. The written language (Hangol) is also completely different from anything else in the world. However, many Koreans speak English and even those who don't are good communicators who can manage to help you with menus etc.

Busan has a good metro system and buses in between. It is also well connected to the rest of the country by train and good roads as well as to Japan by sea. The airport (Gimhae) is not too far out either.