Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I-am-me]

I am headed for busan for the holiday. Are there any teachers who can give me some advice on how to get around from the train station and places to visit? Just pm me some info like bus numbers and places to see that might be open. Thanks!!!

[khyber]

I WISH that they would sticky "Busan Information" b/c there ALWAYS seems to be someone wanting something.

Okay...here is the skinny.
Busan station is right on the Orange (#1) Subway line: stop
Along this line you can see:
Nampodong:
Nampodong is only 2 stops down the line from B. Station. Jagalchi Fish market (also, the next subway stop) is across the road. If you get out at the Jagalchi stop, walk around the fish market for a while to be thoroughly ickied out by ladies spitting in tanks and watching marine creatures you haven't seen before...even elsewhere in busan.
Get back to Jagalchi subway stop and cross (under) the road to the other side of the street. You should walk perpendicular to that mainroad, up a small road with a lot of food carts (there is a movie theatre here). If you keep walking across that road and look for "Arirang Street" sign you'll eventually find the outdoor market there. It's full of cheap crap.
There ain't THAT much to do, though there are a couple of good camping outfitter stores.

You can also go UP the line to Beomeosa. That is a bit of a haul (but nothing too ridiculous compared to seoul). It's a purty temple that is off the subway line. Get out at Beomosa station. The walk to the temple is araaaaaaooooouuuunnnddd 20 minutes and kinda uphill. The temple is quite calm and very relaxing. There (was) a few little stall and restaurants on the road up; even a tiny TINY sorta carnival like atmosphere in one spot.

If you go to Pusan National University (PNU), you'll find the college district. There are a few foreigner bars around here. Camel, Crossrads, Moe's, and Basement (is closing for repairs) tend to be the popular ones but there are less popular haunts. As a general rule, friday nights are busier than saturday nights. Also, these bars tend to be kinda pubby. Music is played and it's generally a fairly relaxed place to be. Moe's is a lounge that has alternate acoustic music/DJs on fridays.

If you go to the Oncheonjang subway stop, get out and cross the busy road, ask someone for "Hershimcheong". That's the name of the BIG public bath there. I hear nothing but ridiculously good things about it. There are also quite a few NICE love motels around there if you know what to look for.

______
If you take hte subway to the green line (#2)
Haeundae...the beach. Not that great in and of itself...but a beach nonetheless and perfectly fine as that.
There IS an aquarium there that could be considered interesting (certainly a nice one). If you book enough in advance, you can do shark dives there. Well hold on, I did a shark dive there in 2003 and I don't think it's off of the website yet. You just scuba in the big main tank.
There are a few foreign bars in this area too as I understand.
The main one is U2. A nice place as I understand.

Jangsan
There is supposed to be (somewhere) a hike up to a very lovely waterfall and (natural) wading pool somewhere near here but I can't say where.

Kyoungsungdae Pukyoung Dae (university) areas are pretty good. They're fulled up crazy like on saturday. There are two main foreigner bars: Ol 55 and Vinyl Underground. VU is slowly becoming a rather slimey place. From what I hear from frequenters of this area, it can be a great party but fights are very common over there.... not sure why, fights are NOT common in PNU area....

That's all by subway.

If you get out the subway at oncheonjang subway (towards the main road) and, facing the subway station, walk right along the main road, stop at a bus stop. Get on bus 12. It takes you WAY the fook outta town....outta busan, past yangsan...WAY out there. Keep you head up and get out at the Tongdo stop. Get out and walk your way up to Tongdosa. It's a really pretty temple, and quite big. The path walking up to it is very relaxing.


That's all I can say for now.
Here is a useful link though...(well, I think it's useful)
http://pusanweb.com/guides/index.htm

[Mongo5]

Thanks for all that really great information!!! I too will be heading to Busan for the holiday and I was hoping someone could recommend some good places to stay...I think I fit in well to Korea as I tend to do things at the last minute and haven't even booked any accomodation!!!

Does anyone know any good yogwans or hostels in Busan and would be nice enough to give a newby some directions

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers and I hope everone has a great holiday!

[I-am-me]

Thank you very much for the info. I got it all down. Anything is better than nothing. I just hope I can survive the standing trip down on the train.