One of the top 10 things to do in Busan as per Tripadvisor is to visit Gamcheon Culture Village. Said to be the Machu Picchu of Busan, Gamcheon Culture Village is composed of colorful houses built on the foothills of a coastal mountain. The many alleys that cut through this community are vibrantly decorated with murals and sculptures created by the residents themselves. I visited Gamcheon Cultural Village in late April and the weather was perfect because even if it was cold, the sun was out and it made the weather really comfortable for sig ..read more

First off, in case you’re wondering, yeah, that’s the correct spelling: Ewha WOMANS University. I also wondered about that years ago but my Korean friend corrected me and said it’s really spelled that way. Ewha Womans University was Korea’s first educational institute for women. It was founded way back in 1886 by an American missionary and to date, the university has 15 graduate schools, 11 colleges with 67 departments, and several research institutes. The Ewha Campus Complex is the largest underground campus in Korea. It has a libra ..read more

In my previous visits to Seoul, I have always stayed in the Jongno area, specifically in the heart of Samcheong-dong, and because it’s the neighborhood that I am most familiar with, I have declared so many times in the past that my favorite neighborhood in all of Seoul is Samcheong-dong. Even to date, Samcheong-dong still one of my favorite neighborhoods but my list of favorites is growing the more I visit Seoul.Last Spring, however, I did not get to spend time in Samcheong-dong at all because I purposely wanted to explore the west of ..read more

One of my favorite places to come back to whenever I am in Seoul is obviously Myeongdong. It is a paradise for shoppers and foodies and while always evolving, it is still home to some of the old-time favorites, both of the locals and tourists like me. I have written about Myeongdong for the first time in 2012 and for the second time in 2014. Despite having been to Myeongdong twice in the past, visiting Myeongdong everyday during the 5-day Seoul leg of my trip felt like it’s always the first time. There’s always something new to experi ..read more

It’s so ironic that I am not a beach-lover to think that I grew up in a coastal town where my family used to have a vacation house by the beach. I remember spending every summer vacation there since I was kid until college. While I enjoy being at the beach, it’s not something that I will intentionally plot in my upcoming trips calendar unless my 4-year old is coming with me because that little one is an aquaphile.However, when I was planning for my 10-day Busan/Seoul trip last Spring 2017, I found myself including Haeundae Beach in my ..read more

The highlight of my Busan trip was my visit to Oryukdo Island. I consider it as the best spot I have visited in Busan because it made me fully understand why a trip to see the ocean was worth all that hype. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the other spots, but for me, personally, I was just drawn towards Oryukdo because the views there were amazing and it was not at all physically taxing to get there. Whereas it was tiresome to get good views in Taejongdae and that I’ve seen better beaches than Haeundae, on the other hand, Oryuk ..read more

One of the top 10 things to do in Busan as per Tripadvisor is to visit Gamcheon Culture Village. Said to be the Machu Picchu of Busan, Gamcheon Culture Village is composed of colorful houses built on the foothills of a coastal mountain. The many alleys that cut through this community are vibrantly decorated with murals and sculptures created by the residents themselves.I visited Gamcheon Cultural Village in late April and the weather was perfect because even if it was cold, the sun was out and it made the weather really comfortable fo ..read more

Last April, I spent 4 days in Busan and as I said in my previous post, I stayed in the area of Seomyeon. It’s a strategic area to stay at for sightseeing because the subway station there is an interchange for Lines 1 and 2 which are mostly used to reach common tourist attractions in Busan. After visiting Nampodong though, I figured it’s also a great neighborhood to stay at when in Busan and even if it doesn’t have a subway interchange, it’s not too inconvenient at all because Nampo Station (Line 1) is just a few stops away from Seomye ..read more

Even before I flew to South Korea, I was already monitoring the weather in Busan via the Weather Underground app which, by the way, is the most awesome weather app in my opinion. I kinda expected that my first day will be rainy but I was still hoping that I’ll be able to explore a couple of places despite the rain. I planned to visit Shinsegae Centum City which was registered at the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest shopping complex in the world. It’s just about a 30-minute subway ride from Seomyeon; both are in Line 2 so n ..read more