Last Updated on March 30, 2022
Who would’ve thought that being on a “permanent vacation” (if you will) would be so exhausting?! Alright… I’m not sure I’d call quarantine a vacation. But how many of you used to go to work or school and get super excited for any chance to stay home? I know I did.
Most of the world is still on lockdown or slowly opening things back up. Here, in South Korea, we have been dealing with this pandemic for approximately two months longer than the U.S. I have been extremely impressed by how South Korea handled everything. Most everyone has done a great job with following rules and taking extra precautions. Because of this, the numbers have stayed fairly low, and us military-affiliated Americans were just given the go-ahead this week to travel the South Korean peninsula, sit and eat at restaurants, shop, stay at hotels, take public transportation, and more. The main restrictions for us are to avoid bars, clubs, and any hotspot cities, such as Seoul.
This “freedom” came at the perfect time – right before Memorial Day weekend! The hubby had a 4-day weekend for the holiday, so we decided to make the most of it. We headed to Busan for our first post-pandemic adventure.
Busan is the second-largest city in South Korea and kind of like the “LA” of the country. It’s situated right off of the Yellow Sea and the East Sea, or Sea of Japan. Busan has much more relaxed vibes than Seoul does, and a coast with sandy beaches where locals and tourists love to hang out. In addition, there is plenty of good food, markets, cafes, sightseeing and more.
The drive is approximately four-hours from Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, South Korea to Haeundae, Busan, where we stayed. We weren’t quite sure of what to expect for our first post-pandemic adventure, but honestly, things felt quite normal. We didn’t notice many changes except for signs everywhere indicating that face masks were required in specific places, and hand sanitizer bottles positioned all over the place.
We checked into our hotel, the Ramada Encore, right in the heart of Haeundae (the most popular beach town in Busan). Again, there were really no changes to the hotel experience, except for signs about face masks and hand sanitizer everywhere. I have a feeling that things will be much different in other countries, but nothing pandemic-related was implemented here.
We wandered around for a bit, explored a seafood market, popped into a few shops, and then met up with some friends for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. We had been craving some good Korean BBQ, but all of our searches only found us restaurants that only served pork. We really were wanting chicken or beef, and finally found a place that had beef. The prices were quite steep, so we assumed we could split a cut of meat and be good.
The server brought out our sides (most of which looked too questionable to eat) and then shortly thereafter, our meat was brought out. This sirloin we ordered was smaller than the palm of my hand, and nearly half of it was fat! The server cooked the meat in the middle of the table and then cut it up and portioned about two tiny pieces each to me and the hubby. I took a bite and had to spit it out. It was nearly all fat I was chewing on. I tried to eat around it but there was no way. I gave up on eating any protein and stuck to the kimchi and basket of lettuce in front of me. No one was enjoying their meal, so we opted to go to a pub-type restaurant around the corner to get burgers. It was clear these burgers were not a Korean-specialty, but they did much better with a burger than Korean BBQ.
After our second dinner, we headed down towards the beach, where there were some fireworks going off and lanterns displayed to celebrate the Buddha’s birthday. There were many Koreans around the beach with their families and then a group of Americans. The Americans had Roman candles that they were shooting off at their friends on the beach and actually hitting them with the candles in the back or stomach as they ran around to try to avoid them. They were almost hitting some Korean kids on the beach! It was so embarrassing to even be associated by nationality with them. Unfortunately, it has been extremely clear after living overseas why many countries dislike Americans.
Since most nightlife was off-limits for us Americans associated with the military, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the hotel early. …Who am I kidding, it was nearly past our bedtime anyway. This pandemic has just been the perfect excuse for us to call it an early night and get some zzzs so we could be energized for a full day of exploring.
The next day, we woke up, got coffee, and took the train north to Haedong Yonggunsa Temple, which is famed as the “Most Beautiful Temple in Korea”. I believe that to be true! This temple was breathtaking. It was located right on the rocky shoreline of the coast overlooking the East Sea. As you walk towards the temple, you walk through a little market with locals selling souvenirs, jewelry, street food and more. Once we got past the market, we were greeted by a line of Chinese zodiac animal statues leading us to a set of stairs that would twist and wind through the rocks down to the temple. There was so much to see. The colors were magnificent with bright paper lanterns lining the perimeter of the temple.
We spent a good two hours at the temple before heading off on the remainder of our day’s post-pandemic adventure. We grabbed a cab to the train station and then took the train back to Haeundae, where we decided to go get ramen for lunch. While we were walking around, we came across a cute dim sum restaurant that we couldn’t resist checking out. Ramen was quite easy to come by in South Korea, but it was difficult to find other good varieties of food at times, so this was the clear winner. We ordered a selection of dumplings and steamed buns and a pot of my favorite, jasmine tea.
The food ended up being delicious, except for one dish. We had ordered a short rib dumpling with a black bean sauce according to the English menu, but what we got was a shrimp and leek dumpling (neither the hubs and I are big shrimp fans). We called over our server and asked if we received the correct dish. He pointed at the menu what we ordered and it was definitely the short rib dumpling we thought we were getting. The poor server was so shocked that the translation was not correct, but let us choose another dish off the menu to substitute.
After our lunch, we weren’t quite full from the dim sum, so we continued wandering the streets in hope to find some good bites along the way. And boy, we certainly did. Within one block, we found an amazing hole-in-the-wall kimbap shop, a cookie store, and a little café that serves the most delicious fruit bingsu. This definitely made up for the bad luck bites we had the night before.
We made our way to the train and headed about an hour south to another popular part of Busan, called Biff Square. Biff Square reminded me a bit of Myeongdong in Seoul. It was a street lined with popular shops, restaurants and cafes. The main street had little side streets that would lead you to street food vendors, clothing vendors, shops, and the big Gukje market. We could have spent a whole entire day here wandering around, shopping, exploring, and trying all the food.
Unfortunately, when it came time for dinner, we had another issue finding a Korean restaurant that sold something other than pork. We ended up opting for a pizza spot, called The Mingo Italian Restaurant. This pizza was delicious! It was wood-fired and tasted almost straight from Italy. It ended up being a fantastic find.
Since the shops in Biff Square were open fairly late, we stopped in a huge Olive Young(basically a CVS for all things Korean cosmetics) and had a mini shopping spree. The even had an Olive Young outlet shop attached with a whole floor of reduced-priced items. I bought a variety of my new favorite nail stickers (they look like a professional pedicure!), some dry shampoo, and a few other random products (even the hubby bought some skincare products – so proud of him!). We headed back, splurged on some ice cream, and called it a day.
We woke up to another beautiful day in Busan. Though, today was the day we were planning to leave, unfortunately. Our initial plan was to drive through Daegu on our way back to Kunsan Air Base, but after some research on things to do in Daegu, we really weren’t feeling too optimistic about the plan. We changed things up and the hubby came up with a fantastic new plan. We were going to drive the southern coast back to Gunsan while stopping at a few places along the way.
Unfortunately, when we turned on our car, the check engine light turned on and the car was making a weird noise. With being in a larger city and having a 4-hour drive home ahead of us, we decided to should take the car to a BMW service center to have it looked at (the closest one to our home in Gunsan is about an hour away). Before dropping the car off though, first thing’s first – coffee and breakfast. We stopped at a coffee shop to get our morning dose of caffeine and split a scone before grabbing a delicious breakfast sandwich from a place called Egg Drop and a yummy fresh juice from U:Dally.
We took the car to get checked out but they really couldn’t do much for us. So, we went on our way with fingers crossed that our car would make it back. Our first stop on our post-pandemic road trip adventure back to Gunsan: Gamcheon Culture Village. The Gamcheon Culture Village is one of the most beautiful and iconic attractions in Busan. It’s a village filled with colorful houses, cafes and shops stacked along the coastline. The views are amazing! Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, many shops were closed, but we were still able to take in the breathtaking views.
With a long drive ahead of us, we had to be on our way. Our next stop was about a 3-hour drive away: Boseong Green Tea Plantation. This, I must say, has been one of my favorite things I’ve done since I’ve been in Korea. But before we get to that, I have to include our first experience eating rest stop food. Yes, this sounds extremely gross if you’re used to American rest stops. Though, Korean rest stops are quite nice and always clean. They typically have vendors selling souvenirs, local bites, and sometimes larger stores for clothing or other goods. I ordered some ramen and the hubby had some bulgogi. We were both pretty impressed with the quality and would definitely eat there again.
After lunch, we finally made it to the Boseong Green Tea Plantation. It was already 4:30 PM and the plantation closed at 6:00 PM, so we didn’t have much time to explore. Though, had I known how cool this place was, I would’ve started our road trip a bit earlier to give us more time here. We drove around the grounds a bit to check out the Green Tea Resort before heading to the actual plantation where we could walk and wander around.
Prior to even seeing the Green Tea fields, we were in awe of the cedar trees lining all of the paths. The fresh air mixed with the cedar smelled delightful, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Before heading into the fields, we took a wooded path to a small bamboo forest. It was stunning and hard to believe that there was something this beautiful in Korea.
We eventually made our way down to where the Green Tea fields were. The view was magical, especially with the sun starting to set. We were able to climb up and walk through the fields to explore. Since we were running short on time and still wanted to peruse the shop before it closed, we didn’t have a chance to wander all the way up. Though, if time allows, we will surely be back one day!
We made it to the plantation’s shop just minutes before closing. We purchased a Green Tea Latte mix, and also, of course, some Green Tea bags. I haven’t yet tried the latte, but I’m happy to report that the Green Tea tastes delectable! Our last big purchase of the day was some Green Tea ice cream. I thought it was delicious – a little bitter, which was hard to get used to at first, but right up my alley. The hubby took a few bites of his ice cream and wasn’t a fan. Since it was still technically our weekend vacation, I justified eating both of our ice creams (c’mon, can’t let it go to waste!). We made it back to base around 8:00 PM, unpacked from the weekend, and got to bed for another adventurous day to follow.
Our final day of our long Memorial Day weekend post-pandemic adventure didn’t quite go as initially planned. We were intending on heading south again to hit the Damyang Bamboo Forest and explore the city of Gwangju. Unfortunately, with our car having issues, we decided it was best to try to take it into the service center in Jeonju to get looked at. This worked out perfectly, though, since Jeonju is a spot that we had been wanting to explore.
To add to our list of car problems for the weekend, we started the car and got a notification that one of our tires was low. We got out to check them and found a nail in one of our tires, go figure. We messaged the service center and asked them to fix this as well if they could. They gave us an estimated time of about 4 hours until our car would be done, giving us plenty of time to explore the Jeonju Hanok Village.
Before getting to the service center, we left a bit early so we could make a stop at one of my favorite Korean cafes, Rizerie. Rizerie is in the middle of nowhere heading out of Gunsan towards Iksan and Jeonju. It’s a beautiful and eclectic café tucked away in a garden next to some rice fields. We just ordered some coffees and a scone, but they also serve pizzas, pastas, and salads that look delicious.
After dropping the car off at the service center, we took a cab to Jeonju Hanok Village. Most everyone visiting was wearing a traditional Korean hanbok (Korean formal dress). The village was filled with old traditional teahouses that [many] have been turned into cafes and shops. There were tons of little side streets to go off and wander around, that it was easy to get lost. We meandered down the main street stopping in shops here and there. We grabbed some bubble tea, a croissant to split, and a choco pie (quite popular in Jeonju – very similar to moon pies).
We made our way past the Pungnammun Gate and into the Nambu Market. The market was pretty similar to the other markets in Korea, selling produce, fish, meat, household goods, clothing, and more. We breezed through the market and headed back to the village for lunch. Jeonju is the home of the popular Korean dish, bibimbap. We were extremely excited to try the dish here. We ended up at a restaurant called Gogung, which had excellent reviews. We had to agree, the food was amazing. We also ordered a bottle of Makgeolli rice wine, a popular Korean beverage.
Before heading back to the service center to get our car, we couldn’t end our day without ice cream. We wandered over to a shop that served ice cream balls, but they only had two flavors that didn’t sound appealing at the time. So, we headed across the street to another café that sold tiramisu ice cream. Now, this was more up my alley. I’m not sure if it was just the hot day or needing to cool off my tongue from the hot and spicy bibimbap we just ate, but this ice cream was absolutely incredible! The hubby said he didn’t want any, but once he tasted it, he ended up eating more than half.
Unfortunately, it was time to head back to get our car. We really enjoyed our adventure to Jeonju’s Hanok Village and would certainly go back. We made it to the service center and were told that they were able to change the battery and fix one of our other issues, but didn’t have a repair kit to fix the tire. So, our next stop was to find a tire shop on the way home. On our way to the tire shop, the ‘check engine’ light came back on. Whatever problem they thought they fixed, clearly didn’t get fixed, but it was too late to worry about it now.
We made it to the tire shop and as they were fixing our tire, we were told that our tires were completely bald and needed replacing. So, a couple hundred thousand won later, we were practically driving away with a new car! It certainly became a much more expensive weekend than we initially intended, but these were things that definitely needed fixing.
Despite our car problems, we had an amazing long weekend and first post-pandemic adventure. It really felt like things were completely back to normal here, and that coronavirus never happened. We are, honestly, really not looking forward to going back to the states, in fear that things will be much worse than what we have here. For the next two months, before we leave, we are planning on making the absolute most of our time here in South Korea, now that we have some more freedom. There is still so much I want to do and see before we leave, but, regardless, I’m so thankful for the experiences I’ve been able to have.
Until next time, Go Catch the Drift (if you can) …otherwise, check out my post on how you can travel from home!
Ta ta for now, drifters!
XO,
Kylie
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