Summer at Haeundae Beach • 해운대해수욕장

When you talk about popular summer beach destinations in South Korea, I'm pretty sure Haeundae Beach (해운대해수욕장) in Busan (부산) will make it to the list. I've heard that this most famous beach in Busan attracts so many visitors—local and tourists—over the years but I just didn't know how many people until I've seen it for the first time in the summer. When I first started walking into the beach area, it wasn't so bad. All I saw was rows and rows of neatly organized blue umbrellas on the beach and blue towels laid under them for people to rent the space to chill or get away from the sun.

But then right when I walked passed those umbrellas and finally laid my eyes on where the sand meets the waves, it was unreal. There were sooo many people around me!! I haven't seen a beach this crowded my entire life! (But then again, I have to say that I don't go the the beach that often but yes, I've been to some of the busier beaches—like the ones in Bali, for example). It was fascinating to see but also overwhelming at the same time. I mean, wow. There were practically every people from all ages doing all kind of things from swimming, chillin' on the water floating on those bright yellow red donut floats, playing in the sand, watching their kids, to just sitting down on the sand sunbathing while playing with their phones. Just the sheer amount of people was fascinating to me. Anyways, after staying there for a good maybe 10-15 minutes, we decided to leave cos just face it, it was all just too much (for me at least) and the sun was way too hot to just stay there and sunbath. 

 

Haeundae Beach (해운대해수욕장)

Address: 부산광역시 해운대구 해운대해변로 264
Subway: Haeundae Station. Exit 5.

Check Visit Korea website for more info about beach opening hours, night swimming, and other notices.

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Haedong Yonggungsa • 해동 용궁사

Haedong Yonggungsa (해동 용궁사) is probably one of the most well-known temple in Busan. Located on the coast of the north-eastern part of the city, this temple by the sea attracts a good number of tourists who are visiting Busan, including first-timers like me. Ken has been here before and he was telling me about how magnificent the view of this temple is on a cloudy day when the waves are crashing on the rocks surrounding it. Too bad that I couldn't witnessed such dramatic scenery on that day but instead, greeted by a clear blue sky and calming waters when the temple's structure came into view.

We explored the area quite a bit soon after we arrived. I watched a couple of young people racing on their jet skis trying to top each other's speed up on the nearby waters, a bunch of tourists sitting on the rocks right by the water and some even took their shoes and sandals off to soak their feet in the cooling water. Can't blame them, really. On a hot day like this, dipping your feet into the cool blue water sounds like a pretty good idea to me. To be honest, the sun was too bright and too hot when we were there and after the first thirty minutes or so, I pretty much tried to stayed in the shades as much as I could.

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Suminine • 수민이네

For lunch, we headed to Suminine (수민이네), another recommendations from my friend, Sally. We stepped into their main dining area and took a seat on the green plastic chairs surrounding one of the empty tables. The place was not too busy. It was filled with a couple of locals who seemed to have picked the same place to get lunch as us. After hearing the recommended menu from our server, we ended up ordering 조개구이 for two persons. Our server came back not too long after with our order and start grilling the food for us and it was delicious. Everything was nicely seasoned and cooked (and probably the fact that we were pretty hungry just made it even better). After we finished our lunch, we just hung around for a bit and I took a walk around the restaurant. I wasn't expecting this, but the view outside the restaurant wasn't bad either. Must be pretty nice to have a meal with this kinda view. Maybe not on a hot summer day like when we were there though.

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BEXCO • 벡스코

After our somewhat disappointing visit to Busan Cinema Center (영화의전당), we decided to check out Bexco (벡스코) since it was nearby. I actually went the day before to check the place out so this was my second visit to the place. There was barely anybody in the vicinity compared to how huge the structure is, which kinda made it more fun. Felt like we had the place all to ourselves. There are lots of windows in this place, which makes photographing the interior area quite fun but those windows also made the temperature inside so hot (plus since there were not much going on, the AC was off). I took a good amount of shots in this place and decided to move on to our next destination after we feel like we've seen enough of the space.

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Busan Cinema Center • 영화의전당

Ken (@seoul_stateofmind) joined me on me third day in Busan and we started our day bright and early visiting Busan Cinema Center (영화의전당). Busan Cinema Center is the official venue of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and probably one of the more well-known place in Busan. The building architecture was built by an Austrian architecture firm, Coop-Himmelblau, who won the design competition for the venue. After it was completed, the venue has won several different awards including a Guinness World Record for the "longest cantilever roof" in the world, covered with dynamic LED lighting surface.

Sadly, there was some kind of event going on on the day of our visit so the whole complex was covered with all kinds of event banners and stage set ups. It was almost impossible to get a clear shot of the building so we didn't get a lot of good shots of the architecture. I got a couple of shots from some parts of the venue tho, the non-banners-covered areas. I definitely have to go back again to see this place again and hopefully next time during both day time and night time.

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