Busan is good – Nippon and Beyond

… is our next city’s hard-to-miss slogan, plastered all around the city. Unfortunately, the smells around the city were not quite as good, but looking past that, we had a couple of nice days exploring our last South Korean city, this time by the coast.

With our sightseeing enthusiasm slowly dropping, we opted for some chiller days wandering around neighbourhoods instead of trying to hit up all the tourist hotspots. We enjoyed the coastal vibes of the city, with skyscrapers plastered onto hills that meet the sea.

In general, we are by now pretty amazed by the radical high-rise architecture in this country. You can find yourself in the midst of a dozen 300m+ skyscrapers built around the local express train station, but after a five-minute walk, you suddenly feel like you are in the countryside. Very much on-off.

Of course, there was one tourist attraction we could not really pass up: the weekly outdoor drone show with 1,100 drones. Naturally we had to see what Korean drone choreographers were made of.

Somewhat disappointed to find out that the theme for this weekend’s drone show was LOL (Steve had to break the news to Jess that this would not be “laugh out loud” funny, but instead League of Legends themed), we tried to stay optimistic. The spectacle sadly left us disappointed, but at least the stunning backdrop of the Gwangan Bridge and excellent people watching at the beach made up for it.

Finding out that our hotel was in the main nightlife district, we also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out the Korean nightlife: Very loud, very packed, and a good nostalgic flashback with Passoã-flavoured drinks.

We also always like to experience a local cinema when we travel, as every country usually has its own special snacks or experiences. So we sat down for a horror movie, “Obsession”, as we had already seen the other recent blockbusters. Conclusion: comfortable reclining seats, crispy yummy chicken bites, and a good reminder that we don’t like horror movies.

And with that, we wrap up our time in South Korea and make our way to the ferry. See you in Japan!