Sea Change Okinawa: July 2016

Busan and Gimhae pt 1

A street leading down to Gwangalli Beach in Busan, South Korea.

After a couple of nights in Seoul, we hopped on a KTX fast train down to Busan to catch up with my brother and sister-in-law. The trip takes 3 hours and the train goes as fast as some of the shinkansen (bullet) trains in Japan, but is a third of the cost! They picked us up from the train station and we drove to the Gwangalli beach area for lunch. We originally hoped to go to a pizza place, but it was closed so we ended up at an Italian restaurant next to the beach. The food was average, but the company was great. It was so nice to be catching up with my brother for the first time since Christmas in Australia.

Gwangalli Beach, Busan

Gwangalli Beach in Busan is a large beach on the edge of the city surrounded by great restaurants and bars. An excellent place to spend a summer day!

Gwangalli Beach, Busan

Reunited with his Uncle

After lunch we drove out to Gimhae, where they live, and checked our stuff into our hotel then went back to my brother's apartment to hang out, have some drinks and catch up. Little G was SUPER excited when he got a special present from his uncle...A drone!!

After a while we headed down the road for dinner on what my brother calls "restaurant street". It's basically a street of Korean BBQ joints of various different varieties and other restaurants, with lots of outside seating, which was perfect in the warm weather. We went to a pork one, which was delicious, and because my brother is a regular, they were kind enough to let us bring a bunch of mushrooms and vegetables for H to grill on a meat-free BBQ because she's a vegetarian and let's face it, Korean BBQ restaurants don't offer much for a vegetarian. We drank plenty of beer as well as flavoured Soju (I think it was pomegranate) before catching a taxi back to the hotel when it was G's bedtime.

Maybe it was the fact that we were hanging out with people who lived there, but the south of South Korea had already captured my heart more than Seoul. It was an awesome start to our time down the south of Korea!

View from our hotel in Gimhae

Uncle and Aunty hangs

His new drone present

Gimhae- South Korea is a vibrant little city filled with restaurants lining the streets with outdoor seating.

Restaurant street, Gimhae

Poor suckers don't know what's coming

Our dinner venue for the night

BBQ!

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Weekend recap

Okinawa

This past weekend was busy, but so lovely. The weather was perfection! Even though i've had a horrid cough for the past week, I had to get into the water!

Sunday morning we headed straight to Maeda Beach because the water was incredibly still and the tide was high. The water was so clear and because we arrived early there was hardly anyone there. We got into our snorkelling gear and got straight into the water. We spent a good 45 minutes snorkelling around. G is getting really great at putting his head under to look at this fish! It's definitely getting much easier snorkelling with a little one in tow.

Perfect way to start the day

Maeda Beach on Okinawa Mainland is a great beach for snorkelling right off the beach in low or high tide. The water is clear and there's a great variety of fish!

Maeda Beach was perfection this weekend

That afternoon after some rest time, we started getting ready for a little birthday party we were throwing at our house for G's little friend Kaisei. Although it was only the two kids and a few adults, we blew up plenty of balloons, had cake and of course we had to introduce everyone to the Australian kids party staple, fairy bread! It was a hit!

After the sun went down we finished the night with some fireworks on the beach across the road..... perfect really.

Fairy bread, an easy and delicious kids party snack!

Fairy Bread - Australian party staple

Getting into the party spirit

Sunset

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Seoul To do - Gyeongbokgung Palace

Korea

Still on day one of our exploration around Seoul. After wandering around Bukchon Hanok Village, we walked over to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was just on 9am when it opened and it was already very hot! If you can't tell from my pictures below, this Palace had a lot of open space and little shade. Because of this we actually didn't spend as much time exploring as we might have on a cooler day. We did manage to find the air conditioned cafe/souvenir shop on the grounds though for a icy beverage and a rest before a little more wandering.

Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea is a colourful palace and a place to get a taste of Korea's rich history.

One thing I really like about Korea, compared to Japan (although Japan will always be number 1 in my heart), is all the colour in Korea. Check out the colour in the palace building in the photo above!! I feel like this was a thing all through Korea including temples and palaces.

As we were leaving Gyeongbokgung Palace, there was a procession of guards starting some sort of performance, which we caught the beginning of, but because it was so roasting hot and I didn't want to have a 4 year old with heat stroke, we only watched a little and then left to head to Insadong for lunch.

Love the colour!

Getting some respite from the heat outside

The procession of guards at the entrance to the Palace

Old and new - skyscrapers in the background.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is accessible from Gyeongbokgung Palace Station on the Seoul Subway Line 3. We, however got off at Anguk Station on line 3, headed to Bukchon Hanok Village and then walked to the Palace.

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17:30
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Seoul- To Do - Buchon Hanok Village

Korea

Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, is a great early morning sightseeing activity, as there are no opening and closing times (because it is a residential area).

If, like my family, you are early risers, then when travelling, you will be looking for things you can do in the early morning, before most typical things open. In Seoul, most attractions don't open til 9am at the earliest, shops 10am, or more likely 11am in most cases (i'm looking at you Myeongdong!)

Anyway, on our first full day in Seoul we woke up very early thanks to one 4 year old! We headed out to grab a coffee and breakfast at 7, then got the metro to Anguk station to check our Bukchon Hanok Village.

Hanoks are traditional Korean houses, and the Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul is an area that still contains many of these traditional houses. This area is actually residential, with a lot of people living in these houses, so there are lots of signs around reminding people to keep quiet (especially important when exploring in the early morning like we were).

We spent a good hour wandering the streets here, which were really lovely, and a nice thing to do before it got too hot. Another great thing about the Bukchon Hanok Village is the fact that it's located right between 2 palaces (Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung and is a short walk to the Insadong area as well, so it's a good place to start a day of sightseeing around these areas).