Japan to Busan, South Korea.

This month, at the beginning of the month, was my dear friend Dana's birthday and Dana

is one of my favorite people in Fukuoka because she's always down for everything.

When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday this year she told me that she

wanted to take the ferry from Fukuoka to Busan, Korea and spend a few days over there.

Do you want to go get some won?

So we've gone through immigration, we've got our tickets.

Everything is going according to plan except that today is quite stormy and they're saying

that the waves are between two and a half and three meters in height.

That's quite bumpy and if luck is against us today we might actually come back to Hakata.

We'll see how it goes.

I'm hoping we make it to Busan but, yeah.

The JR Beetle is a two-story high speed ferry that operates with two hydrofoils which lift

the hull above the water's surface, reducing contact with waves and minimizing seasickness.

It takes about three hours for the Beetle to navigate between Hakata Port and Busan

International Terminal.

It's normally smooth sailing between the ports, however on stormy days like today the three

meter waves can slightly resemble a three hour long roller coaster.

The good news, though, is that although they warned that they may turn back because of

the storm, the Beetle actually has a service rate of 97 percent and rarely cancels a voyage.

We did it!

We're a little seasick.

Oh my God.

We passed through a storm and it was raining, the boat was rocking, people were getting

sick, but we made it and it's so sunny in Busan and I'm excited about that.

Busan is the second largest city in South Korea.

It has a very similar vibe to Fukuoka City.

With cobalt blue seas and a mountainous landscape there's surely to be something for everyone

here.

At least that's what the guidebooks told us.

We arrived in Busan not knowing much about it at all, but the tourist office had plenty

of English resources to help us out.

We're in Busan Station and it's time for our first meal.

This is a beef bone dumpling soup.

It's a soup with a beef bone broth and dumplings.

It's pretty straight forward actually.

It's topped with seaweed and a little bit of egg.

Dana got the exact same thing, except hers has mochi in it too.

Dana: I think this is the mochi.

Oh there it is!

There it is!

Let's eat.

Navigating the subway can seem a little intimidating at first, but in Busan it's pretty straightforward.

The ticketing machines have an English setting and the station maps have station names written

in English as well.

Even without knowing any Korean we can easily find our way around the city.

We just came to Centum City which is a huge department store, shopping mall.

This mall structure is supposed to have the best spa facility in Busan.

We're really tired.

We've been up since 6 a.m. so the first thing that we want to do in Korea, in Busan during

this trip is relax at the spa.

Maybe take a nice hot bath, just treat ourselves.

When we first checked in the spa the first thing we had to do was have a shower and then

slip into a hot springs and cleanse ourselves, make ourselves ready to enjoy the sauna and

the rest of the spa facility.

Now we've switched into these really loose fitting comfortable pajama-like room wear.

We can lounge around the facility for four hours.

Admission was only $15, which is incredibly cheap.

Now Dana and I are outdoors.

We're enjoying a foot bath.

We're at the café where we just got jugs of pomegranate vinegar juice because it's

good for your health and beauty, apparently.

You guys that felt so good.

We ended up staying for four hours, for the whole four hours.

Yeah, it's so nice.

I am so glad we did this.

I feel totally refreshed but also very sleepy and lazy and hungry.

Hopefully now we're going to find something really good to eat.

If this is your first time in South Korea you cannot go wrong with samgyeopsal.

This is an easy choice even for the non-adventurous eater since you have complete control over

what goes in your mouth.

Here you go, beautiful lettuce wrap.

You can choose your cut of meat, you can choose how to cook your meat, and you can choose

what goes into your lettuce wraps.

It's filling, cheap and so satisfying.

When you visit Korea, if you're visiting for the first time, you're not sure what to eat,

check out Korean yakiniku, eat some samgyeopsal, it's amazing.

The next morning we decided to hang out around our Airbnb and explore Seomyeon.

The district known as the downtown of Busan.

It is supposedly one of the most populated areas of Busan.

Compared to the human congestion in Seoul, it didn't feel crowded here at all.

Here in Seomyeon we managed to do all of our shopping, stopping at all of the famous Korean

beauty brands and makeup shops along the way.

So cute.

When we were done we dropped into the underground shopping mall and headed for the subway line

to check out another popular district known as Nampo-Dong.

We're in Nampo-Dong, which is supposed to be a great place for shopping and food.

We found a little escalator and went up to see what we could find and now we're at the

top of the hill.

I just know once we're at the top of the stairs we're going to get a great view of Busan from

the top.

At the top of this hill stands Busan Tower.

For a small fee you can go to the top and enjoy a coffee over some breathtaking scenery.

Up here you can get a very clear idea of the layout of Busan City and admire the breathtaking

beautiful ocean.

Oh my gosh, you guys, this is so pretty.

We can see all of Busan from up here.

You can really appreciate the scale of the city.

I almost wish we came here on the first day so we could have had a better idea of the

entire layout of the city just so we could mentally visualize where we were.

If you're traveling to Busan for the first time I would recommend coming here

on day one.

That's very bright.

Nampo-Dong is home to another shopping district, although his area feels a little more urban

and commercially developed than Seomyeon.

With street merchants, brand name shops, food stalls and Busan Tower all located within

walking vicinity, this area is really popular with tourists.

This is a great place to test your courage and try out some street food.

Thank you.

Yay!

I know that food stalls like this can be a little bit intimidating for people who can't

read or speak Korean.

I can't speak or read Korean either but all we did was point to the foods that we wanted

and they're happy to do business with you.

We got our food cut into little bite size pieces and we're eating it here and it's lovely.

The next must eat food on our list is hotteok because in Busan the hotteok has a different

filling than in Seoul.

I don't really know, I haven't had one yet.

Apparently the most delicious place is this place with this huge lineup.

Now that Dana and I aren't angry any more we're going to get in line and see what all

the fuss is about.

As you can see inside the hotteok it looks like the filling is peanuts and sunflower

seeds and some dried fruit.

This is a little more salty and savory than the ones that we've tried in Seoul.

As you saw there were literally just fried in butter so these are going to be a high

calorie snack.

We'll probably get one more before we leave.

Here we are, Airbnb.

This Korean apartment is very big, very spacious and has a very tall roof, which is something

you don't really see in Japanese apartments.

It's very interesting.

Also the floors are heated, which is so nice.

The stairs to the loft where the beds are.

They are not made because we've slept in them.

This is what I thought was really, really funny.

It looks like a regular old cupboards over here but when you open this, this is in fact

the refrigerator.

It would be really hard to cook here because they only have this little tiny thing.

What is it?

A stove with two little burners.

Then down here I believe is the laundry.

I don't know why they put the laundry in the kitchen but I guess that's a thing in Korea.

Yes, Reimen, Reimen.

Some cold noodles, traditional Korean cold noodles.

This will be the last thing we eat before we go back to Fukuoka.

We just came back to the International Port in Busan and it's a beautiful day.

They are not forecasting any major waves and it should be clear sailing all the way to

Fukuoka.

This trip is incredibly easy to make if you're living in Fukuoka.

If you book early, the earlier you book the cheaper the ferry tickets will be.

We got our tickets, they were round trip.

They're 9,800 yen, so $98, under $100 which is really, really cheap.

I actually think that if you book months in advance they're even cheaper than that.

If it's something that you think that you would like to try while you're living in Fukuoka,

don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

I do wish we were staying longer but because it's so easy to get here and because it's

so cheap, I know that I'll just come back another time.

If you're staying in Fukuoka and you're looking for a nice weekend getaway that doesn't cost

too much but is still very exciting, consider it.

Consider coming to Busan.

It's not that scary.

If you could move from wherever the hell you lived before to Japan, I'm sure you can do

a weekend trip to Busan.

Toughen up.

It's really easy, the food's great, there's tons to do.

It's plenty interesting enough for a weekend.

Now you know it's possible.

Now you know that anything is possible.

Anything is possible.

Have fun.