Drinking on the beach is very common, especially with all the cheap convenience stores lining the beach stocked with $1.50 soju bottles, $4.00 rice wine, coolers, and cheap beer. Oh, and because this is Korea, fried chicken places, pizza places, and good `ol McDonalds will deliver right to your beach blanket. After day drinking and wandering, we made our way back to the hostel to clean up and prepare for the night ahead. We made friends with some of the staff and other backpackers and passed around a guitar to sing some tunes as the sun went down. Tried and were pretty disappointed by a Mexican restaurant after a long wait, so we stocked up on the ever reliable and cheap street food to floor eat with - then out for nightlife!
Late start the next day, but the boys staggered into their bathing suits, grabbed some food (and you guessed it, more beer) and wandered back to the beach. Ladies went for a more cultural route and we hit up the Busan Art Museum, which is not only a large and ever-updating museum, but a free one too. We took a stroll around the city center and went to the greatest hole-in-the-wall sushi secret: Sushi Berry. Deliciously full, we spent our afternoon on the beach admiring the beach soccer games, beach volleyball, and the sand castle competition. There were lots of kids activities, including a personal sand burial area and a toboggan hill made of sand. This night was a blur of great little food eats, bar hopping, a fancy beach club, and finally a concert and fireworks beachside :)
This little Busan celebrity is locally called Thong Man (photo not mine), famous for terrifying the conservative Koreans (and foreigners too) looking for a simple day at the beach. We were drawn to him bodychecking in beach soccer (below).
Finally we ended our weekend with a great lunch buffet nearby: a huge array of American favorites we`ve missed including steak, ribs, salads, fruits, and pastas. We retired to the luxurious Spa Land in Shinsaegae (biggest department store in the world) for the afternoon, and every second of it was heaven. Which may have to do with the no children under 13yrs allowed inside. $13.00 buys you hours and hours of giant baths of different temperatures and ingredients, the outdoor hot springs and sodium bicarbondate waterfall (removes dead skin cells), and then once you dry off it`s into the XL unisex clothing and the Spa area. There were two floors of themed rooms, among my favorites the Bamboo Room (medium temp, bamboo scented, and floor to ceiling bamboo decorated walls) and the Pyramid Room (themed walls caving inward at the top, ancient roman level in the middle to lay on, and HOT). The DVD room was dimly lit and full of massage chairs each with a personal TV. I was confused as to the headphone situation until i lay back in one and realized the personal sound comes right from the headrest! Perfect, relaxing end to a jam packed weekend!
Recommendations and Turn around & walk away's
Fuzzy Navel: Mexican restaurant right on the main street, 2 min from the beach, great pictures but pretty overpriced and WAY small portions, slow service too.
Sushi Berry: small sushi place off the main Haeundae Ru, cheap prices, AMAZING sushi, nice owner
Wolfhound: pretty popular Irish pub a quick walk from the beach. Good pub food, nice beer and mix drink selection at reasonable prices. It has big screen TVs for sports, and in general a cool place
Thursday Party: a favorite bar of many with dancy music, cheaper drinks, foozeball table and beer pong table (that gets filled up for the night early on). Tables spill out onto the street for the cool beach breeze
