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Published: November 8th 2009
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It’d been well over a year since I’d been to the beach and to say that I was missing some sun and surf would be an understatement and since my time left in the ROK was rapidly drawing to an end a trip to the easterly shores of South Korea was a must and so the call to Busan was made.
7 newly acquainted mates boarded a train at 11:15pm and we were on our way for a weekend of unbelievable fun! Transport in South Korea is just top class, the transport companies have ensured that even when traveling on the budget commuter train you are sufficiently entertained AKA there is a cold beer on hand and a Nuraebang!
Some 5 odd hours later 7 weary travelers arrived at Haeundae and 1st point of call at 5am a place to crash for a couple of hours before some serious beach time. With Jimjilbangs in short supply we managed to find a super helpful Ajuma who hooked us up with enough pillow and blankets to rest our weary heads for a couple of hours in a very well located Minback.
10am and it was time to hit the beach
Busan's haeundae beach
10:30 mass excitement, proper beach! and wow were we spoiled with the most beautiful beautiful day! In Korea the population is still convinced that they have 4 distinct season and as a result the beaches are inhabited predominantly by westerners at this time of the year since beach going season for the Korean hordes ends at the end of August regardless of the prevailing weather, we weren’t complaining cause there was no fighting for a tiny space on the usually very packed beach!
Now truth be known usually I steer very clear of any area that contains too many young US Army/Air force boys but on this particular trip the large presence of US troops letting their hair down on a weekend off proved useful and fun cause naturally they come equipped with a football and are always keen to get involved in some beach sport so the wonderful afternoon on the beach was coupled with a really fun game of American football tainted with some South African/Kewi rules.
Sadly sunshine is not a 24 hour phenomenon in Busan so after watching a beautiful sunset we head back to the minbak to get ready for the nights fun and games. Some hours later
Busan's haeundae beach
10:30 mass excitement, proper beach! we were all tarter up and ready for what would be one of my top ‘funest’ nights in the ROK. We started off with a little dinner then onto the pub and then in hot pursuit of a spot to dance. Sadly Haeundae was fresh out of dance clubs but what I did successfully manage to do was recruit an entourage of about 10 Airforce boys to join our crowd of 7 and next thing we were dominating the bars of Haeundae having lots and lots of fun. Naturally no night can be deemed absolutely awesome without a little visit to a nuraebang so naturally our crew made its way into the depths of the infamous singing room to bust out a couple of tunes only to emerge some hours later to the sun rising over the sea.
There is just no way that you can succumb to exhaustion before you have watched the sun come up properly so I recruited 4 game wing men (excuse the pun) and we all sauntered along the beach headed towards the light house to watch the dawning of what would be another spectacular morning in Busan.
While I’m always an advocate
of maximising fun, resulting in little sleep, not everyone feels the same so I had to agree to a trip back to the minbak for a couple of hours sleep before we could begin Sunday properly. We had pre-booked our train tickets back home the previous evening and the girls had decided that they didn’t want to be getting home too late I, on the other hand, had no intention of getting home too early so I managed to convince my good friend Dave that catching the 6pm train home was a much better idea. After arising out of the minbak Dave and I bid farewell to our five awesome travel buddies and we headed down the beach to see if we could catch a couple of waves!
Needless to say surf boards in Busan, while readily available, I suspect are more for show than for practical use cause surfing on the Busan sea was like trying to surf on the Vaal dame (minus the boat wakes) but it did make for a really fun morning and hey now I can claim to have gone surfing even if I didn’t actually catch a wave :-).
Sufficiently sun burned,
Suwon Station
10pm and the homeless are setting in for the evening happy and chilled out we turned in our surf board popped past Blowfish beach bar for some chow and then we the beach farewell, headed back to Haeundai beach to pick up our bags and then on to the station in Busan city it was!
The Haeundai beach bash was so much fun and I would 100% recommend it to anyone interested and hey I’d suggest delaying your visit to early September when you can bask in the still beautiful weather without the crazy crowds!!
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