Busan Trip - Day 3: Busan City Bus Tour

We were up early (for us during a vacation) and waiting at the Busan City Bus Tour stop near the Haeundae subway station just after 10 in the morning on Friday, December 30. We started getting a little worried that we had waited at the wrong spot when the bus didn't arrive at 10:08 like the schedule said, but finally we saw the double-decker turn onto the street and we climbed aboard about quarter after 10. Busan has a nice city bus tour. For 10,000 won (about $10) you can buy a ticket on the bus and get on or off at any stop you like throughout the day on the three main tour circuits. We decided it would be a great way to see the city while getting to some of the interesting tourist spots. Much better than spending tons of time riding the subway underground. Here's some of the things we visited and saw on our third day in Busan.

Driving over the "double-decker" Gwangan Bridge

Our first stop was at the UN Memorial Cemetery.

Friendly guards at the UN Memorial Cemetery gate

Original UN flag that the UN forces rallied under during the Korean War
Donated by General Douglas MacArthur from his private collection

These men were slowly looking through all areas of the cemetery. Possibly a Korean War veteran and his son?

Canadian monument

Wall with names of fallen soliders (click to see full-size)

"In memory of those members of the United Nations forces who gave their lives in the Korean War" - 1950-1953

Most of the UN Memorial Cemetery from a high vantage point (Gwangan Bridge in the distance)

Next we strolled through the area around the Busan Cultural Center on our way to the Busan Museum.

Ali posing with a large violin by the Busan Cultural Center

Busan Museum

Life-size vignette of a Korean clock-maker

We hopped back on the City Tour Bus and took it one more stop to Gwangalli Beach. We had a yummy pasta lunch and some fun on the windy beach.

Gwangan Bridge from Gwangalli Beach

When we were done at the beach, we decided to use the subway to get to Busan Station to catch the bus for another city circuit. We walked for awhile and checked our tourist map quite a bit before finally finding the subway station. We were trying to get to another beach to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, all our walking meant that we got on a later bus than we'd hoped, so we ended up seeing the sunset from the bus rather than from the Taejongdae Observatory. We stopped at Taejongdae Resort Park for a few minutes to see if we could capture the end of the sunset, but it was too far to the observatory to get there in time. So we just looked around a bit and then took a regular city bus back to the nearest subway station and onward back to Haeundae Beach.

Road-side stand after road-side stand were filled with colourful balloons in preparation for New Year's

We decided to make one more stop back at Dongbaek Island (check this post for more pictures of the island) and Jonathan took some pictures of the city at night. Then we walked back to our hotel and had a well-earned snooze after our day filled with walking.

Gwangan Bridge at night

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Busan, click the links below.

Day 1: Haeundae Beach

Day 2: Yongdusan Park

Day 4: Fortress & Temple
Day 4/5: New Year's in Busan
Day 5: Sunrise Festival
Day 5: The rest of New Year's Day