Gwangalli Beach (A Review)

Versus.... Haeundae Beach vs Daytona Beach vs Waikiki

Ok, no, I'm not going to really compare it to all those. Just to Haeundae.

Yes this is our super sweet sand castle!! And you can't even see the twigs we used for trees!

Our goal is to try all the major beaches near Busan and some closer to us. Unfortunately, I suck at taking pictures recently and this is really the only picture I took while we were at Gwangalli. God I suck.

I summary, Haeundae is a much nicer beach. Nicer sand, nicer water, beach umbrellas are nicer and they don't stab you in the head by accident. <-- Ok, that was mostly me and not the beach. Still it goes into my reasons why Gwangalli just wasn't as good.

So, at Haeundae you can rent an umbrella and beach tarp for 5,000W for all day. At Gwangalli, you can rent an umbrella for 5,000W, but it doesn't come with a sweet tarp. However, you can buy a tarp for forever if you pay another 3,000W.  But who wants to lug a tarp around with them? Also, at Haeundae there are umbrellas that have chairs you can rent for slightly more. They don't at Gwangalli though... sad face.

At both beaches you can rent inner-tubes for 5,000W all day. That's pretty cool. Though I have yet to do this because the water is still so cold (think spring fed river cold). My theory thus far... get in, get numb, get back out.

Some better pictures thanks to the Korea Tourism website...

Gwangalli Beach

 And at night during one of the many festivals.

Although I wouldn't recommend Gwangalli during the day... unless you're staying in Busan during the peak season and you just can't stand the thought of going to Haeundae during this:

***Shudder***

I would recommend Gwangalli at night. After having spent several several nights trying to get drunk at both beaches I feel confident in saying that the bars and nightlife at Gwangalli far exceeds the one at Haeundae. Just walking up and down the strip it is far easier to find bars that have a nice view of the beach and there are Noribangs in excess of course. Whereas in Haeundae you really need to head in-land, not so easy for the normal tourist to know where the good spots are. If you're not careful you could easily end up in the red-light district of Haeundae. (Not Joking there)

I would also like to emphasize how easy public transportation is in Busan as well. Between trains, buses, very reasonably priced taxis and even a "representative driver" (too drunk to drive but don't want to leave your car downtown? Call a representative driver to drive you home!) service which costs about the same as a taxi, there's no reason to drive drunk and no reason why everyone in your party can't drink! Gombae!!

I'll let you know how the other beaches go as the summer continues on!

Gwangalli Eobang Festival, Sunday 24th

On Sunday, we went to the Gwangalli Eobang Festival, with one of Shannon's Korean Co-Workers, Mr. Kim and his family, Mrs. Kim, Emily and Paul. Emily and Paul are their little girl and boy and I'm pretty sure those aren't their real names, but that's what they told us to call them. Also, Doug came too. haha! I hope Doug reads this at some point.

We got down there about 2:30pm, just in time to catch this play/musical going on. Mr. Kim tried to explain to Shannon and I what was going on, but we were still lost. Cool Picture though.

There were a whole bunch of learning activities along the way. Some had really long lines. Like the Cotton Candy Line. I'm not sure if Cotton Candy is normally available or not, but it was free to try here so the line was epic. We didn't stand in it. We did find a tent where you could dress up like an ancient Korean Warrior. The kids wanted to dress up and they talked their dad into it too. Soon after, they talked Shannon into it! 

Mr. Kim, Emily and Paul. So fierce!!

Shannon posing with Paul! Somehow he doesn't look as authentic as Mr. Kim....

We continued down the beach. Mr. Kim, Doug, and Paul all tried shooting a bow, in what Shannon and I were sure were very unsafe circumstances. (Shooting in a tent, with people on either side, etc). Further down the beach were traditional Korean games. Including this sweet invention, which Doug was sure we were going to break our legs trying out. We all tried, it was a lot of fun, but none of us were as good as these random Korean girls.

The goal is to bounce your partner high in the air so when they come down they bounce you even higher. It's harder then it sounds, but a lot of fun!

Look how high she's being bounced!

Soon after, the Kim kids were getting tired, so the Kim's went home for the day. We were hungry and we were just a short subway ride away from TGIFridays, genuine american burgers, but we had never used the subway in Busan yet! We decided being courageous was the only way we would get TGIFridays so we sucked it up and walked to the Subway station. With some fumbling we figured out how to buy tickets and headed on down to the train.

As blurry as this photo is, I love it! Shannon's so happy!

We successfully made it to TGIFridays... but when I saw the uniforms, I thought we might have stumbled into a Hooters instead:

Maybe Cooters....

Trying to subtly take a photo of the shorty short skirts all the waitresses were wearing. Really short skirts.

Our genuine american burgers were delicious and actually tasted like an american cheeseburger! We headed back to the subway, we needed to get back to the festival in time for the fireworks and boats on the water. Along the way we walked through an open air market. When we got back on the subway, we spotted these gems.

The matching couple! Yes, they dressed that way on purpose!

Shannon told me how rude I was taking their picture and I pointed out that my picture had been taken several times today because I'm white and I hadn't been upset. Win! :D

We got back just in time for the fireworks show. Not many of my pictures turned out. I tried out all kinds of different setting, but this is really the best.

The boats are out on the water, dancing under the fireworks. But we can't see the full dance from where we are. It's still beautiful.

Weird little moments throughout the day:

• Being Interviewed on the beach- not sure what for, school project maybe? They love interviewing americans if they can for some reason.
• Being filmed watching handicapped people dance... while we were making some very politically incorrect jokes. Whoops!
• A Korean girl and her boyfriend trying to secretly take pictures with me. I didn't even realize they were there until Shannon said "Would you like to take a picture with us?" They were very excited that we willingly took a photo with them. We surmised later that they might have thought I was someone famous... lol!

We went home soon after that. Overall, good Sunday!