Concluding my Tokyo stopover. Prepared to head over to South Korea for a week. Pretty much it was hang out in Nampodong and spend time with family.
- Day 1 - Flight Tokyo —> Busan
- Day 2 - Ananti Hilton & Lotte Outlets
- Day 3 - Nampodong - Family Dinner
- Day 4 - Nampodong - Lotte Mall
- Day 5 - Nampodong - Lee’s Pizza
- Day 6 - Busan Coastal Walk
- Day 7 - Flight back to LAX via HND
1st Day - Arrival into Busan from Tokyo.
Got a hair cut and ate dinner at a Pork BBQ restaurant. Kept it simple as I was up since 4 am in Tokyo and spent over an hour standing on a crowded train.
Going to chill and not walk about as much.
2nd Day - Ananti Hilton Busan
Stayed a night at Ananti. Very nice hotel and can’t get this level of luxury stateside for $300 a night.
Had lunch at Lotte Premium Outlets while doing some shopping. The Tonkatsu was good, but Japan is still better. The Outlets are not really an ‘outlet’ and only slightly cheaper than a regular mall. Both however are cheaper than stateside for the brands that I’m seeking like Uniqlo and ABC Mart.
3rd Day - Nampodong - Family Dinner
Today’s Buddha’s Birthday and went to a mountain temple. Afterwards, ate chachamyun for breakfast before dinner in Nampodong.
Finally had some time to check out Uniqlo. They had my Supima Cotton shirts and Korea like Japan are vanity size so an XL here is a L in a US based Uniqlo.
Ate lunch in the food court. The bibimbahp has an unusual taste but was interesting. Coffee as always is very light almost watery in Korea.
Ever favorite. Vending machines. Always inexpensive.
Had some craft beers at home. The Pilsner was good. Rest were ehh. For 2000 won these were all a great deal.
5th Day - Nampodong - Lee’s Pizza
Just chilled and walked around Nampodong. Picked up some memory foam shoe inserts at ABC Mart and they are like magic and I was able to do 9k steps with no foot pain. The Men’s Memory Foam fits a 9.5M Jordan 1’s perfectly.
I ate lunch at Lee’s Pizza and it’s changed a bit from last I remember it in 2018. It’s still good, but not like before. Could be my tastes have changed.
Had some Dalgona Coffee. I don’t normally drink something this sweet. But it’s not often I’m in Korea, so why not? It was way too sweet though.
6th Day - Beach walk and cruising about Busan
Taking it slow and relaxing. Enjoying the sights, eating and drinking. Ate Kal gook soo noodles at Chungmudong market.
Had iced coffee at the Jeolyeong coastal walk.
It wasn’t opened, but I had lunch and coffee at this restaurant on a previous visit called Mok Jang Won. Very nice landscaping and decor. The cafe opens at 11 am.
7th Day - Return to USA
In hindsight this was nuts. I took total of 4 flights starting at 4 pm from Busan Gimhae Airport to Seoul Gimpo Aiport. Gimhae to Gimpo was a quick 1 hour on a tiny A200. The Gimpo to Haneda is on a a larger A321 that was the most modern plane I’ve ever flown on. You can use Bluetooth headphones with their inflight entertainment system.
Travel Tip - Gimpo Airport has a free shuttle bus. Take Stop 8 from Domestic Terminal and wait 2 stops to get to the International Terminal. The stop in between is the parking garage, ask the driver if you’re not sure.
Gimpo to Haneda had a nice meal. While not my first choice it was a tomato seafood spaghetti. Fruits were excellent. Salad was ok. They use metal utensils which is nice.
I got to ride on the ANA Star Wars themed R2D2 plane. Kinda cool but other than some theme music and paper R2D2 cups it’s not really any different from a regular 787.
They started with a light snack of a sandwich, crackers and water. It was a little messy, but tasty.
I fell asleep and missed the main dinner meal. But I had it before on other flights so not a big deal. I was awake for breakfast and it was acceptable. It could have done better with some condiments like ketchup and maple syrup as it had potatoes and pancakes. The paper R2D2 coffee cup was cool.
And this concluded my epic international portion of my 2 week journey.
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