Unless you live in Korea, it will not make sense to make a 1 day 1 night trip to Busan like I did. But I was in Gwangju, so it seemed to make sense for me to head over to Busan for the Haeundae Sand Festival (해운대 모래축제), which turned out to be comparatively underwhelming because I vaguely remember having seen much better works at the sand festival in Sentosa many years ago. I suppose people come for the party and to take part in the various activities, while I was expecting to see massive sand castles and the like.
With little time to explore Busan before returning to Seoul, the only place of attraction I managed to visit was the Jagalchi Market (부산 자갈치시장). Wet markets are usually overloaded with photo opportunities, and one of my favourite funny moments was the runaway octopus.
“You rascal,” muttered the ajumma at the octopus, suggesting the fact that the octopus has been trying to escape to no avail.
But nothing beats my favourite moment of this grandpa who smiled at me.
Say goodbye to the impression that Busan people are hostile.