T18. BUSAN CITY to GIMHAE AIRPORT by LRT

Gimhae International Airport

 In most of our reading, we found out that the best way to travel between Busan City and the Gimhae International Airport is by bus.  Somehow, based on our experience, the most convenient is by Light Railway Transit (LRT). That was what the hotel front office lady told us also when we asked on how to go to LOTTE hotel to get the bus to the airport.  She said it is more easy to go by LRT, so we followed her advice.

 

For that matter, you have to start off with;

1.  Good advice

2. English-version Subway route.

3.Strong body (of course you will carry heavy bags full of souvenirs)

4. Good breakfast / lunch / dinner

Since we started off from Seomyeon station, we took line 2 (green) subway, towards Yangsan.  The target station is Sasang, which is eighteen stations away.  Being Sunday morning, the subway was not too crowded.

 

See what I mean by strong backbone.

 LRT train does not follow similar design as a subway train.  It is very much like monorail in KL city.  We walked quite a bit to the LRT station at Sasang, and the station is above ground, unlike most of subway stations which are under the ground.

The Sasang station is still new, and this could be the reason why the information on the service is not easily found.  But here we are, we highly recommend the use of this service.  By the way, the ticket price is also much cheaper than by bus.  It is only 1400 WON for a trip from Sasang to the airport.

 

The ticket, like a coin.

 

The train stopped at just two stations before we reached the airport.  You will see a nice view of small town, lake, and open field.

Check the video below.

 

View of the airport parking on your right.

 

Grab a good trolley.

Cross the road towards the terminal.

And you can start thinking of HOME.

 

 With this, I know you can tell this is the end of our travel report to South Korea.  Our immediate attention is to travel to other places, inland or overseas.

Till next report.

T17. IN SEARCH OF BUSAN MASJID

The BUSAN Masjid

We did some reading on how to go to Masjid in Busan, so there was more or less some guide on how to go about finding it.  Little that we know the masjid is actually located way outside Busan city.  This probably means there is no masjid in the city.

• Subway line 1 (orange line), Dusil Station, Exit 8.

Dusil is a small town outside of Busan city center.  This is the twelfth station from Seomyeon Station, and the train goes through some residential areas and two universities, Busan National University Education and Pusan National University.

As you reach Dusil, look for exit 8, you will notice that a sign indicating Busan Islamic Center.

The masjid's minaret at the background.

The tyre shop

Walk straight for about 100 meters, turn right after the tyre shop.

Tadaaaaaaaaaa............the masjid.  The good news is, there is a Halal Turkish restaurant called cappadocia, just before the side entrance into the masjid.  We immediately knew our second stop, in fact we purposely left the hotel with empty stomach.

Interior.

Exterior.

Neigbouring building

the cappadocia HALAL restaurant


 

Our next stop is Turkish Halal restaurant.  This is our sixth day in Korea, so obviously we are looking forward to something that we can eat without second guessing.  Besides, our food supplies (you are right, maggi, nasi ayam, rendang, nasi goreng are all brought frozen) are finishing.  Not that we don't eat Korean food, we are very selective about it.

Of course, make peace with foods....

The comfortable interior.

And finally, here come the foods...

All gone now...Alhamdullillah

 

S1. BUSAN's AWESOME SHOPPING MALLS

LOTTE @ Nampo-dong.

The shopping malls in Korea is dominated by LOTTE.  From Seoul right up to BUSAN, most of the big complexes carry the LOTTE logo.  We found one LOTTE complex with a very unique water dancing and dropping that follows the background music.

The complex is located close to Nampo-dong Station, Busan.  Taking any exit, you will see a big LOTTE logo and you can just walk in.

We were just window shopping on the third floor UNTIL suddenly the lights surrounding the centre court were turned off.  We wonder what had happened.  Do they close early today?  It was only about 3 pm.  SUDDENLY.......

(click video below)

Impressive ha?  See some more.
(click video below)

Here are some more pictures around the complex.
For more Busan video click here.

Kimchi anybody?

Shinsegae Mall @ Centum City

Centum City that consists of few multi-storey shopping malls is reportedly the world's largest department store.  It has a total area of 294 thousand square meters.  It even have oncheon (hot spring spa) and indoor golf area.

• Subway line 2 (green), Centum City Station, Exit 1

Lower Ground floor, just at the exit of subway line.

If you get off the subway, climbing towards exit 1, you will notice the different atmosphere, vast hall with European-like sculptures, and smelling like a department store, you are actually at the lower ground floor of Shinsigae Complex.

Check the video below.

Looking up from the centre court.

It is no surprise that the anchor tenant is LOTTE.  Other than that, there is also BEXCO (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center), on a separate building, and also Busan Cinema Center in the vicinity of The Centum City.

Busan International Film Festival Hall

From the Shinsegae Departmental Store, you can have the view of BIFF, which is the venue for the annually-held Film Festival.

UNDERGROUND SHOPPING CENTER

 

 One unique factor of shopping centers in Korea is the abundant of underground shopping area.  In some cases, the underground shopping center stretches all the way between one subway station to the other. 

Most of the items sold in these center can be bargained and it is a common sight that people are haggling for anything.

If you are tired of being under the ground, choose a bazaar style shopping along the walkway.

TAX free SHOPPING

doota  shopping complex

You can also claim the tax you have paid for items bought.  We found out about this at doota shopping center, where there is a counter to fill up form for claiming the tax.  The actual tax reimbursement is done at the airport when you are leaving Korea.  With hussle and bussle of flight checking in and the crowd, I am not sure if you want to claim it anyway.  That's what the salesmen at doota told me, but the facility is there for you.  Some tourists are filling up the form, and I wanted to, but..........hmmm...

The place for souvenirs hunting