HAEUNDAE BEACH
Haeundae Beach is the most popular beach in all of South Korea during the summer months. Here, “parasails” as people call them (I say “beach umbrella”) are lined up from the start to the end of the beach, umbrella tops touching each other. Every 25 yards, or where ever there is a color change in the beach umbrellas, there are little walkways to get to the ocean. Never had I been to or seen a beach so crowded! Coming from Oregon the beaches are sparsely populated, so growing up I always dreamed of frecuenting a populated beach. Haeundae was a dramatic answer to my dreams!
Haeundae beach is so crowded, however, that unless you rent your own beach umbrella–which may be already sold out–there is no place to lay really! The beach umbrellas go about 5 feet from the water. When the tide comes up everyone gets soaked under those umbrellas. When I saw a lot of sunbathers get wet and screech, I had to stop and laugh at the site of it all.
SONGDO BEACH
Sunday I went to Songdo beach. It is the perfect combination of a crowded beach, yet laid back. There are lots of beach umbrellas, but there would still be no trouble finding my own little area to lay out and sunbathe….or in my case, burn. ^^ At Songdo beach people enter the water with their inflatables–just like at Haeundae–but you wont feel left out if you don’t have one and simply jump in! It seems like Songdo beach has more of a laid back atmosphere, so I enjoyed this small beach strip. My only qualm was there were no waves whatsoever, so the thrill of wave-jumping was absent. Nevertheless, it’s always nice to be in nature.
Beach umbrellas of Busan.
The rocks skirt around Songdo Beach.
TAEJONDAE CLIFFS
This was more of a hike around a penensula than actual “beachin’ it” on the sand, but Taejondae was really refreshing.
Once I got past my lazy bones, I felt so refreshed in nature.
I enjoyed mountain hiking and seeing some great views of isalnds in the distance, but after a day of beach-hopping and a 2 hour hike, by the end of the day, I have to admit I was a hungry, tired, sweaty grump! However, as soon as I got some fried kimbop in my stomach, life was good again ;-p
…desperately hungry and maybe a little delusional from the heat and dehydration (notice the sunburn), I headed straight into (wait for it! lolz) Krispy Kreme donuts of all places to reflenish my energy. Not very healthy you think? Well, I tried a Green Tea Donut and NY Cheesecake Donut. OK, it wasn’t healhty but it was oh-so-good. It even left me with enough energy to browse around in my favorite shopping area in Busan (thus far), Nampo-dong.
A Line in the Life of Phoebe* 
Wait! That last paragraph could go with the picture right underneath it, from the preceeding week…of you and your kiddos stuffing your faces!!! LQ:S. (Laugh quietly…snicker!) SSSo how was the green tea donut? I wonder what kind of a donut they’ll have in JAPAN??!!! Seaweed donut? Bashi Kombu donut? Sushi donut?!!! Have fun on your vacation. You sure get a lot more of them then I do!!!! Been here three months, and no days off yet. Lucky you! But the beaches there look gross, worse than Miami…doesn’t seem like a “real” beach, compared to ours here in OREGON.
XOX, MOM
But Taejondae looks a lot like Manzanita, don’t you think?
Let’s see if this works.
Well….I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I HEART YOU! Gracias por su amistad thru thick and thin!!!! And btw, I think we should arrange a Skype chat really soon!!! Miss you muchisimo.
Quiero verte!!!!
I agree with your mom about Taejondae–looks a LOT like Manzanita. The water looks rather gross, and NO WAVES???? What’s the beach without waves to jump? Bummer! You look like you’re having a great time, and that’s what counts. Big hug!!
KIMBOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omgoodness…grew up on that and LOVE IT! i especially love this blog to see the different beaches–reminds me of being in SD again. I really feel like I’m there with you because of the pix and the descriptions.
and those donuts sounds AMAZing! wow…green tea and cheesecake! yum! i have a place to take u when we finally get back to OR sometime next year. super yummy surprise!
soooo many people. i dont know if i could get used to that or maybe it’d be good because u could just go and be ignored bcuz ur just another person, but then again, i’m a giant pale german…so maybe not. ;P missin you woman!!