‘Oops, 8:30. Why didn’t I hear the alarm? My bus leaves at 9:00, and I won’t even have breakfast.’
After a quick wash, I rush out the door, and it’s drizzling outside. Luckily, Nam is only a 15-minute walk from the terminal. I grabbed an umbrella with a sticky handle as fast as I could get my hands on it, and by the time I got there, it was 10 minutes before departure. As it turns out, I had plenty of time to spare. I guess I’m a little nervous about what’s going to happen. I quickly grabbed a TOP coffee from a convenience store and boarded a public bus with it.
(I usually write blog posts with respect, but I’ll make an exception for this one to keep things simple).
1 hour and 30 minutes from South Terminal
I was a winner. The driver started the bus at 9:00 a.m., saying, “I have one more passenger. and started the bus at 9:00. The passenger probably overslept and missed the bus. Are Sunday princess trips supposed to be so unpopular?
It arrived exactly an hour and a half later. As soon as we arrived, we found a place for breakfast. Before arriving at the bus stop, I looked out the window of a house that I thought might be different, and when I googled it, it was. So we arrived at our stop and headed to Samdaejae Sundubu. Luckily, they opened at 10:30, so I was the first customer in.
The menu is a simple white tofu. Since it’s morning, we’ll stick to something casual.
1. mirsom
We then headed to Mir Island. It’s a 6-minute walk. I thought about renting a scooter or bike, but decided to just walk. But then I regretted it. It seems to be a work in progress. I figured it would be interesting to see in a few months. I was planting and maintaining several plants.
I just went to Gongsheng. I regretted not renting a scooter or bike. It’s just across the street, but you have to go back quite a ways to get there. It was a bit closer to the bike path, but a bit of a detour on foot.
You can see it right from Mir Island, but you have to walk past it to get back across the river bridge.
2. commonality
If it’s not too hot, I don’t know, but the first Sunday in September is still summer. It was also in humid 30+ degree temperatures. It was hot, but the photos turned out beautifully and it was worth it.
Since the tour started as an accidental historical tour, the next stop was the tomb of King Muryeong. Before that, we headed to a cafe right at the entrance to the Great Wall to rest our weary bodies. The store must have been popular because there was a long line. What makes it even more so is the location. Outside the window, you can see the Great Wall of China. The menu is also themed around the local specialty, chestnuts. Judging by the materials on the wall, the owner was well educated and skilled, so it was hard to fail.
3. Princess Muryeong and the Royal Mausoleum
I left the cafe and hopped on my favorite shared scooter. It was a 30-minute walk to King Muryeong’s tomb, but it only took a few minutes. I was reminded of the truth that you have to spend money to avoid pain. The tomb of King Muryeong was crowded. The first place we entered was a museum of sorts that explained the royal tomb. I noticed a group of elderly people who looked similar. I think they were alumni of some school in Busan, and they all had name tags around their necks that said who they were from. We laughed at their inane jokes about raising and lowering the shutters of the royal tombs, and they were eager to authenticate their photos. I tried to drown out the noise with music and Noisecanceling earbuds, but all I could hear was bizarre laughter and pointlessly loud conversations. The developers of Apple’s AirPods Pro may not have been able to incorporate the voice frequencies of Busan elderly people’s dialects into their product. We hope to improve this in the future.
Anyway, we got a good look at the tomb of King Muryeong. Moving quickly to get as far away as possible, I made it to the top of the Royal Mausoleum. The interior is closed to visitors for maintenance, but I felt like I was in a royal tomb.
After exploring the royal mausoleum, we headed to the nearby National Museum.
4. Gongju Hanok Village
As I walked, I saw an area that looked like a hanok village. It was a hanok village, not something like a hanok village. It was small, but the Instagram emotional photos would work well. I’m not very good at it, so I didn’t get a good picture, but I can see the potential for a good picture depending on the person taking it.
We had a beer in Hanok Village, walked around a bit, and it’s already 5:00. The bus to Seoul is scheduled for 6:10pm, so you decide to head back. It was raining again, so I took the bus. It was about 10 minutes to the bus stop, so I was able to catch the 125 bus to the terminal around 5:20.
All in all, Princess is not a bad place to travel solo in toboggan mode. It’s about an hour and a half bus ride from Seoul, and most of the historic sites are not far from the stop. This allows you to get around as well as a bicycle or scooter. If you’re traveling solo, this is the way to go. It’s a great way to take your kids on a historical tour. Not recommended if you want an extreme advantage. Overall, Moonlight is great for traveling.
