Welcome to week twenty-five of the backpacking diaries. I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week twenty-three of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first twenty-four weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Jetpac eSim. This was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Japan! Get $5 off your eSIM package when you use my referral code: 4293IOA9.
Day 169: Monday 2nd September 2024
Location: Osaka & Hiroshima, Japan
Dear travel diary,
We managed to take an earlier train to Hiroshima this morning and arrived into the city around midday.
We’ve been on a few bullet trains now, but it’s crazy how quickly it can get you very long distances. It only took us two hours to get to Hiroshima from Osaka.
I already knew coming into Hiroshima that it was going to be a sad place to visit and experience. Just like in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, we’ve visited quite a lot of memorial sites and museums, and learnt about the harrowing histories of these places.
The first thing we noticed about Hiroshima is that it seemed to be a very peaceful city. It was very quiet, with a wide open space, greenery and incredibly clean.
Our first stop after checking into our hotel was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. We spent a few hours in here learning all about the A-Bomb that destroyed everything in 1945. I can’t even put into words what we learnt here, and what the people that were here at that time must have suffered.
It was inhumane and horrifying that world leaders could agree to do that to human people. I only hope that something like that never repeats and we can live in a world without fearing nuclear war.
We wandered along the river and visited other memorial sites and different areas of devastation, including the Hiroshima Dome.
Hiroshima is famous for its fried oysters and okonomiyaki (fried noodles), which we had to try while we were in the city for 24 hours.
At sundown, it was a perfect temperature and the city was beautiful to wander around for a while. We passed people throwing frisbee in the park, sitting out and having coffee by the river and living a slow-paced lifestyle.
Hiroshima is definitely somewhere I’d recommend visiting in Japan. One reason being to learn about the history and the atrocity that happened here, but also to enjoy the city as it is today and how they have rebuilt in such a short space of time.
Day 170: Tuesday 3rd September 2024
Location: Hiroshima & Fukuoka, Japan
Dear travel diary,
We were moving on to our final destination in Japan today. The morning started with a fresh orange juice sat outside along the river in Hiroshima, which made us feel like we were in Italy.
For a late breakfast we enjoyed some fried oysters washed down with an Aperol Spritz. The Aperol Spritz was only £3 so it would have been a crime to pass up on the opportunity.
Afterwards, it was a bullet train ride to our final stop of Fukuoka. This is where we’re getting the ferry to South Korea tomorrow, so we’re not expecting to do much around the city itself.
We arrived in Fukuoka in the afternoon and wandered around the top sites of temples, the river, and actually walked for an hour to the baseball stadium as there was a game happening tonight.
We chanced our luck to buy tickets at the box office and managed to score two tickets in the fan zone for £15 each.
It was a very cool experience, and a different way to put the evening in for us. Instead of the food you’d expect to find at a baseball game – think friend chicken, burgers and fries – they had everything from ramen to sushi to Korean food on offer. Poached egg and all.
It made for a lovely way to end our Japan trip, seeing some local sport.
To top off our three week trip, we spent our last night in a capsule hotel. We literally slept in what looked like a coffin, or what you’d see in a morgue. I kid you not.
The male and female rooms were separate, so it was our first night spent apart in the five and a half months that we’ve been travelling.
It was an experience to say the least. I didn’t mind the pods at all as there was actually a lot of room in them and you could sit fully upright. So I didn’t feel claustrophobic, thankfully.
However, like what I imagine a shared dorm at a hostel to be like, it was incredibly noisy and I didn’t get more than two hours of sleep. There was so much stomping around, banging, alarms going off, people moving around and shuffling things.
I couldn’t roll over at all, so it wasn’t the best experience for me.
Day 171: Wednesday 4th September 2024
Location: Fukuoka, Japan & Busa, South Korea
Dear travel diary,
I’m currently in the middle of the ocean as I write this. Somewhere between Japan and South Korea, would you believe?
We’ve opted to take a six-hour ferry from Fukuoka, Japan to Busan, South Korea. At least it allows me time to read and catch up on blog posts, right?
Plus, we’re backpackers. Which means we have to do what we can when it comes to saving pennies in order to make our travels go further (and longer).
I’m excited to be in a brand new country again, but also sad that Japan has come to an end. It’s definitely somewhere I want to come back to and explore more of. Tokyo is a city I’ll need to return to time and time again.
The ferry journey wasn’t very exciting. It was long and we didn’t come prepared with snacks. By 4pm, I was ready for some food so headed down to the shop that I found to be closed and wouldn’t reopen. With vending machines as my only option, I didn’t have enough cash for noodles so had to survive on a packet of crisps.
By the time the ferry docked at 6.45pm, I was feeling faint with hunger.
We headed straight to our guest house which was thankfully only a 20-minute walk from the ferry port, checked in and headed back out again for dinner.
From a friend’s recommendation, we headed to a noodle soup and dumpling spot near Busan Station. We had delicious chicken noodle soup and some tasty potato dumplings. The portions were massive and we couldn’t finish everything.
We headed back to our guest house for a good night’s sleep as I was exhausted from the ferry and the lack of sleep from our night in the capsules.
Day 172: Thursday 5th September 2024
Location: Busan, South Korea
Dear travel diary,
Our first full day exploring Busan!
We were up (not so) bright and early and Steff went to grab us coffees from a coffee shop near our guest house so I could have one in bed. Beautiful.
After popping in and out of a few shops, we finally figured out how to get T-Money cards needed to ride public transport.
Two buses later, we were finally in the Gamcheon Culture Village area. This was such a sight to see, and looked incredible. I definitely didn’t feel like I was in Korea at all, more-so somewhere in South America.
The coloured houses and shops stacked on top of each other here are really like something from a painting. It was amazing to see in person.
We walked around the area under umbrellas (it was incredibly hot) and headed to a souvenir store we had seen on Instagram.
You can make a flip book for only £5 and it’s the perfect size souvenir for us to take in our backpacks.
There are many souvenir shops in the area as well as coffee shops (of course) and I even sent a postcard home to my family for only £2.
After wandering around here, we then headed to the Suspension Bridge and Cable Car area. We stopped at a coffee shop near here for a quick bite to eat that had incredible views of the ocean.
Then it was time to be brave and sit in a cable car that drifted (very highly) across the ocean below. But it made for some incredible views, and we were in the sky for sunset too.
Once safe on solid ground at the other side, we walked around the Songdo beach area and felt like we were on holidays at a beach town, not in South Korea. It’s beautiful and peaceful here, and we’re enjoying it so much more than we thought we would.
Since it was such a beautiful evening, we decided to walk back towards our hotel and walked for around one hour before hopping on the bus for the remainder of the way.
For dinner, we went to McDonald’s (unashamedly). We wanted to sample Korean McDonalds and it didn’t disappoint.
Day 173: Friday 6th September 2024
Location: Busan, South Korea
Dear travel diary,
Our first location on our itinerary today was Egg Drop. Basically, a sister store of Egg Slut in London – well, it looked like it anyway.
We ordered a chicken club sandwich and it was delicious. We may have also had a side of hash browns, but they didn’t compare to our favourites from Bold Street Coffee in Liverpool.
Afterwards, we walked around this area of Busan which seemed to be a busy shopping district with lots of stalls lining the small streets.
We popped into the main shopping mall for some respite from the heat and humidity and watched a fountain show for a few minutes that didn’t really amaze as much as the one in Dubai.
After this, we headed out to the Haeundae Beach area of Busan. Along here, you’ll find the colourful capsule cars that you can take along the ocean. Unfortunately for us, they were sold out for the day, but you can walk alongside them below (and actually at a faster pace).
We were on the hunt for a coffee shop I had seen on Instagram and ended up taking a hike to get to it. After too many steps through a forest, we came to the top of a road and found the coffee shop on the 5th floor of a modern building.
The coffee shop had incredible views of the ocean and we stayed here for a while to enjoy some vanilla lattes while taking in the view.
Post-coffee, we took the bus back towards our guest house for dinner. We had our eye on a dumpling spot and took the bus back to Busan Station.
By this point, it was 7pm and we realised we had only had half a sandwich each that morning and nothing else. We were starving.
When we got to the dumpling spot, there was a bit of a queue and a very clear language barrier. But we made it work.
The owner that was taking names outside gaped at us when we gave her our order of 5x plates of dumplings. It turns out they were quite large and packed dumplings, but they were incredible.
Plus, the 5x portions of dumplings and 2x cans of Cokes only cost us £17. An absolute steal. I could eat here every night in Busan, no question.
Day 174: Saturday 7th September 2024
Location: Busan, South Korea
Dear travel diary,
We’re having a slow day in Busan today. The WiFi in our guest house isn’t great, so I haven’t been able to catch up on much work in the evenings.
So we’re in a coffee shop today. We’ve headed out of our area of the city towards a ramen spot that we’re heading to for lunch. So we’ve ended up at a coffee shop called Momos nearby.
It’s a very popular spot with outdoor balconies and a peaceful garden outside.
One thing Busan is not short on is coffee shops. I don’t think I’ve seen as many coffee shops in one city in my life. I love it.
The coffee shop was busy, but we managed to grab a table upstairs and work for a few hours.
Afterwards, we walked to the ramen spot for an early dinner and were the only diners there. The food was great and we left very full.
We had an early night and headed back to our guest house to pack and get ready to head to our next destination in South Korea tomorrow!
Day 175: Sunday 8th September 2024
Location: Busan & Gyeongju, South Korea
Dear travel diary,
We left Busan for Gyeongju this morning. The train was only 30 minutes, so it didn’t take us long to get there at all.
The train station was actually a little out of the way of the main town, so we took the bus into the centre and walked a few minutes to our hotel. It was too early to check in, so we left our bags and headed out to see the small city.
The hotel owner gave us a map and circled everything we should see. It only seemed to be a few minutes’ walk in between things so it looked like we were about to see everything in the city within an hour.
We went to find some coffee first (priorities) and came across a really nice cafe that was salt-themed. There was salt everywhere. My coffee even came with a ring of salt around the rim, like a spicy Margherita.
They had many different pastry options with lots of different flavours (spring onion and cream cheese bun anyone?) and we planned our day and jumped on our laptops for 30 minutes or so.
It was another scorcher of a day, and we walked around the park areas to see the tombs and fortresses.
After seeing everything there was to see, we headed back to the hotel to check in and discovered our room came with free Netflix on the TV!! It’s been so long since we’ve had a TV that we can actually watch.
So of course, I started binge-watching the new series of Selling Sunset.
After a few episodes, we headed out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We’re really getting into the culture here, as you can see.
I had a poke bowl and himself had a burrito. It was really nice, and made a nice change from the Asian food we’ve been having for the past number of months.
Then it was back to the hotel to watch more Selling Sunset and have a movie night. The Netflix account was in Korean, so the search function wasn’t great for us. I came across a movie called ‘A Rainy Day in New York’ and I was sold.
It had Timothee Chamalet, Dakota Fanning, Jude Law, Selena Gomez and more but it was still awful. It was nice to see glimpses of New York, but I don’t think I’ll be running to watch it again anytime soon.
Check back in next week where I’ll be continuing my trip around South Korea and arriving in Seoul!
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