Day 21 | Busan to Andong

Saturday 2 November. 2024

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Today we are heading to Andong! The rain seems to have settled to a drizzle when we check out of our hotel in the morning.

We make our way to Busan station, which is conveniently located across the road from the hotel. Our bodies are a bit bruised and battered after having lugged the bikes to the hotel from the ferry terminal last night and we added to that this morning having the drag them across to the station once more.

Unfortunately we left our train booking quite late so instead of two connecting trains, we will be catching the ITX Maum train to Dongdaegu, then changing to a bus to Andong where we will buy tickets at the terminal. There seems to be a glitch on the Bus Tago website where you can’t make online bookings but there are plenty of services. The only train option left at the time of booking would have arrived quite late so but luckily Korea has so many different transport options.

We board the ITX train as soon as it arrives in Busan. Travel hack: when travelling with fold up bikes, there is a section at the back of every carriage where the bikes fit perfectly and can be stored out of the way. It also means you don’t use up all the space in the regular luggage compartment, but you need to get on early to make sure you have access as sometimes others may claim the spot first as it’s not reserved.

As this is a slower intercity train, there are more locals onboard and it’s not as full as the speedy KTX.

We seem to be the only foreigners onboard when the train departs.

We depart Busan at 10:40am on the dot and arrive in Dongdaegu at 11:47am. We make our way to the bus terminal which isn’t too far, but far enough while lugging our bikes over our shoulder.

A quick lunch stop of 김밥 (kimbap) and Isaac Toast before purchasing our tickets from the booth. We buy tickets for the 1:05pm bus which will give us enough time to navigate the bus terminal as it’s pretty big. Just as well we do as our platform is on a different level and on the other side of the terminal.

The journey is about two hours and although it’s not the KTX, the bus still goes pretty fast.

Upon arrival we put our bikes back together and set off towards our final stamp stop at Andong Dam.

The sun is behind us as we make our way there. The scenery is gorgeous and the late seasonal change has made it the perfect time to cycle this path as you can see the leaves changing colours.

Both Japan and South Korea are excellent for cycling but the one advantage that South Korea has is the cycling infrastructure. Whilst Japan is very cycle friendly, you still need to share the road with cars and always be vigilant. South Korea on the other hand has so many dedicated cycling lanes which makes it easier and so much more enjoyable. It really is the best place in the world to cycle.

We are enjoying the ride so much that before you know it the 12km is up and we have arrived.

As we are collecting our last stamp we notice that someone has left their cycle passport behind in the booth, along with a bunch of cash. Fortunately they have included their name and contact number so we ask our friend to call them and organise to have it returned in the next week. We’d be pretty devastated if we had left our passports behind, especially after all the effort of collecting stamps around the country, so we want to make sure this one makes it back to its owner.

We make the journey towards our motel, which is a quick 5km back along the water before turning off into the traffic. It turns out we’ve booked a love motel (again). There’s nothing wrong with love motels – they’re clean and cheap but often very tacky.

We head out for dinner at 엄마만두 for some noodles and dumplings.

Afterwards we stroll around town a little and come across a cute bakery. We buy a few things and have a chat with the shop keepers who is so sweet.

We head back to our motel and look forward to exploring the town a bit more tomorrow.

Next post: Day 22 | Andong