Gamcheon in the rain
First of all, some congratulations are in order.
1. The Busan ministry of weather correctly forecast the rain.
2. The Busan department of roads and associated infrastructure managed to un-slippify every road, staircase, path, construction site that I encountered in the rain.
3. The Busan public convenience executive council managed to install public toilets about once every 50 metres on the slopes of Gamcheon and none were overflowing in the rain - I did proper inspections of each.
So now that plaudits have been handed out, it is time to talk about Gamcheon. An instagramers dream, and the #1 overall attraction in Busan according to, people. Probably a silly idea to go in the rain to appreciate its colours and whimsy then? I am so whimsical. Whatever you do, do not suggest the place looks like Miyazaki inspired Spirited Away world. That WILL get you shot in Korea these days. And actually that reminds me, many nightclubs in Busan in particular, have anti westerner messages brazenly posted on their doors, things like 'NO AMERICAN SCUM MAY ENTER'.
I digressed.
Back on topic, the hill where the main part of the Gamcheon culture village is located is actually over the hill from the main part of Busan, heading down to another port area. Not that you can tell today. It is a nice area, but everything was closed early on a Sunday morning, well almost everything, you could buy phone holders as you will see below.
There were local tourists getting about, I did not see any foreigners, it is a long weekend here in Korea, tomorrow is a holiday for Memorial day.
The houses were originally built for poor labourers working at the ports, then became housing for people fleeing the war, and then weird religious sects started up preying on the poor and weak living in the area. So basically standard practice then. The religion here was to abstain from anything that gives pleasure and live as frugal a life as possible. Which I think means shut up and stop complaining and give us all your money.
Wet but not slippery.
It may be old, but it still has more wires than seems reasonable.
I was confident I was now heading up the right hill. There are a lot of hills and they all kind of look like a village on a hill, but not necessarily THE village on a hill.
Apparently, this is the site of a former Japanese cemetery. There is some controversy about moving lots of tombs to one specific location.
The view back down to Busan in the rain. I would like to have an afternoon coffee one day and come up here at night for the city lights view.
Colourful cultural village starts to appear.
There are a thousand tiny cafes, all closed, the only place open was selling a special thing for holding your phone while on the toilet. Such culture.
Lots of spots have been turned into designated photo zones.
I presume this is a Hote and not a Hotel so as to prevent being sued by Wes Anderson.
Who approved the construction of that one big apartment building?
Occasional fibre glass figures getting in the way of the view.
Check out the clouds.
Nearer the bottom, predictable temples appear.
More hearts.
A couple more....
Last one looks most like a Favela in Brazil.
I was completely saturated, even my socks were soaked which I hate. Korean grandmas were either trying to give me an umbrella or laughing at me. Laughter is the correct response. After retracing my steps I went into the subway network, which has 4 stations joined by long underground malls selling umbrellas and socks... and eventually I ended up at the Lotte department store and made my way to the roof. I had de-saturated a bit by the time I got to the roof so decided not to go up for the view. Maybe later when it stops raining I will go there again. I did go there last time.
Instead of getting wet again on the roof, I hung out with some more ducks. What is it with me and ducks?
Heavy rain in Busan
Streets are now flooded. I had to stick completely to the underground subway malls to go to the department store to get omurice.
The photos are crap and just here to fill a place.
It has rained so much that even if it has stopped by the morning I am not sure if I will be able to swing off any mountains again tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a holiday, and a Monday, so I wonder what will and won't be open as far as museums and other indoor type places go, so it might yet be a day of sitting in cafe's and my hotel room, or potentially, do a load of washing somewhere.
After that however, no more rain
That's enough about the weather.
Now I will talk about the hotel cat. When I checked in there was a sign warning about the cat. It had some English warning that the cat my startle you when you come in at night etc. but he does not have rabies. Good to know.
I have seen the cat a few times, one time he ran out the front of the hotel and around the corner towards the fish markets. This is not a small hotel in a quaint village, it has 15 levels with at least 20 rooms per level, on probably the busiest street in Busan.
Then when I went out before, a girl was playing with the cat with a piece of string. I wanted to take a photo, but the girl was wearing a very short skirt, and Korea has warnings posted absolutely everywhere warning you that you will go to jail if you take any 'upskirt' photos.
So, the cat has so far escaped my camera's gaze. I am now on a mission though.
Now for a tour of the underground subway mall. It connects 4 stations together, possibly 5 but to get to the 5th you have to go outside or go through a paid area. Parts of it are busy and filled with more regular sorts of stores, parts of it are abandoned, and parts of it have weird stores like this.
There are 10 stores in a row selling clocks, and tiny fold out camping chairs (not pictured). The clocks are mainly the weird digital kind seen on the left. I have so many questions. Why are all these shops selling things no one would ever buy grouped together? What are they really a front for? If I buy a clock what does that mean?
Abandoned section.
This pattern, popular on scarves all around the world for a decade or more, is THE pattern to put on everything in Korea. Clothes, umbrellas, shoes, bags, the side of your house, but the best one was last night when I passed the adult shop, condoms. Now I will find out what this pattern is and who invented it....
It is the Burberry check, sometimes referred to as Haymarket, but owned by Burberry, and when I googled for it, all the things that came up about it are copyright disputes. Burberry has won lawsuits against everyone, including big companies like Target. So there you go, the auntie selling the shirt from her shop in the subway mall and the adult shop selling selling Burberry condoms better look out!
The other day in Daegu I ordered omurice and got hamburger and chips. Tonight I ordered omurice and got omurice. Although the rice was filled with prawns which was a surprise. It was nice enough, but looked a lot nicer in the plastified version that caught my eye. The flaked crunchy things on top are not almonds, it is dried garlic. Lots of it.
On my way back to the hotel for another early night, I sat at the fountain and enjoyed the dazzling blue light for a while.
And then as I came back up to the street, 30 or more fire trucks arrived right over the road from my hotel. Some of them are still there now but I do not know what for. At first I thought there was a subway accident but now they seem to be mainly wandering around at street level.