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.
Hiking over Jangsan from Jangsan station
Before we get into it, just now on the TV behind me in my hotel room was an ad for a new robot. It is about 3 feet high, and on a base similar to a Roomba vacuum. The AI recognises your baby, complete with terminator style infra red targeting graphic. The robot then follows your baby around the house, spraying disinfectant. COVID and everything else then dies and vanishes, and your baby is very happy and full of bug poison. No one will heed my warnings about robots.
Now for the hike.
No rain (this morning), no pollution! Yesterdays rain put out all the idiot farmers crop fires. I am convinced that is what 90% of the visible pollution in Asia is and no one will prove me wrong.
It was forecast to rain again lightly in the afternoon, but I thought I would like to avoid that, so I set off extra early for a smaller hike. It sets off from the last station on the green line, Jangsan, and the hiking park and peaks are all called Jangsan.
It was very slippery only occasionally, I was prepared to slide on my ass but never did. There were other people (it is a holiday today) but it was not ridiculous. I got lost 3 times but only in a minor way, although one time I ended up in a homeless person camp of sorts made of sheets of iron and tents with dogs chained up going crazy!
As you will see, the view from the top was not allowed, Army. But still, probably the best clear view from a summit on this holiday yet.
Blue sky. The area around Jangsan station is all new and shiny.
I was going up there today, and beyond. Looks quite small.
The park at the base of the mountain park was full of people, sculptures, waterfalls, restaurants, the usual.
Even before hitting the trail there are nice areas to see.
The usual start of hike temple. Stay tuned for end of hike temple. Cloud rolling in!
This qualifies as a waterfall in Korea. Complete with flags warning you not to swim in it.
This is still pre hiking trail in the very large park that has lots of gardens to explore, but I was on a schedule to beat the rain.
My trail was ok, not too slippery, but also the wrong trail! I had to retreat. Across all of Korea there are way too many trails at the bottom of mountains. Some join up, others like this one do not! Following this would have got me nowhere.
To get back to the right trail I had to cross a stream. Not a raging river I might drown in but I was very aware that I might slip and go under, with my camera. I did not, but I did get down on all fours to cross.
A view from nearly half way. The Ocean looks very still. Those 3 large buildings are Haeundae beach from the day before yesterday.
These signs are quite common on Korean mountains. I do not know if they are really for that. There is an army base on the top and lots of razor wire, cameras, and then maybe a missile launching site. I think the mine signs are just to make sure hikers do not make a path that grants them a view of the equipment inside the base.
The path to the actual summit was blocked. That staircase has been open in the past, and the map shows it is the official trail. Not today! The gate looks brand new, so maybe it is a recent change.
Instead I had to be satisfied with a view just below the summit. There is one of Busan's weird bridges that crosses the water to ruin the view from the beach.
More view.
With the amount of ribbons here, I guess the old summit has been off limits for a while, and this is the new summit spot. A Korean man nearby is trying to break his neck.
Serious face today. I had to get back down without breaking my neck! Slightly out of focus, my facial crevices lack definition.
But wait! After going down a bit I found a path back up again to a 'secret' summit. Much better view from this spot, photo of the day.
On the way down I passed some rather unusually positioned giant rocks. I do not think this one ended up like that naturally.
It does not look like much, but this is quite steep and quite red and muddy after the rain. I managed to stay upright but my shoes got filthy.
I knew I was getting near the bottom when I hit the outdoor gyms. This one was quite deep in the forest, but well equipped and a few old folks were here, looking at me sideways as I walked by.
Then I hit a nice wide forest trail. The sun was still shining. At this point I realised I would not be impacted by rain in a way that would require me to slide down a muddy path.
Very clear, lower down view. Runner up for photo of the day.
I mentioned it above, but here is the end of hike temple. It is where I stopped my watch. Shorter hike today, just under 4 hours, about 20,000 steps.
Golden Buddha was also enjoying the sun and clear skies.
Of course, the temple is not the end of your walk. There is still a walk down from the temple to the Subway, about another 5000 steps on this occasion, but a nice trail to follow instead of the road. I was surprised there was not more water in the drain thing.
And since I was back to my hotel early, I wandered around the local BIFF square (Busan International Film Festival), in my muddy shoes and with sun screen all over my face and shirt. People made a hole for me. 'Famous' actors have done the Hollywood hand print thing in this street, hence it is BIFF square. Just checking now, still no rain, good. No idea what I am doing later.
Wandering around locally in Busan enjoying the clear view
The rain sure does make it clear. It rained again briefly while I was out, but I did not mind, I was wandering about enjoying being able to see past the end of the street.
First I went up a hill and was denied an un-obscured view because they wanted me to pay for it.
Then I found a flash shopping street and bought nothing.
And then I just staggered about waiting to be hungry enough to have dinner.
Along the way I found a cat, but not the hotel cat, hotel cat remains elusive.
I also was nearly killed by scooter food delivery riders, so some things are the same in Korea and Australia. Eventually they will all be dead from their dangerous behaviours. Until then, people will pay money to save themselves 10 minutes to have some poor kid deliver their McDonalds in the rain.
That is enough for now, no rain tomorrow, not sure what I am doing yet, might do a lap of an island, stare at the ocean.
This is the view from my hotel. Wet streets.
The escalators up the hill are a technicolor wonderland.
Once you get to the top, here is the tower. The tower has featured in many of my other photos, I knew I would have to go find it eventually.
They have done what they can to prevent you getting a view without paying the very high fee of $10 to go up the tower. This is the best I could do. And even when I was standing here a girl came over speaking English telling me I have to pay for a ticket to enjoy the view.
On the way down, you can get a view up the hill which I went up on my first night here.
Here is today's cat, very talkative.
This guy has loved Jesus since 1992 so much that he bought a pizza.
The above mentioned nice looking street.
An art gallery / theatre sponsored by a bank.
I think I am misunderstanding what memorial means. Is film dead?
Eventually I wandered into the red light district. Every place looks the same, the bottom floors are restaurants selling live seafood, mainly weird looking prawns, to people who sit on red plastic chairs and smoke a lot.
I back tracked and found a place with a child menu for my dinner. This is Usamgyeop and Kim Chi Doria. What is that? I had to research, It is rice mixed with kim chi, mushrooms, and Usamgyeop, which I now know is a Korean style beef prepared like bacon. Obviously then coated in cheese and hit with the oxy welder. Tasty, and also quite spicy, small serve which I appreciated. That's all for now. I hate the apostrophe in that's.
There are currently 3 comments - click to add
mother on 2022-06-06 said:
If you don't like the apostrophe in that's you could just write that is.
David on 2022-06-06 said:
hmm, I thought there were plenty of big trees, there are not really pine / cedar plantations on the hikes, but I do recall mentioning the trees on an earlier day. Today had plenty of big trees
adriana on 2022-06-06 said:
all your hikes seem to be among small trees. Doesn't Korea have any big ones?
Hiking around Yeongdo island to Taejongdae
Today was supposed to be a small activity, take a short walk over the bridge, walk around an island, come back again, go do my washing (laundry).
Well, first I found a mountain. That was a 2 hour diversion.
Then the coastal walk I wanted to take was no longer in existence as it is in the process of becoming a road.
Then the excellent back up coastal walk was a lot longer than I realised. So almost 40,000 steps later, I returned to my hotel and still found time to go do my washing.
The island is Yeongdo, from most angles of Busan it appears joined on but it is an island. There are other islands that have been merged with Yeongdo (I think) by filling in the ocean.
It is much like the rest of Busan, but right on the southern end you get to Taejongdae resort. I am not really sure why it is called a resort, it is a giant park with a fake tram if you want, to go see a lighthouse and appreciate the view. It does not have hotels and beaches that cost money or a pool with a bar in it. I think there is a ferry to take you around, and you can go see the 'female divers' who I presume hold their breath for a long time and collect shells.
So after my surprise extra long activity with the great views, I found a laundromat and set off.
Boss man was there servicing the machines, and was very interested in how I was translating the Korean instructions with my phone. He asked many questions in broken English which I was happy to answer, but shook his head and said 'we live in outer space world like the star trek now', I presume in reference to the camera translation thing.
Anyway, as I sat waiting for my washing, he goes out the back, and comes back with a whole heap of girly costumes from another dryer in the back room and starts folding them and putting them in plastic bags. Naughty nurse, cat woman, french maid, miss pacman (?), wonder woman etc. So I assume a local business has contracted him to do their laundry.
The view from the bridge, I already posted this pic the other night.
Walking up the main road of Yeongdo island and it looks like any other part of Busan, hardly a fishing village island like the internet suggested.
Here is one of a few local markets, complete with idiot on scooter.
The giant highway overhead is for cars only, no subway on the island. This is the highway that those weird bridges that seem to encircle every beach connect to. The island seems to be the shortcut route.
The streets got very very steep. They have had to put a grippy surface on the road. This must be terrifying in winter.
My hike up what I assume is being translated weirdly as 'Mount Bonnae' was actually quite strenuous. You can drive up.. but I chose a route behind a temple, and I was sweating much more than I planned to today, but the view was worth it.
Here is some view.
Today I actually could get to the very top. These towers are just TV transmitters, no military bases on this little mountain.
Excellent views.
Islands, ships, cool weather.
All these ships are full of the natural gas they stole from Australia that Korea already paid for that Australia didn't want.
It may be a small mountain, but apparently it is high enough to get awarded a ribbon.
OK, here you can see 2 more green areas. The closer one was my original plan for today, note the road being built on it, that cancelled my plan to go around the coast there. The second one further away is Taejongdae resort. Now to get down from this small mountain.
First I had to go through a fire.
Then the way down was SUPER steep. I really did not expect to be using my hands on my walk today.
I got to the beach. At this stage I was still planning to hike around a bit of the coast on a boardwalk.
But, there is the site of the former boardwalk.
I pressed on, and arrived at Taejongdae after maybe another hour of walking along some nice roads. This is the 'tram', it is a Mack truck. I never saw it in use all day.
Some nice views to be had from here as well. The little boat is one of the ferry's that takes you around the resort.
Here is the lookout, but it looks out on just the Ocean. It has a few cafes and a lot of cats.
A bit further around, the main attraction, the lighthouse. At first I was a bit underwhelmed.
But there are a few hundred stairs to take you all the way down to the water in a howling gale.
This would be the most terrifying spot for a relaxing picnic I could imagine. I was struggling to stand upright in the wind.
The lighthouse area has a few more cafes in the semi circle building.
View the other way, you used to be able to walk along parts of it, but falling rocks have closed it. There is a tiny rock island with another little lighthouse on it, which I now realise is what the previous observation cafe tower built into the cliff was looking at.
Nearing the end, and one last challenge appeared. Also, photo of big trees for my mother.
And then soon after getting back, straight to the laundry. I can wear underpants again.
Briefly exploring Beomil in Busan
My legs were a bit worn out this evening so I did not go far and took only a handful of boring photos. Why does handful not have two l's on the end of it?
Anyway, I went to Beomil, an area between areas famous for gold shops. I did not buy any gold.
Nearby underground there is one of the ubiquitous underground malls but this one specialised in piercings, with photos, of everything you can pierce, everything. I considered it for a while then realised it will make the airport experience even more complex, it is one thing to take your belt off, its another to remove a gold bar from mr winky and put it in the tray.
After that realisation I was hungry and just headed to the first place I saw and therefore got the thing that every store sells.
Beomil has a department store, Hyundai flavoured. The basement food places looked decent. The Where's Wally promotion, 'Where's happiness?' is a bit unusual. Makes it seem like Wally is about to end it all.
There were actually stores selling gold, and people peering through those weird eye glass things looking at it like they knew what was going on. I thought it best to not photograph them.
The local wet market, looks pretty good in the fading light on a cloudy day.
Random street scene, very grey.
And, here it is, bibimbap. Deconstructed for some reason? A lot of Korean places give you raw beef with the bibimbap, and not in the stone bowl. Actually beef tartare is one of the more common meals. I had it once on a previous trip, its ok, but its nicer cooked. It is probably most popular after pork cutlet, and usually just served as mound of beef with a well in the middle and a raw egg, chilled, which you eat chilled.
Last day in Busan tomorrow.
There are currently 2 comments - click to add
jenny on 2022-06-07 said:
What! no photos of the piercings? must try harder.
adriana on 2022-06-07 said:
Lots of nice shots of the views today. I like seeing the islands and the city from closer mountain.
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adriana on 2022-06-05 said:
Well I hope it stops raining for you tomorrow. We are experiencing floods and damaging winds here and the rain aint going to stop any time soon.
jenny on 2022-06-05 said:
Today looks like the Busan I remember - very colouful and a bit shabby. So have you been ducking missiles today?