Geumjeongsanseong Fortress

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

I’ve reached my elusive last month in Busan. Inevitably, it feels like everything I do these days is for the last time. This was the case yesterday, which I shall title “The Last Hike”, if only because it’s way too humid in Busan to go for another one before I depart.

While I had technically visited Geumjeongsanseong Fortress back in April, en route to Seokbulsa Temple, I’m a bit of a crazy person and decided that my first short, unintentional visit to the fortress wasn’t sufficient and I would need to re-visit in order to truly cross it off my Bucket List. Thankfully, I have friends (Steph and Brandi) who enable my neurotic behaviour and agreed to hike back up to the fortress with me.

The three of us had anticipated a rainy, overcast day, but were pleasantly surprised with the sunlight flittering through the dense forest upon arriving at the East Gate of the fortress. We headed in the direction of the Nammun Pond, and were soon greeted by the unmistakable sound of animated ajusshis. On our left was a tiny hamlet filled with middle-aged Korean men (and likely women – we were too far away to really tell) socializing at plastic tables and playing within around a green, netted enclosure. Steph, as the perfect human being she is, remarked, “it’s like Ajusshi Summer Camp!”

We reached Nammun Pond after a ten minute hike, where we observed blue dragonflies, frogs, snakes, and koi from our perch on the wooden bridge that wrapped around the swampy waters. A couple of friendly ajusshis retired their fishing poles to snap a photo of the three of us before we continued our hike to the Second Watch Tower. We ended up sitting on the fortress wall for about half an hour playing “Would You Rather?” and talking at length about some questionable content. While we sat on the wall, I did my best to take in the mountain scenery. I sat with my legs dangling off the fortress wall, and practiced some pre-sunset gratitude. It was a perfect day – breezy, with wispy clouds speckled across the sky, but still allowing the sun to peak through. This view justified the long trip back to the fortress and was a good reminder of Korea’s everyday natural beauty.

My favourite part of the hike, given that I had seen much of the scenery before, was the (derpy) conversations and jokes I had with Steph and Brandi. At one point, Steph regaled us with an anecdote involving a random black feather she had found while cleaning out her purse. She was legitimately confused about how it had ended up in there and joked that it was some sort of talisman that she should hold onto. Shortly afterwards, we crossed the pedestrian overpass from Oncheonjang Station to reach the bus stop. We passed by a seated ajumma selling unspecified herbs on a cloth who first made eye contact with Steph, smiled creepily, and muttered some Korean under her breath. Steph joked that the ajumma knew about the feather and was cursing her with some old school, Dongnae incantation. All to say, every crow (of which there were many) that flew overhead the forest on our hike seemed to be an ominous harbinger of things to come. Also, not once, but twice, Steph was (rightfully) yelped at the sight of a giant slug on the path to the fortress. To his credit, the poor cheetah printed little guy was just trying to get to his destination, but the jarred look on Steph’s face was just too much not to laugh.

The girls and I opted to take the cable car down the mountain after quickly visiting the South Gate, which offered much better views than my first foggy trip to Geumjeongsanseong Mountain. While the fortress wasn’t anything new or particularly exciting, it felt so right to sit on the its wall and stare out into the vast and seemingly never-ending Busan terrain one last time.

Directions
To get to Geumjeongsanseong Fortress, take the Orange Line on the Busan Subway (Line 1) to Oncheonjang Station (stop 127). From here, go out exit 3, and use the overhead crossing to get to the other side of the street. Take bus #203, which will take you to the South gate, East gate, or the forest village.

Chungnyeolsa Shrine

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Today is Election Day in Busan. It constitutes an important day where the citizens of Busan can exercise their civic duties to safeguard the values they hold most dear. Since I cannot participate in this particular election, I decided to spend my afternoon at Chungnyeolsa Shrine, a site commemorating citizens of Busan who also safeguarded their own values – over 400 years ago.

Chungnyeolsa Shrine is dedicated to those Korean nationalists who lost their lives during the Japanese invasion of Korea between 1592 and 1598. The bravery of the largely unprepared Korean troops and volunteers who fought against annexation are memorialized at the Chungnyeolsa. The complex itself consists of a main hall, fifteen subsidiary structures, and nearly one hundred tablets in memory of the Busan area patriots who lost their lives defending Busan.

I spent around an hour exploring the large grounds of Chungnyeolsa. I started at the small koi pond near the entrance of the shrine. I watched as earnest children deposited coins into a machine dispensing fish food, their faces alight with wonder as they sprinkled it into the water beneath them. I worked my way around to a quiet elevated park on the west side of the complex, where groups of men huddled together to watch games of (what looked like) backgammon. I sat for about fifteen minutes and drank in how peaceful and restrained it felt beneath the perfectly trimmed tree branches of Chungnyeolsa. Even though I could see the urban sprawl of Busan just beyond the shrine’s walls, I felt far removed; in my own private Garden of Eden.

The park itself is meticulous and manicured. Every type of tree, flower, shrub, bush, plant, and weed you could imagine was in bloom, neatly trimmed, fighting against every unruly tendency it might have. The shrine contains dozens of seated areas, ranging from gazebos, wood benches, and circular rock formations, depending on your mood. Chungnyeolsa also gains serious points for being completely wheelchair accessible.

I eventually reached Chungnyeolsa’s Main Hall, which is dedicated to twenty-two officers who lost their lives during battle. Perhaps more interesting to me was the Uiyeolgak complex. This particular shrine is dedicated to two women who resisted Japanese aggressors by throwing roofing tiles upon them. I pulled my hands to heart centre and bowed to these women, but felt quite sure that there were more unsung female heroes that deserve equal representation at Chungnyeolsa.

The day soon turned overcast and rainy. I decided to depart the shrine, but not before ambling over to peer down into the koi pond one last time. I caught my own reflection in the clear waters, flashed a quick smile and turned on my heel to leave. Mushy, but it’s true.

Directions
To get to Chungnyeolsa Shrine, take the Blue Line on the Busan Subway (Line 5) to Chungnyeolsa Station (stop 405). Go out exit 3, and turn left until you are facing the large white stone monument. Take your first right and walk for about a minute. You will see a flight of stairs on your left. Take them and the shrine will be on your right.

Busan Museum of Art

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Photos by Jess Sternberg (go check her Instagram out here) and the Korean Tourism Organization.

Blogging about the Busan Museum of Art is a stark reminder about how put together I was not upon arrival in Korea. I visited the museum during the second weekend of September – a whole eight and a half months ago! Oy vey. Blame the late blog post on a totally “blissed out, lazy, end of summer 2013” Dylan.

I’m usually pretty ambivalent about museums on the whole. During my summer 2010 trip to Europe, I spent four hours at the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin. It was a thoroughly curated museum, with an excellent exhibit on Jews in comic books. However, I was so overloaded with information that upon departure from Berlin, everything had left my brain. I was not a sponge that summer for anything except World Cup soccer and beer.

This time around, during my year in Busan, I was excited to take in some Eastern-inspired works of art. Given that the Busan Museum of Art is the penultimate subway stop on my journey to work everyday, I figured this would be a good place to start. In addition, Jess and Maddie had their lovely friends Maritza and Steph visiting, and it seemed like a positively cultured way to introduce the girls to the city.

The Busan Museum of Art had some pretty excellent elements. First of all, it was free entrance (great news for the frugal). The complex itself is large, modern, and well-maintained (as it should be – it was only opened in 1998). The museum has five exhibition halls with hardwood floors throughout, along with archives and interactive learning rooms. The exhibits didn’t feel too overwhelming – the average person (read: me) could enter any given section and feel comfortable identifying general themes and representations.

When the girls and I visited, the main exhibit was titled The Art of Prayers, featuring pieces of art donated by the Korean-Japanese artist Ha Jung-Woong. The exhibit consisted of  three different sections: Prayers, Evidence, and Happiness. Each section hoped to represent regret and despair, record “art as historic evidence”, and show “art which provides happiness”, respectively. The section I remember the best was Prayers, which featured a series of woodcuts titled “The Story of Hanaoka”. These vivid reenactments of the uprisings and massacres at the Hanaoka mine in 1945 were particularly realistic and brutal, as well as an exercise in gratitude on my part.

In addition, there were two exhibits by Kim Bong Tae (titled “Accumulation”) and Shin Sang Ho (tilted “Final Frontier”). The Kim Bong Tae exhibit was almost Warholian, but in a totally nondescript way (read: stacked, differently coloured boxes). The Shin Sang Ho exhibit was slightly more interesting, with bright, ceramic sculptures and airplanes inspired by “the unknown world depicted by Star Trek screenwriter Eugene Roddenberry”.

The exhibit we enjoyed the most was the one designed for children (obviously). We entered a dark room, and were immediately delighted when a series of colourful projections began parading about the walls. An older Korean man approached us afterwards to inform us that his young daughter had drawn the pictures and he had turned them into projections. This room of projections was easily the best part of the museum. We joked about the room just needing some EDM to make it a real party.

My trip to the Busan Museum of Art was perhaps more of an exercise in taking derpy photos with my friends than a truly cultural experience. That said, I feel like I did gain some real exposure to different forms of Korean art during my two hour visit to the museum, which was my original goal anyway. You don’t have to remember it all, you just have to appreciate it all.

Directions
To get to the Busan Museum of Art, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 1) to the Busan Museum of Art Station (stop 205). Go out exit 5 and walk straight for about two minutes. The museum will be right in front of you.

Oryukdo Island Cruise

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Multiple trips this year (to Bijindo, to Boracay, to Samgwangsa Temple) have really transformed my simple appreciation for sunsets into a genuine love for sunsets. Beyond the “nice Camera Reel, br0” aspect, sunsets give me exactly what I need, no matter what mood I’m in. If I’m having a bad day, the setting sun is a reminder that tomorrow is new day. If I’m feeling insecure, it reminds me that night will cover things like a blanket and provide some anonymity. If I’m in a good mood, sunsets push me over the precipice into a free fall of total bliss.

This was the case last weekend when the girls and I packed up our things after an afternoon on Haeundae Beach to ride a ferry around the Oryukdo Islands at sunset. While we had a nice day crisping in the sun, we were all individually in weird places due to external circumstances. We really needed to close the weekend out on a high note, y’all.

We reached the Mipo Ferry Terminal at the end of the beach, and purchased a ticket aboard the 6:30PM ferry. We had about 40 minutes to kill, so we ate, drank, derped, and were merry in the ferry terminal, (a true testament to the “Bumnaegol 3”). Afterwards, we boarded the vessel with about a dozen others, ready and raring to see Busan’s coasts, islands, and of course, the sunset.

The Oryukdo Islands are (depending on the time of day) five or six rock islands, proudly protruding from Busan’s choppy waters. They are pretty famous throughout the city because these are typically the first masses that people see when sailing into Busan. They are pretty clearly uninhabited given that they are literally mossy rocks offering little to no shelter, with the exception of “Lighthouse Island”. If you haven’t already guessed, this rock houses a large white lighthouse with a series of winding stairs and observatories (we unfortunately didn’t make a pit stop here). The islands are a pretty random thing to be so widely admired, admittedly, but with the sun peeking out from behind them, I began to see why people enjoy them.

I’ve seen my fair share of sunsets on Busan’s coasts and beaches, but it was such an experience watching it from the water. At one point, the sun was hovering over Busan’s famed Marine City, casting shadows of the iPark, Zenith, and Exordium buildings over the water. We had incredible views of Diamond Bridge, Gwangalli Beach, and Igidae Park – it was basically a (boat) trip down memory lane of all the things I’ve seen and experienced in Busan.

After the boat made it around the Oryukdo Islands, the winds began to pick up. The other passengers opted to descend to the lower decks, but Mary, Steph, and I wrapped ourselves in our beach towels and blankets to continue watching the (now hazy) skies and sights. I huddled for warmth with my arms wrapped around my girls and felt so blessed with life in Busan.

The entire trip back to the ferry terminal was a practice in the very real phenomenon known as “sunset gratitude”. This is where my friends and I repeatedly tell each other how happy we are to have met one another and how lucky we are to be living in such a peninsular paradise. It’s basically like a drunken heart-to-heart, without the alcohol.

The 70 minute Oryukdo Island Cruise is certainly worth the price for the views of Haeundae and Gwangan. I recommend you take an evening ferry on the weekend, since they run more often than during the week. Get out there and practice some “sunset gratitude” of your own!

Directions
To get to the Mipo Ferry Terminal, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Haeundae Station (stop 203). Take exit 3 or 5 and walk straight out until you reach the beach. Turn left and walk along the beach ends. Continue down the road and the ferry terminal will be on your right. The Oryukdo Island Cruise costs ₩22,000. More information can be found here.

The Busan Aquarium

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

Sometimes, I really, really love my school.

Like, when they cancel a field trip to a boring old arboretum to take the kiddies to the Busan Aquarium instead! This was good news for me because not only did I get to spend my day derping around with my seriously adorable homeroom class, but I also got to check another box off on the old Korean Bucket List. And for free! I’m trying to live relatively frugally these days, and frankly the ₩21,000 entrance fee to the Aquarium could be used to fill my gullet full of curry at Namaste. So, yay for an all-expense paid Brown & LCI field trip day!

I think if I had gone by myself to the Busan Aquarium, I literally would have been in and out in about 25 minutes, tops. But going with my kindergarten students was such a special treat. Their eyes were filled with a mixture of wonder and confusion, as the gaped at over 35,000 species of fish (or so the brochure told us). They may as well have been tugging at my heartstrings while tugging on my jacket, crying out “teacher!” as a penguin would dive into the tank and swim on by. Forget the fish, the looks of amazement on my kiddies faces were the real sight.

The Aquarium itself has three underground levels. We ended up visiting both exhibition floors, where we watched fish of the freaky and non-freaky variety, somersaulting finless porpoises, and penguins gliding majestically through the water. We walked through the glass-walled, seabed tunnel which felt just like walking on the ocean floor, as sea-life swam all around us. We also caught feeding time for the otters, and the kiddies had an opportunity to hold a starfish and other echinoderms. Tactile learning, y’all!

Afterwards, we were all ushered into the auditorium for the “Music Talking Show with Diver”. The entire thing was in Korean, so I’m not exactly sure what was happening. There was basically an enthusiastic lady onstage, furiously jabbering away at a diver equipped with a microphone in the tank. This was followed by some singing, a volunteer from the audience experiencing the gift of magic, and my own dripping sweat from sitting in a balmy room with three Korean children on my lap.

I was a little disappointed that my school didn’t splurge on the Glass Bottom Boat Experience, where one can float around a tank filled with sharks and other fishies, but I guess you can’t have it all.

Our school ended up eating lunch in the Aquarium’s cafeteria, where my kids stuffed raspberries and cookies into my mouth. Lunch time is one of the best parts of a field trip, because the parents always pack more food for their kids to share with us teachers. I get to bond with the kids and I get to eat their food. It’s a win-win, truly.

When lunch was over, we escorted the kids down to Haeundae Beach for about 30 minutes to derp around in the sand, before heading back to school.

As I mentioned above, I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed the Busan Aquarium without the “oohs” and “ahhs” of my 30 Korean kindergarten students, but it’s a pretty chill to spend an hour exploring. If you’re down at Haeundae Beach and are looking for something to do, the Aquarium might be the sound of settling, but at least it’s a pretty splashing sound.

Directions
To get to the Busan Aquarium, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Haeundae Station (stop 203). Go straight out exit 3 or 5, and proceed straight for about 5 minutes until you reach the road running parallel to the beach. Turn right, and the Aquarium will be right in front of you. Entrance to the Busan Aquarium is ₩21,000 for persons 13 and over, and ₩15,000 for persons under the age of 13.

UN Memorial Cemetery

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

It’s quite easy to forget when you’re living in the industrialized, developed, modern city of Busan that South Korea as it exists today has not always looked this way. South Korea, as a nation is very young and the wounds from the Korean War are still pretty fresh.

Busan’s UN Memorial Cemetery is a solemn reminder of this fact. As the only one of its kind in the world, the UN Memorial Cemetery is a burial ground, paying tribute to the fallen servicewomen and men of the United Nations Command (UNC) during the Korean War.

Mary, Steph and I visited the cemetery on an overcast Saturday afternoon as a pitstop before our coastal walk at Igidae Park. The mood of the cemetery is pretty sombre. There certainly weren’t as many tourists snapping photographs of the grave sites as I’ve seen at other Busan tourist sites. The girls and I spent the majority of our time at the cemetery simply walking the rows of the burial sites, divided by nation, and paying our respects to the fallen service members.

I’m not a very patriotic person when it comes to Canada, but I did feel a sense of pride in seeing how much Canada assisted with the war efforts. 378 Canadians selflessly gave their lives during the Korean War, as members of the UNC. This number seemed quite large to me until we reached the UNMCK Wall of Remembrance. The 140 black marble panelled wall lists over 40,000 names of UNC service members, either killed or missing, during action. While Canada had about 4 panels, the United States casualties occupied the majority of the wall, upwards of 60 panels. Steph probably put it best: “You can read the figures of how many people died during the war, but it’s much more sobering when you see every name laid out on a sprawling marble wall.”

Apart from the main burial sites and Wall of Remembrance, there are memorials devoted to a number of the 16 countries involved in the UN’s war effort, including Britain, France, Australia, and Greece, two halls devoted to memorial services and memorabilia from the Korean War, and an interfaith chapel. There was actually a memorial service being held at the chapel as the girls and I were looping around to leave the park, so I got the impression that services happen daily.

While the UN Memorial Cemetery has a more grave and dignified atmosphere than other sights throughout the city, there is a lot of beauty to be found throughout the park. Upon entering, we were greeted by rows of neatly trimmed juniper trees. A little further, we came across a trio of beautiful cherry blossom trees. A group of ducks waddled past us after reaching the memorabilia display hall. Even though there is an overwhelming sense of sadness permeating throughout the grounds, it isn’t too hard to find beauty alongside history at Busan’s UN Memorial Cemetery.

Directions
To get to the UN Memorial Cemetery, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Daeyeon Station (stop 213). Go straight out exit 1, take your first right, and proceed straight for about 10 minutes. The UN Memorial Cemetery will be on your left. Entrance to the park is free.

Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

My first thought while researching Yongdusan Park was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I’m not exactly positive why, but I assume it has something to do with the etymology of the park’s name. “Yongdusan” translates to “dragon’s head mountain” and somehow this reminded me of Harry retrieving the Golden Egg from the Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament. A non-sequitur if I’ve ever heard one, but YOLO.

My visit to Yongdusan Park, which is also home to Busan Tower, happened on a busy Saturday in Nampo (Steph and I had already visited Jagalchi Market and the Let’s Eat Alley earlier that day). Shortly after, we met Mary at Nampo Station, and headed up the escalator into the park.

Yongdusan Park boasts two pavilions, (one of which houses an aquarium), a statue of the famed Joseon Dynasty General Yi Sun-shin, a bronze dragon called Cheongdongyongtap (no doubt an homage to the “dragon’s head mountain”), and multiple stone monuments to literary figures and anti-government protestors. The park itself offered great bursts of colour, from the pavilion to the various gardens, and this was my first indication that spring was indeed on its way.

We stopped briefly when we came across a traditional fish throwing festival taking place in the centre of the park. [Note: Upon further research, I have learned that this occurs every Saturday at 3PM!] We watched as the large congregation of men and women, equipped with nets and baskets, swayed in unison to the sounds of a resounding drum-line. I’m still not totally clear on the significance of the ceremony, but I’m always interested in the unexpected, especially in Korea.

We made friends with a Korean gentleman at an elevated lookout containing a wall of “love locks”, a la Paris. After he snapped a few photos of the girls, he insisted on sending them to Steph via e-mail. Lo and behold, 72h later Steph received the photos. The kindness of strangers, right?

After checking out Yongdusan Park, we were ready for Busan Tower. We paid the admission fee, boarded the elevator, and ascended the 120m tall tower. When the doors opened and our ears finished popping, we were ushered into a quaint, albeit meagre, cafe. The Busan Tower has two floors at its crest – the first playing host to this cafe and sitting area, and the second housing an observation deck. Both floors have wraparound windows, offering somewhat mediocre views of Nampo-dong. I did find the views of Nampo Port and Yongdu Mountain nice, but found myself questioning why the tower wasn’t erected in an area with more to see.

One interesting feature of the tower is that each windowpane enlightens visitors as to what Busan sites they are looking at given their position in the tower (i.e. If you look out this window, you’ll catch sight of the Oryukdo Islands, Democracy Park, etc.). Again, Busan Tower is located in an area of Busan great for commercial shopping but less renowned for dazzling sightseeing. My personal opinion is that the tower would have been better suited to an area like Centum City, but alas, I am no urban planner.

While Busan Tower doesn’t offer the most spectacular views that the city has to offer, it’s worth a trip to visit Yongdusan Park during the warm months. At the very least, you’re five minutes away from Nampo’s premier restaurant, Arun Thai.

Directions
To get to Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park, take the Orange Line on the Busan Subway (Line 1) to Nampo-dong Station (stop 111). Go out exit 7 and turn left onto Gwangbokro Street. Proceed straight for about five minutes and you’ll come across the Yongdusan Park escalator (on the right side of the street). Entrance to the park is free, and admission to Busan Tower is W4,000.

Jagalchi Market

This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.

I am not a seafood person. Serve me any farmyard animal and I’ll scarf it down so fast that you won’t even remember that Old McDonald had a farm. Give me (most types of) fish, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, or roe and I’m going to sit pouting at the dinner table until my meal is cold.

Despite my aversion to all of the things that frolic about the sea, I was eager to explore Busan’s iconic Jagalchi Market. The market, located on the edge of Nampo Port, is famed as the largest seafood market in all of Korea.

Steph and I visited Jagalchi at around midday on a Saturday. The market had already been abuzz for several hours and didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Equipped with our Nikon D90 and iPhone 5C, respectively, Steph and I made our way through the alleyway, and eventually emerged at Nampo Port. We watched a group of middle-aged men who appeared to be gambling near the dried fish racks before heading back into Jagalchi’s main strip, lined with colourful and holey umbrellas. We inspected baskets of fish and crustaceans that were pretty to look at, but not particularly palatable and tried to be as respectful as we possibly could when snapping photos, so as not to upset the ajummas working the stalls. [Note: We have both encountered situations where ajummas have gotten angry when we took their pictures. It’s better to err on the side of caution and ask first.]

The Jagalchi experience can be overwhelming. There is a constant barrage of shoppers pushing past you. The narrow alleys of the market are lined by booths selling every type of seafood you could imagine. There is water splashing, knives slicing, and grills sizzling. There are walls of tanks containing crabs and eerie fish, and buckets containing slithering eels and octopi. There are elderly Korean men frying mackerel on a hot plate and ajummas gutting fish and adding them to already towering piles. No matter where you go in Jagalchi, the market is alive with the sounds, sights, and smells of the sea. It sort of makes you forget the farm, if only for a second.

Directions
To get to Jagalchi Market, take the Orange Line on the Busan Subway (Line 1) to Jagalchi Station (stop 110). Go out exit 10, and take your first right at Jagalchi 3(sam)-gil Street. Walk straight for five minutes and the market will be on your left-hand side.