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.

Changseondong Meokja Golmok (Busan’s “Let’s Eat” Alley)

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

Why just see the world when you can eat it, too?

This is a question I ask myself while travelling for two reasons. First, because I believe that one can go to all of the temples, towers, gardens, parks, beaches, and monuments and still not necessarily experience anything culturally authentic. These places, while beautiful, are often just snapshots. I believe you have to engage yourself in the culture and customs of a different country, and food sampling is a pretty solid way to do so. The second reason is that I’m never not thinking about food. I could almost literally “eat the world” myself.

I’m lucky to have friends who share this same philosophy. We can journey, trek, and voyage to see all of the things, refuel by eating all of the things, and then continue on our merry sightseeing ways. We employ this approach frequently, as was the case earlier this month when Steph and I found ourselves exploring the Nampo area for Changseondong Meokja Golmok (먹자골목), otherwise known as Busan’s “Let’s Eat” Alley.

The concept is simple and efficient: walk through the red archway into the alley, find an appealing vendor, park your keister on the brightly coloured stools, and point to the bowl you want. There is no time to waste in Changseondong. There is none of the usual “please wait for your server to seat you”, or disappointment when your meal arrives and doesn’t come close to matching the photo in the menu. What you see is what you get.

Each stall is run by an elderly Korean woman, lovingly known as an “ajumma”, who prepares your meal for you. With regard to the actual meals, there is a variety of traditional Korean dishes available, including tteokbokki (Korean rice cake), pajeon (green onion pancake), kimbap, and japchae (sweet potato noodles). The cost of each dish is incredibly cheap, ranging from ₩2,000 to ₩5,000 (approximately $2 to $5CAD).

Steph and I each ordered a bowl of japchae to start. We mixed the sweet potato noodles in with the carrots, onions, spinach, and mushrooms, as we befriended the lovely ajumma at the stall. Afterwards, Steph opted for a plate of kimbap, while I decided to “carb-o-load” and ordered a second bowl of noodles, known as baekmyeon (white buckwheat noodles)

Steph and I departed the “Let’s Eat” Alley with full stomachs and full wallets, having only spent ₩4,000 each. If you’re trying to see and eat Busan, Nampo’s “Let’s Eat” Alley is a great place to start.

Directions
To get to Changseondong Meokja Golmok, take the Orange Line on the Busan Subway (Line 1) to Nampo-dong Station (stop 111). Take exit 7, and take your first left. Continue down this road, until you reach Gwangbokro Street (the third street) and turn right. The “Let’s Eat” Alley will be on your left and is between a pharmacy and a Coffee Bean. The entrance to the alley has a red and white archway.