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.