We met BK outside the micro-brewery and set off for Songdo, Korea’s first official public beach, to ride the cable car up to Amnan park. To get there, we had to cross several bridges, including the Gwangdamdaegyo or diamond bridge. This is a two level suspension bridge connecting Haeundae to Namcheon, and the second longest in Korea. Unfortunately, as spectacular as it is, it isn’t possible to get a decent photo while you’re driving along it.
As we were driving along, BK told us that tomorrow there would be a group of 2,000 students visiting the cable car. When we got there it looked as if they’d come a day early, as there was a huge queue. However, BK had a plan! Some of the cars – the red ones – have a glass floor, but it costs more to ride them. He got us red car tickets and we walked straight to the front of the queue. One point for insider knowledge.
The destination is Amnan Park, 1.6km away across the sea, which you can view between your feet. Once up there, it is all a bit tacky, as if they had to find a reason to attract visitors. On the roof of the station there are lots of characters from Le Petit Prince, for some reason.
In the area immediately outside, there are dinosaurs hiding in the bushes. Beyond that, there are trails through the woodland, one of which leads to yet another suspension bridge that allows you to walk to a small island.
Then we took the cable car down again. Interestingly, when we got there I noticed that there was a huge queue for the red cars but normal tickets were walking straight on.
Next we drove up to Gamcheon Culture Village. One of the oldest parts of Busan, it was also one of the poorest. It was first settled by the Japanese in the 20s, other families were moved in to provide a workforce for the docks in the 50s and refugees from the north added to the population. Development was uncontrolled and living conditions were poor.
In 2009, an art-themed renovation project was started to convert the village into a cultural hub. This is most obvious in the variety of colours, but there are also now retail spaces, galleries and, inexplicably, more Petit Prince themes. It was interesting to see, but, again, rather tacky.
Lunch today was dweji gukbap, which means pork soup rice. A Busan speciality it is a soup made with … pork and rice. And sides. Today we had salty shrimp, two types of radish, onion soaked in soy sauce and wasabi, chives, garlic, soy bean paste and deep fried stuffed chilli.
You are supposed to take a lettuce leaf, add a piece of pork, some rice and any of the other sides your feel like, roll it all up and pop it into your mouth. My mouth wasn’t big enough. Diane’s was!
After a quick coffee, we headed back across town to visit the market area. We started with the Bupyeong market, the largest and oldest market. The indoor part mainly sells food from three main avenues. It’s all a big jumble and I’ve no idea how you choose between two competing stalls selling the same things. There’s also an outdoor element, selling mainly souvenirs, leather goods and knock-off designer stuff.
Secondly there is the Gukje or International market. It started by selling goods discarded by Japanese at the end of the colonial era. Later refugees sold goods acquired from Americans or otherwise smuggled into the country. Nowadays it sells all sorts of things including, for some reason, catering-style kitchenware.
Thirdly, we went to Jagalchi fish market. Here you can buy any kind of fish or shellfish you like, be it local or imported. Delicacies include raw crab, imported from Italy and live octopus, which is bought to the table still moving.
If you’re feeling hungry, you can pick what you want and take it upstairs where one of the stalls will cook (if necessary) and serve it up to you.
We declined, but we did pick up a freshly cooked hotteok.
Apart from a detour to a fish cake shop, so that BK could spend a 15% off voucher, that was our day.
Steve and Diane on Tour 