Day 7 - May 16, 2019 – Busan, South Korea

Not only is Busan well known for its harbours, it is also blessed with beautiful mountains and beaches.  Due to the mountainous topography, houses are often built on steep slopes.  We visited Gamcheon Cultural Village this morning which used to be a poor neighborhood for refugees but has now been revitalized into a artsy, lively, and upbeat village.  Coming off the metro station, we had to take the connecting minibus to go up the steep slopes.  This reminded us of La Paz in Bolivia, also on steep slopes.  The multi-colored houses built on the steep slope across the whole valley look just mesmerizing.  Even though the houses were built by poor people many decades past, they had adhered to strict guidelines regarding dimensions to respect each other such that the houses would not block the view of the houses behind them.  Now, with the district revitalized with various artworks, it was a joy to just randomly explore the neighborhood and side streets although we still had to be respectful of the privacy of residents there.  Hiking up and down the steep streets is not easy.  There is even a steep stairway of 148 steps called “Stairs to see the Stars” which simply means that after climbing the stairs to their houses carrying heavy loads, the residents became so dizzy that they could see stars in their heads!

Gamcheon Cultural Village - a riot of colorful houses on steep hill side

A beautiful background to die for any photo shoot

Relaxing stroll along Gamcheong neighborhood

There are interesting shops and houses to be discovered all around the village

Creative artworks decorating the street

This area is still inhabited. Although we are free to roam around the neighborhood, we have to respect residents' privacy.

We can't help but draw parallel to landscape and scenery in Santorini, Greece

"Stairs to see stars" - Not the stars you have in mind

Contrary to many cities in the world, Korean houses with good view on steep slopes are likely in poor neighborhood where transportation is poor and residents have to climb up/down stairway daily.

Views to die for, literally, by climbing up steep stairways

Don't try this "Chicken Cookies" in Busan unless you are a fan of eating chicken skin!

We didn't know cotton candy can be made into art!

 We took the wrong minibus on our way down which dropped us off at yet another big shopping mall.  Then we took the metro to Haeundae Beach which is known as the most beautiful beach in Korea.  It is surrounded by highrise hotels and apartments and most of the beach is off-limit due to the preparation for the upcoming sandcastle building competition.  We strolled around the neighborhood and came across Busan’s most famous dish – fish cake or fish paste.  This store sells everything made with fish paste, including noodles, and they are yummy!  The best thing is they have tons of samples on different products.  We could have our lunch just by sampling alone!

Haeundae Beach - a strip of sand surrounded by highrises

Beach closed to prepare for sandcastle competition

Everywhere is seafood hawker stand with pretty shocking prices

We finally tried Busan's famous dish - fish cake/fish paste/fish noodles

After Haeundae, we went to another famous beach in Busan, Songdo.  This has been a resort since Japanese occupation back in the early 1900.  Today, it has been redeveloped into a resort area with hotels and condos, elevated walkways on the beach into nowhere called Cloud Walk, and a cable car strung across the bay.  The park on the other end of the cable car offers a dinosaur park, musical fountains, and walking trails,  All in all, we feel that Busan is superior to Seoul as a more livable city, especially for family with kids.  Prices in Busan are also cheaper from our limited experience.  Scenery is better and traffic jams less.  It is a place that we can contemplate for another visit but not Seoul.  We ended our evening with a romantic cable ride back to Songdo and having a number of street food as our dinner.  We also found a famous dollar shop called Daiso where we found a few bargains.

Songdo Beach, with the cable car at the back

Cloud Walk at Songdo Beach 

The Cloud Walk links the small island to the beach

Songdo has been developed as a resort since Japanese occupation in the 1900s

Observation Deck at the other end of cable car run

There is even a dinosaur park at the end of the cable car run

For people who wants exercise, there is a hiking trail along the shore instead of riding cable car

This can be very romantic after sunset when the cable cars all light up 

Even hiking trails are very civilized.  All nicely paved and wheelchair friendly

Very elaborate ramps are built to accommodate wheelchair up to the viewpoint