Gamcheon Culture village which is Korea's answer to Greece's Santorini is the first confirmed place to visit in Busan. Got to know here after watching Running Man. This is also the main reason why I planned to come Busan despite hearing quite a few commenting that Busan is boring. But seriously, we like here better than Seoul.
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| Toseong Staion, Busan Metro Line 1 |
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| Exit 6 |
Directions:
1). Take Busan Metro Line 1 and alight at Toseong station.
2). Take Exit 6
3). Walk straight and you will see a convenience shop at the corner, turn right onto the street.
4). Continue straight and you will see a bus stop in front of Pusan National University Hospital.
5). Take Bus 2 or 2-2.
6). Alight at Gamcheon Culture village(There will be English announcement at this stop)
7). Walk to your left facing the street, turn left into 1st lane
8). This is the entrance of the village and there will be a kiosk selling village maps.
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| While waiting for bus |
We were quite lost after alight from the bus and mistakenly went to the opposite side where an elementary school is. Some kind soul later direct us to the correct direction when he saw us taking the uphill of the school.
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| Map of the village |
We came to a house which houses some history exhibition which we did not understand since it's all in Korean with no English or Chinese translation. Went in to walk one round and came out.
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| Old notes |
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| Pretty flowers in bloom |
I really didn't know where to go from here so we just wonder out in the village on the street. There isn't much activity here on a weekday.
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| Long street ahead |
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| Cute random piggy |
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| It's a laundry shop that says "Computer cleaning" |
We came across a fish wall mural and stop to try take a photo with it. But too many of tourists are doing the same thing at the same time so it's pretty impossible to capture it individually.
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| Fish mural |
Truth to be told, there was nothing much to do here except to explore the neighbourhood. There are occasionally one or two cafes and souvenir shops here and there.
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| Local provision stall |
We walked around aimlessly and then I realised there is a observatory tower at the top of the houses. Proceed to climb what but not without much complaints from myself. Hehe
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| House number |
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| Current Korean President was here some years back |
The climb was was really worth it. View was splendid though wind got stronger and we were nearly blown away.
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| Bird's eye view of the village |
We tried squatting down behind the railings to hide from the strong wind without any success. End up, it was decided that we should quickly take some shots and seek shelter down hill.
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| Colourful houses |
A bit of history of this place : During Korean War, refugees from other part of Korea settled in this neighbourhood. They were also followers of Taegeukdo religion which believed in Yin & Yang. Houses here are initially wooden shacks but are later re-developed to what we saw today.
We were in awe of how the houses are built on the hill side, making it look like stacking on top one and other.
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| Check out the strong wind with our hair all over the place |
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| A wider view of us with the village |
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| The other side of the observatory tower |
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| One of piggy before we descend |
We could stand the cold any more and went down after 10minutes of photo taking. Had the wind be milder, I would have consider buying a cuppa and sit on the benches here to sip while taking in the sights. But to do this now, we would have to risk freezing our asses off. Not to mentioned risk of getting the flu bug.
There is a cafe just a flight of stairs up the street level and we ducked in for a hot drink. Or at least I need the hot drink. Mr Love had the trusty thermos which I filled with wheat green tea for him.
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| Piggy with the cafe's figurines |
We walked around more after getting warmed up with the drinks. We saw a local hair salon and peep in half expecting to see ajummas perming their hair. No such luck and we walked away giggling among ourselves while urging each other to go in and change our hair style.
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| Culture Hair Shop |
There are more views of the village as we walked along the side. Guess we are still on high ground since we are still getting bird eye's view of the village.
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| More view of the village |
There's a cafe which is not open but seems like is for couples to dine here judging from the decorations outside. There are a lot of notes on the roof but we are unable to get up since its not open for business.
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| Cafe no open |
Then we saw a Little Prince statue sitting by the edge looking afar. Below it's feet it's the roof of some people's house and there is no way you can get down to take a photo with the Little Prince.
Who places the statue like that for photo taking??
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| Back facing statue |
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| Still trying to figure out |
You know what is the greatest invention during this point of time? Selfie stick! Muhaha.
Since we are unable to take a decent picture with our hands outstretch, then we stretch out the selfie stick. And viola! It did the trick and we are also able to see the face of The Little Prince.
Really, why placed him this way?
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| Wonders of the selfie stick |
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| With the fox |
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| Mr Love trying once with the selfie stick |
We walked a bit more down hill from the statues and came across a photo tower. Seriously the view from here was pretty limited with the squarish cut out for photo taking. Took a photo here and moved on.
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| Not much view |
The road down hill seems to be all residential area and we decided to turn back since there was nothing much to see from where we are standing.
Didn't regret making a trip here. Maybe there will be more activities during weekends but it will also be crowded. Am glad we get to see a near empty village.
We took bus 2 back from the opposite bus stop back to Pusan National University Hospital.
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