JAG Journeys: statues

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Busan Trip - Day 5: The rest of New Year's Day

Due to our joining in of New Year's celebrations the night before and in the early morning, we had a late start to the day on Sunday, January 1. There were a few more places we wanted to make sure to get to that day. One, downtown near Busan Tower, was the 40-Steps Cultural Theme Street. We didn't really know what to expect, but the description in one of the brochures we'd picked up from an Information Center said that bronze sculptures depicting life in the 1950s in Korea were set up along the several streets. We also read that it's one of the "100 Beautiful Trails in Korea." That sounded good enough for us. We took the subway downtown and headed out the exit our tourist map indicated. Then we wandered around a few streets before finding a a smattering of statues. We kept walking and soon found what we guessed was the main street of statues and 1950s-esque items. The street had a distinctly older feel and it was fun to amble around taking pictures and reading the accompanying plaques. We also looked around some other nearby streets and took some pictures of anything we deemed interesting. We hope you'll agree that they are.

Once we'd had our fill of the pleasant and remarkably quiet area of town, we decided to try to catch the soon-coming sunset on Gadeokdo Island (do means island). The Geoga bridge, which is 8.2 km long, to the island consists of a 3.7-km immersed tunnel and the remaining 4.5 km of cable-stayed bridges. The tunnel, we read in our tourist map, holds 5 world records, including its 48-meter immersed depth. Because of this bridge the time it takes to get from Geoje (an area west of the island) to Busan has been reduced from 2 hours and 20 minutes to 50 minutes. Those are pretty impressive records and we decide it would be a great last stop in Busan and hopefully would provide us with a beautiful sunset. We hopped back on the subway and then grabbed a bus headed out to the island. But I made a fatal mistake. I tried to make sure we were on the right bus (even though it displayed the bus number we wanted right on the front) by asking the driver as we got in if this bus went to Gadeokdo Island. He didn't understand me the first time so I asked again. He then quickly nodded and we drove off. At the first bus stop we arrived at, he pulled to the side of the road and called back that we should get off there. We were really surprised because we imagined it might be a little bit of a drive to get out there. I'm sure we looked completely confused as we tried to tell them we didn't think it was our stop, but the driver insisted it was the place and the people around us urged us, in all their friendly, accommodating, helpful ways, to get off at "our" stop. Finally we relented, assuming that they knew more about their city than we did. And once we got off we looked at the bus map on the sign at the stop and realized the bus driver had indeed misunderstood me. We were at the entrance to the Eulsukdo Eco Center, a preserve and conservation area for birds. We waited at the stop for at least half an hour or 40 minutes for another bus 58 to come along. We watched the sun creep closer to the haze of clouds and even ventured a quick run up to the over-highway bridge to grab some pictures while we waited for the bus. But finally we decided it was too late to get there anyway and crossed the bridge to the other side. I kept looking toward downtown Busan as we walked across the bridge and low and behold, a bus 58 shot into vision, passed the bus stop and zoomed on ahead just as we were about halfway across. I was pretty frustrated. But it was really too late for seeing anything by then so we just waited in the spitting rain on the other side of the road for a bus going back to the subway station. It wasn't the way we wanted our time in Busan to end, but we made up for it by finding a wonderful Indian restaurant in Haeundae Beach to quench our hunger. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, definitely try to look it up. All the locals should be able to direct you to it. The next morning we got up early and headed back to Busan Station for our KTX ride to Seoul and our new beginning at the institute there.

Subway entering the station

Sunset from the walking bridge

After supper at a great Indian restaurant in Haeundae Beach

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Busan, click the links below.

Day 1: Haeundae Beach

Day 2: Yongdusan Park

Day 3: Busan City Bus Tour
Day 4: Fortress & Temple
Day 4/5: New Year's in Busan
Day 5: Sunrise Festival

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Busan Trip - Day 2: Yongdusan Park

We headed to downtown Busan on Thursday, December 29. From our hotel at Haeundae Beach, in the eastern part of Busan, we had about an hour subway ride to downtown with one transfer from Line 2 to Line 1. Once off the subway and back into the sunlight, we followed signs to Yongdusan Park and took three consecutive escalators, and a final set of stairs to the top of the mountain. (We were definitely thankful for the escalators. On the way down we took the stairs and counted: 297 stairs in total.) There we saw the Citizens' Bell, the Flower Clock, a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, and a statue of a dragon. We also walked through the Exhibition Hall of World Model Boats (check Jonathan's Facebook album for more pictures), went up the Busan Tower to view the city from 120 meters above the park, and tried out instruments in the Museum of World Folk Musical Instruments.

Busan Tower in Yongdusan Park

Citizens' Bell

Men playing Chinese chess

Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin
He was victorious over enemy soldiers during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592

Yongtap (the Dragon Tower) that symbolizes Busan's citizens' energetic power

Exhibition Hall of World Model Boats near Busan Tower

Armored ship with inside details

Interior of the ship

Captains quarters

One view of Busan from the top of the tower

Monument for the War Dead

Soccer players

Korean-style hotel

The view of Yongdusan Park from above. Yongdu means the head of a dragon. San means mountain.
This mountain is apparently shaped like the head of a dragon coming out from the sea. - Ali