I'm on my way to Taejongdae

Well that movie title thing didn't last too long.  But I do love movies, so I might still put the titles in from time to time.

In this article I'd like to give a little recap and history about the sights I've seen so far in Busan.  So let's start off with the places I visited on December 18th.

PIFF Square

Do they know they have a square removed from the side of their building?

This is the site of the Pusan International Film Festival, which takes place every year in October.  The area has 10 movie theaters in addition to some statues and hand prints from famous actors.  The Pusan International Film Festival, or 부산국제영화제, is one of the largest film festivals in Asia and focuses primarily on films from first-time directors.  The first festival, which was also the first international film festival in Korea, was held in 1996.  The festival screened 173 films from 31 countries in 1996 and has since grown to 355 films from 70 countries.  This year's festival is held from October 6th to the 14th so I might go check it out.

Jagalchi Fish Market
Jagalchi Market ( 자갈치시장 ) came into existence following the defeat of the Japanese Empire at the end of World War II.  The origins of the market's name are uncertain, but it is believed to have come from the word jagal, or 자갈, which means pebbles or gravel.  This could be in reference to the fact that the original market was surrounded by small rocks.  It is located at Busan Harbor and it is currently the largest seafood market in Korea and one of the largest in all of Asia.  You can seriously get anything that lives in the ocean at this market. 


And on to the sights from December 26th...

Chungnyeolsa
Chungnyeolsa ( 충렬사 ) is a shrine built to commemorate the soldiers who died during the Imjin War.  The shrine consists of 16 buildings and 92 memorial tablets in honor of the men who gave their lives defending Korea.  The shrine was originally constructed in 1605 (under the name Songgongsa), but was moved in 1625 and has received additions, reconstruction, and remodeling since that time.

Monument in front of Chungnyeolsa

Dongnae eupseong

Dongnae eupseong ( 동래 읍성 ) is a walled town that has existed in the Busan area since at least the eleventh century, and probably prior to that time.  The first records of the wall come from the year 1021, but it has been repaired and rebuilt multiple times.  Dongnae was actually one of the places targeted by the Japanese when they invaded in 1592.  It was also demolished in 1910 when the Japanese took over the Korean peninsula.  Nonetheless, it was interesting to tour around and it provided some fantastic views.

Taejongdae
Taejongdae ( 태종대 ) is a park located on Yeong island in southern Busan. It as an area known for its beautiful rocky coastline and forests.  The name comes from King Taejong Muyeol of the Silla Dynasty, who supposedly enjoyed practicing archery in the area.

Cliffs leading from Taejongdae into the Korea Strait

So I am now all caught up on the history of the places I've traveled to so far.  I am really looking forward to going out in Daegu on New Years Eve and then heading up to Seoul for my 4 day weekend.

Busan: A History of Violence

Maybe I'll start naming all of my blog posts after movies?  I don't know, but anyway...

Let it snow!  I got my first snow day today so I'm going to take advantage of it by catching up on some history.  My first topic is the history of Busan.  I've now been to Busan twice and I've really enjoyed wandering around the city.  I can't wait to see what it's like in the summer because Busan is supposed to have some of the most beautiful beaches on the Korean peninsula. 

Busan, also known as Pusan or 부산, is currently the second largest city in South Korea (and also the largest coastal city) with a population of about 3.6 million people.  The full name of the city is 부산광역시 or Busan Gwangyeoksi, which means Busan Metropolitan City.  Busan translates to "Kettle mountain" with 부, or Bu, meaning kettle and 산, or san, meaning mountain.  This name is in reference to the shape of the mountain next to the city.  

So on to some history...

As stated in previous blogs, humans arrived on the Korean peninsula during the Paleolithic Age.  Busan did not become populated until late in the Paleolithic Age due to its location at one of the southernmost points on the peninsula.  The Bronze Age also arrived late to Busan, presumably again due to its location.  During the Three Kingdoms period, the Busan area was a focal point of battles between the Gaya and Silla Kingdoms.  After the Silla unification, the area was combined with an area named Geochilsanguk, or 거칠산국 (I think), and was renamed Geochilsangun, or 거칠산군.  The name is derived from Geochinmoe, which was the ancient name for a mountain now named Hwangnyeongsan.  The name was changed again in 757 to Dongnaehyeon (the same Dongnae as the fortress I visited on Sunday).  

Dongnae Fortress wall

After the Silla Dynasty, the area was briefly controlled by the Hubaekje Kingdom beforing coming under the control of the Goryeo Kingdom.  The Busan area became an important part of Goryeo's defense strategy against the Japanese, which resulted in the construction of many village fortresses.  This was also the time period in which the area was named Busanpo (po means bay or harbor).  

After the collapse of the Goryeo Dyansty, power shifted to the Joseon Dynasty.  During this time, Busan continued to grow in its role as both a trading center with Japan and a defense post against Japan.  Chungnyeolsa, which I also saw on Sunday, was built in remembrance of the Imjin War, which took place against invading Japanese forces from 1592 to 1598.

Chungnyeolsa

Brief history of the Imjin War ( 임진왜란):

The war is also referred to as Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea and the Seven Year War.  The name "Imjin" refers to the year in which the war started in the Chinese sexagenery cycle. The year 1592 was the 29th year of the 71st cycle on the Chinese calendar, which was the year of the Yang Water Dragon.

The war was caused by Korea's unwillingness to submit to the Japanese ultimatum that they join the Japanese forces in a war against China.  China actually ended up greatly aiding the Korean forces in the war in order to prevent a Japanese invasion of their own country.  A mix of firearms and archery units were used in the war.  Japan weilded the arquebus, which was an early firearm brought to Japan from Portugal.  Korea primarily used composite arrows, which had a range of 150 yards longer than Japanese arrows.  In addition to bows and firearms, the Chinese brought early forms of land mines and hand grenades into play.  The Chinese also utilized rocket-propelled arrows (I'm not sure what those are, but they sound pretty awesome).  

The war began on April 13, 1592 when Japanese forces attacked Busan.  The city fell in about a day and within two months both Seoul (then referred to as Hanseong, or 한성) and Pyeongyang ( 평양 ) had come under Japanese control.  The Chinese soon realized the threat posed by the Japanese and came to the aid of Korea.  Approximately one year after the start of the war, Japanese forces had retreated back to the Busan area and over the next two years they would slowly head back to Japan.  However, in 1597 the Japanese returned to again try to capture Korea.  The second campaign was not as successful and the final battle took place on December 16, 1598.  

The war ended up being the most devastating event in Korean history.  Workable farmland on the peninsula was reduced by a third, which resulted in a postwar famine.  Also, the total number of Korean military and civilian deaths has been estimated around one million.  However, a national hero named Admiral Yi arose as a result of the war.  He was successful in all 23 of his naval battles and died during the final battle of the war.

So I figured that could be informative since personally I had never even heard of the Imjin War and I doubt that many people outside of the Far East had either.  Following the Imjin War, Busan continued to be a trading post with Japan.  During the Japanese takeover from 1910-1945, Busan was a center for the anti-Japanese struggle.  Busan also served as a provisional capital during the Korean War after the capture of Seoul.  

So that about sums it up.  Busan has experienced a war-torn past, but today it is a pretty amazing city to tour around.  I may be done with Busan for the winter, but I plan on returning in the other seasons cause there is so much to see.

Christmas Aurora in Busan

I scoured the internet and I couldn't find any term for the day after Christmas besides Boxing Day.  But since most of the people reading my blog are American, that wasn't gonna work.  So I decided to make up my own.  Since the day before Christmas is Christmas Eve, I went with the Latin word for dawn.  It also fit pretty well considering all of the lights I ended up seeing in Busan.  So I like it and I'm sticking with it (I thought about the Korean word for morning, which is 아침 or achim, but I think Christmas Aurora is pretty catchy).  

I once again stayed out until 4 in the morning on Christmas Eve because of my inability to catch the 12:30 train home (I really gotta stop doing that cause it's messing up my travel plans).  So the fact that I didn't get to sleep until 5 combined with the fact that the high was about 20 degrees meant I had a pretty layed back Christmas Day.  But don't worry!  I made up for it on the day after Christmas.  I spent about 10 hours (from 10:15 to 8:15) exploring Busan on Sunday and I think I've seen pretty much everything that I wanted to visit in the city during the winter months.

So after arriving in Busan I caught the Subway up to City Hall.  City Hall wasn't quite as great as I had hoped, but the building across the street was pretty cool.

Building across from City Hall

From City Hall I walked up to Chungnyeolsa, which is a shrine commemorating those who died defending Korea during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592.  Although the shrine has been rebuilt, the original dates to 1605 and the complex is composed of 16 buildings.

I then got a little lost looking for a Confucian Academy, but I eventually found my way.  When you're in a country where you can't read the signs particulary well it can be a little tough to stay on track.  But anyway, I found the academy and then headed up to Dongnae Fortress.  The fortress had a pretty extensive wall surrounding various command platforms situated along the wall.  It is one of the highest points in the city and offers beautiful views from the top.  I wasn't planning on visiting this site, but I actually ended up spending a good amount of time hiking around.

My success in finding the Confucian Academy was followed by a failure to find Busan World Cup Stadium.  I could see the stadium from the top of Dongnae Fortress, but I was unable to locate it while wondering on the street.  I figured I could save that for another day because I really wanted to get to Taejongdae before sunset.  Taejongdae is part of Yeong Island and is the area I was looking for last weekend when I randomly ended up at Korea Maritime University.  It offers some great views of the Korea Strait and it has an observatory at which you can view Mangbuseok, or the legendary rock of the faithful woman.  Personally, I wasn't that impressed with the rock formation, but I got some nice pictures of the sunset.

The setting sun meant it was finally time for the Christmas Tree Light Festival.  And let me tell you.  Koreans love lights.  The major department store in the area changed colors.  Busan Tower had a laser light show.  And the Christmas Tree Festival was pretty extensive.  After I wandered around the Festival, I bought a ticket to go to the Busan Tower observatory.  This could have been awesome, but the lights in the observatory were pretty bright so I wasn't able to get very good pictures of the city.  I'm thinking I'll head back during the daytime and see what kind of pictures I can get.

So all in all I got to see 3 separate areas of the city, went to a Christmas festival, and read an entire book.  I would say it was a pretty successful day.  Next weekend I'm heading into Daegu on New Years Eve and then I'm on my way up to Seoul for 4 days (I have off from work on the Monday and Tuesday after New Years).

I always thought my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean would be in California

Well technically I only saw the Korea Strait, but I'm counting it as close enough to the Pacific.  I traveled to Busan on Saturday to check out South Korea's largest coastal city.  As per usual, I didn't have too much of an idea about where I was headed when I got there, but I still got to see some beautiful sights and a couple of the iconic areas.

So my day started at 5:30 in the morning.  I caught the train out of Waegwan at 6:30 and arrived in Busan around 8:30.  And upon my arrival I was greeted with the soothing sounds of Let It Be on the gayageum ( 가야금 ).  Now I know I talked about this on facebook, but I liked it so much that I figured I would put it on my blog too.  Apparently KORAIL always plays that song at the last stop on the trip.  The gayageum is a Korean instrument with 12 strings that was originally thought to have been invented around around the 6th century in the Gaya Confederacy by King Gasil.  However, recent excavations in the southwest area of the Korean peninsula have revealed that it actually dates to the 1st century BC.  In addition, while traditional gayageums had 12 strings, modern versions generally have more than 12.

Gayageum - a 12 string zither

So I finally got out into the streets of Busan around 8:45 and wandered down to PIFF Square.  PIFF stands for Pusan International Film Festival (The original romanization of the city was Pusan, but it has now been changed to Busan).

There was some film memorabilia and a lot of people cramming into movie theaters at 9:30 in the morning. The Square was transformed into its current state in 1996 in preparation for the first Pusan International Film Festival.  The film festival is held in October of each year and is one of the largest film festivals in Asia.

From PIFF Square I headed down to Jagalchi Fish Market, which is the largest seafood market in Korea.  After getting over the stench of the place, I walked around and found pretty much every sea creature for sale by the various venders.  As was the case with Seomun Market in Daegu, I was really amazed by the gigantic size of the market.

Jagalchi Market Building - I love how the roof is shaped like seagulls

Some venders outside of the building

I was then on my way across Yeongdo Bridge to Yeong Island for a stroll along the coastline.  I didn't really see any famous sights along this walk, but I got some beautiful pictures.

And then I got completely lost.  I thought I was heading down to an area of the island called Taejongdae, but I somehow managed to end up at the Korea Maritime University.  I didn't even realize I was on a campus until I saw that about half the people were wearing Naval uniforms.  Nevertheless, I made the best of it and took some more pictures along the coastline.

I then had to catch a bus back to Busan Station to catch my 2:20 train so I could get back to Daegu to head out on the town with a couple people.  I went to dinner with one of my coworkers and had probably the spiciest meal I have ever had in my life.  Let me just say that Mexican food doesn't have anything on Korean food when it comes to spice.  We then headed to a place to pregame a little bit before heading out to a bar called Thursday Party.  It was a pretty nice bar with lots of foreigners.  I'm not really sure when bars in Korea actually close, but I left at like 3:45 in the morning and they were still going pretty strong.  I might end up staying out that late pretty often on the weekends because rather than take the last train to Waegwan at 12:30, why not just take the first one at 4:05?  I finally got back to my place around 4:45 and got to sleep around 5:15.  So all in all, I was awake for almost 24 hours straight and got to see the second and third largest cities in the same day.

That pot contains liquid fire, or as some people call it "fire water"

And some random photos that I though were amusing...

I really hope they know Guns N' Roses and have made Welcome to the Jungle this district's official song

Probably the best sign I've seen in Korea so far

I've found my hangout spot for the next year

I love Korea