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.

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).