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.

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