Day of Solo Recon in Busan: A Pictorial Narrative (Part 2)

Well hello again and welcome to part 2 of my solo journey in Busan.  If I remember correctly, at the end of part 1, I had just left the U.N. Memorial park in mild defeat and had set out to find a wonderful looking structure of ancient Eastern design.  Let's begin there...

So as I left the gates and began to walk, I looked around to get my bearings a bit just to make sure I knew where I was going, where I had been, and how I might go back later when I finished my next escapade.  After that I began walking.

It didn't take long for me to find something that attracted my attention off of the task I had just set out to accomplish.  I came to a place, I believe was called U.N. Memorial Presbyterian Church.  The doors were open but I decided to walk by it.  Then I thought, "I might not get a chance to see it again and I need to make as much of this adventure as possible".  So I went back and went inside.  I heard someone doing some serious cleaning of the floors but didn't see them.  I walked in a little bit and went into a room that I thought would be the sanctuary but nevertheless found only a dining room of sorts.  There were stairs, but I began to feel a bit uncomfortable.  So I just sort of strolled out of the place.

I began to walk again and I came upon a street/alley that looked a bit ominous.  Something about it made me want to explore it.  So I went in and stumbled on this old rundown house...

An old, abandoned house in the middle of a huge city.

I walked around the alley a bit more and then decided to head back out the way I came.  The area seemed pretty poor and I began to wonder what a Korean living there would think of a foreigner snooping around there.

I continued to walk the street for I don't know how far.  I could see the large skyscrapers in Haeundae off in the distance and I could also see a little bit of the Diamond Bridge as well.  I began to wonder if it was possible to walk across that bridge, and if it was, I wanted to eventually.

I finally came to an intersection and I had two options: 1) I seriously considered going left and trying to find the Diamond Bridge. 2) I could go right which took me in the general direction of the structure I was trying to find.  Ultimately I chose to go right because I wasn't really sure how far the bridge really was and I was feeling that I considerably closer to the Eastern building.

As I got closer to my objective tall buildings began to obstruct my view and I could no longer see the building (I will from now on refer to it as a "temple", not structure, not Eastern building, etc.).  Also of issue was the fact that the temple was much higher up on a mountain than I was and I saw no way of getting up to it.  So I just continued walking figuring eventually a solution would arise.

To my everlasting joy a solution did indeed arise.  I noticed a large road that seemed to cut right up onto the mountain.  I still could not see the temple though.  I crossed the street and headed toward the road.  Turns out this road I had found was the entrance to a university...

Tongmyong University:  Apparently an IT school.  Very nice facility.

The road began to climb up the mountain which was a good sign.  I thought I would be getting closer to my goal.  The higher I went, I thought, I would eventually see the temple.  Nevertheless buildings continued to obstruct my view.  I got about as high as I could go and still saw nothing.  I new the temple was to my right so I veered that way and continued.  After a short walk I came to a beautiful soccer field and off in the distance, my goal.  I could finally see it again.

I walked around the soccer field and continued to head towards the temple.  Eventually I came to a very steep hill that seemed to lead right up to the entrance of the temple.  I felt as though I had succeeded.  I trudged up this extremely steep road and arrived at the front door...

I admit that I was afraid to turn the doorknob.

I began to get feelings of defeat again.  The door before me was shut, telling me no one was welcome at this time.  Also there was a large spiky fence on top of the wall...

Not sure you can actually see the spikes very well but believe me, they looked deadly.

I walked around a bit to see if there might be another way in.  Alas I was yet again met with defeat.

As I gazed up at my goal, blocked off merely by a thin layer of concrete wall, a quote from the movie Book of Eli came to mind: "I can't imagine what it must feel like to have what you want so close, and it might as well be a million miles away".

I looked around a bit more and considered my options.  The area I was standing in seemed like it was so much more before, until whatever was here was bulldozed to make room for the university...

A leftover statue from some bygone time perhaps.

I decided to walk back to the door and take the risk of turning the doorknob.  I wasn't sure if there were cameras around watching me.  If there was I couldn't see any.  Also I thought, "If I turn it, what if an alarm goes off?  I'll at the very least look like an idiot and at the worst get arrested and taken away for a short time for trespassing".  Regardless of those possibilities I reached for the knob and turned it...

LOCKED

"Blasted!", I thought to myself. "Defeated yet again".  I was not to be detoured though.  I turned around and gazed out at the city below me...

A nice view of the city below me. Is it me or could it actually be said that there is a battle going on between the beautiful rays of sunlight and the black, spiked death along the wall?  A battle of light against dark. Tense I tell ya.

As I gazed down at the city below me, my resolve returned and I set out down the path I came in search of another way around to an entrance.  As I walked down I saw another wonderful view which contained the soccer field I mentioned before...

It was a really fantastic looking university.

As I continued down the hill I came to a map of the university...

A rather colorful looking map I should say.

As I gazed on the map I realized that where I was just at appeared to be "23" (Seondang).  As I looked, it seemed as though there was no other way of accessing it...Defeated.  Regardless to the right was another temple-looking structure "22" (Dongmyeongbulwon).  So I decided to set out to find an entrance to that place.  I found a nice parking lot between two buildings to cut through.  I found yet another road that seemed to lead right up to the temple (#2 temple)...

The road to victory?

When I got to the top I realized that it only lead to the entrance of what appeared to be living quarters, and not to mention a huge wall blocking me from my most recent goal.

I found a staircase that went up beside the building and decided to check that out to see what was there.  I found a gate...

Unfortunately it too was blocked...

I looked around to see if there might be another way...

So close, yet so far. Darn you huge walls.  While it may look like there is a staircase there, in fact there was, it only came down to the top of the 10 foot wall in front of me.

I turned around and went back the way I came to attempt to find another way.  I backtracked quite a bit, and went further down the road. When suddenly, I came to a cut in between some buildings.  I turned to the left to see what might be down there...

A glimmer of light in all this darkness!!  An open gate!!

I had finally found a way to get to the other side of the temple/s.  I ran through the gate with excitement and turned left.  As I walked, I could clearly see my goal was near and I also came to a cool "arch" (if you will) that went across the road...

What a pretty thing to walk under.

I walked with ever-growing enthusiasm that my  most recent objective was coming to a successful conclusion.  I arrived at the front of the temple and the doors were open.  I walked across the street and climbed what appeared to be a trail up onto a wall so I could get a nice view and take some pictures...

Finally an open door to one of my objectives.

Beautiful colors and design.

Appears to be a bell tower.  Beautiful.

As I considered the fact that I had finally reached some sort of victory I sat down on a bench, that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, and reflected on where I had been and where I had come...

My, "reflecting" bench.

After a bit I stood up and looked around the area I was in.  It was a mildly wooded area and I wasn't really sure if I was supposed to be there.  I looked to my right as saw something even more random for where I was than a bench...

Seemed like a rather strange place for a chair.

I looked around the area some more and it seemed like it was kind of being used as a trash dump.  there were quite a few other thing strewn about.  Nevertheless I began to feel I was getting off task and headed back down to the entrance of the temple...

Unfortunately it will have to wait until next time.  Once again it is getting late and I should be heading to bed.

Day of Solo Recon in Busan: A Pictorial Narrative (Part 1)

So yesterday I woke up very early and couldn't go back to sleep.  So I got up, had some breakfast and began doing a few chores.  I did some dishes and vacuumed.  For some reason I didn't want to be inside.  I began to think of something I could do.  I thought about going to get some groceries but realized that I had a pretty good stock of food.  Thought about hiking a mountain but it had rained quite a bit the last couple day so I figured it might be a bit slippery.  Then it popped into my head that I hadn't really ever left Changwon on my own.  So I thought, "I gotta stop making excuses for not taking a risk and actually going somewhere on my own".  I decided Busan would make a nice day trip.

I hopped on a bus in Sa Pa Dong and headed to the Changwon Bus Terminal.  When I got there I realized I hadn't had any lunch so I quick bought a plastic cup full of some unknown meat.  It may of been chicken but I can't be certain.  They were shaped like little nuggets and I used a toothpick to extract them from the cup and guide them to my mouth.  They were quite tasty.  They had some kind of a tasty sauce on them with sesame seeds sprinkled about.

As I enjoyed my unknown meat product, a couple of my co-workers strolled into the station as well.  They were headed off to Busan as well.  They were going to Haeundae and I was going to Sasang so we took different buses (It is so interesting running into people you know randomly in a city of over a million people).  Anyways I got onto my bus after I emptied my plastic cup of its contents and set out to the Busan station of Sasang.

The ride was pretty good.  The buses they have in Korea are fantastic.  The seats are really comfortable.  The scenery is great as well, basically spectacular mountains everywhere your eyes look.  It's not a very long journey to Busan but it took at least an hour to get there.  Traffic was a bit heavy.  As the bus drove along it's route I was eagerly exploring options of things to go see in Busan when I got there.  I checked some websites on my trusty Samsung Galaxy S1.  It's a pretty handy little gadget when you're making a spontaneous trip.  I checked Trip Advisor and found a place called the U.N. Memorial Park.  It has a cemetery for those killed during the Korean War.  I am interested in Korean War history so I decided to go there when I arrived in Busan.

When the bus arrived I went to the subway (the subways in Korea put American subways to shame I must randomly add).  I found out that the stop that was nearest to the Park (Daeyeon) and got on a train.  I continued to research how to actually find the cemetery once I arrived at the station but couldn't really find any solid directions (Need to buy some tour books).  I saw one site that said: head towards Gwangalli but had no idea where that was.  So I got to the stop and looked around a bit.  I saw one of the exit signs had Gwangalli on it so I took that exit.

When I got to the surface I looked around and saw absolutely nothing that looked like a cemetery.  There was nothing but tall buildings.  It's a bit of freaky feeling, but totally exhilarating to have absolutely no idea where you are suppose to be going.  I walked around a bit and stumbled onto a nice sign of the neighborhood I was in and gave me a general idea of where I was suppose to go to find my objective.

As I walked I came to a beautiful bed of flowers along the street.  It felt like the first time I'd laid eyes on such pretty plant life and it sort of dawned on me that spring was finally coming.  It filled me with a wonderful feeling of happiness.  I took a picture of them to share with everyone...

Lovely purple, white and yellow colors.  Praise the Lord for spring.

After taking that picture I continued my walk.  As I walked, still thinking about the pretty flowers I had just seen, and thinking about spring, I came upon a store that sold e-cigarettes.  Although I have heard of smokeless tobacco I don't think I had ever heard of "e" cigarettes.  Kind of made me wonder how they made a cigarette that was as electronic ("e") as an iPod.  Can you imagine how great of a feeling it would be to be using a really cool high-tech palm device while at the same time puffing away on a high-tech cigarette?  Makes me feel all tingly just thinking about it...

If you wanna be noble and smoke, might as well go with the "e" Noble Choice...

After I finished laughing and being cynical towards the "e"-cigarette shop, I continued my journey.  Eventually I came to a massive intersection that went in at least five directions.  I had no idea where to go.  In the middle of the intersection was a statue of the world surrounded by soldiers meant to represent one from every country that fought for South Korea during the war.  I knew I was in the right area.  I saw the Busan Museum and off in the distance a building called the Busan Cultural Center but still no idea where the park was.  I saw a sign for Gwangalli at the intersection but it just didn't seem to give a definitive direction in which to go.  I think it said to go left but there were two roads that went left.  I walked around the intersection I felt a bit overwhelmed so didn't really think about taking pictures.  But I did manage to come to my senses on one occasion an snap a picture of this...

Neat looking dragon carving.  These were on the wall surrounding the Busan Museum.

So since I couldn't really find which way to go I tried to consult my Galaxy again.  I used my Maps app to try and figure out where I was.  The GPS really didn't seem accurate as to where it said I was.  But I decided to trust the GPS and head in the direction it recommended.  As I walked I continued to feel that I just wasn't heading in the correct direction.  So I diverted down a street I thought would take me down a more accurate course.  I walked down some pretty remote streets.  They felt "off the beaten path" if you will which heightened my excitement.  I was thinking I might get mugged or killed but I reassured myself by remembering that South Korea has a pretty low murder rate and a low violent crime rate in general.  Here are a couple pictures of the "off the beaten path" streets/sidewalks...

Not to creepy considering it was still daytime but still a little different than what I'm used to.

Looking the other way.  Notice how steep the street is in the back of the photo.

I continued to walk and as I went along I could see a rather large, ancient, looking structure off in the distance.  I was immediately captivated by it as I love ancient Eastern architecture.  Nevertheless I decided to stick to my original objective of finding the cemetery. At some point I found my way to the memorial.  I took a picture of the sign when I arrived...

It is a nice respectable and colorful sign...

So after I took the picture of the sign I walked up to the gate.  It was about 4:40 p.m.  As I walked though the gate a Korean man who was obviously a worker came to me and very kindly said "Hello" (in English).  He asked me where I was from.  I told him America and he just let out a cheerful "Oh".  He then directed me towards the sign which listed the hours of operation.  They closed at 5:00 p.m.  I kind of laughed and at the same time had a feeling of defeat as well.  I had 20 minutes to explore this somber and yet very interesting landmark.

One of the websites I examined about this place said a persons first stop at the park should be the chapel at the entrance.  So when my eyes found it I walked to it...

A nice, rather, secular looking chapel.

When I walked in, a man asked if I wanted to watch a video.  I kind of started saying that the park was closing in about 20 minutes.  He said it was only around 10 minutes.  I figured I wouldn't be able to accomplish much in walking around for 20 minutes so I decided to watch the video.  It was quite interesting.  Talked about the war a bit and then quickly shifted into the history of the park and cemetery.  Also talked about what to do in the park, where to start and how best to explore it.  It was a very interesting film.

A look inside the chapel.

So after the video was complete I thanked the man and headed towards the exit.  I thanked the gate guard and he said "See you next time" (which is totally true probably because it seems like workers in Korea have very set working times that never change).

With my first objective kind of completed and at the same time kind of failed I considered a new objective to take on.  My mind rather quickly began remembering the ancient looking structure I had seen before.  I couldn't see it from where I was but new the general direction to head in so I began walking again, setting out into the unknown, not knowing what other interesting diversions I may take or what I may find at the end of the road.

That will have to wait until next time though.  It is late and I should go to bed...

Scratch My Head Moments Tied In With Serious Issues

Sometimes things happen in life that just make me scratch my head.  Sometime literally, and other times figuratively.  For example:  Over the past seven months in Korea I have noticed on occasion pictures, t-shirts, flags, socks and many other things with a picture of Che Guevara on them.

I have to be honest, I don't know much about Che Guevara but I know that he was a promoter of an economic style directly opposed to that of South Korea.  Also from what I've researched it seems like he visited North Korea on at least one occasion and seemed to enjoy Mr. Kim Il Sung.

I just wonder, when you look at the countries that Guevara made an impact on or at least supported, what do they look like now?  Cuba for example is for the most part a third world nation, North Korea is too. The Soviet Union...wait...the Soviet Union doesn't even exist anymore because it collapsed, maybe because of socialism?

When I consider internet, I see South Korea as the powerhouse of internet capabilities in the whole world.  Look at Cuba, they basically have no internet.  North Korea, they have trouble just keeping the lights on so internet is basically not possible, unless of course your part of the "upper-class".  How would South Koreans survive without internet or Smart-phones?  Honestly they would get along just fine, if not better without them but the point is, the countries Guevara advocated are slums or non-existent anymore, whereas South Korea is free and economically stable for the most part.

Here's are two examples of what I have seen and then one I pulled from the internet:

Saw this in a coffee shop

"Viva La Revolucion!!"...on socks

I got this one from the internet.  The reason I posted it though is because I myself saw a similar flag at a soccer game awhile back but didn't take a picture of it I guess.

My question that I have alluded to throughout is, why would South Koreans want to wear stuff, fly flags or post huge pictures with this guys face on them?

--One possibility might be because people just don't know what Guevara stood for and just think the picture is cool.

--A second possibility might be that some people think that he was this "anti-establishment, freedom fighter awesome dude".  The ironic thing about this again, is if you look at the nations he advocated it's pretty obvious that they are little more that oppressive dictatorships all hiding behind the guise of equal distribution of wealth amongst the classes.  An argument could be made that China was a nation Guevara advocated for but China has developed into a more capitalistic country, despite having a communist government.

--A final possibility might be that some people know exactly what he stood for and wish South Korea would become what he wanted.  Might make Korean reunification easier.  On the other hand if these people wanted such an outcome I would wonder if they would be okay without internet or fast little phones or other cool little electronic gadgets that most seem to love here because it's not a likely thing to have in a socialist country.  Would they be okay with less freedom as well, which also seems to be lacking in these socialist countries?

At the same time as I'm writing this I consider problems with the capitalist systems in both my home country America and South Korea.  It's pretty obvious that there are serious problems in America.  There seems to be an ever widening gap between the upper-class and the lower-class.  The middle-class is becoming less and less.  Prices on food, healthcare etc. are skyrocketing.

In South Korea I've heard from Koreans that there are serious problems with the aging population.  It's becoming increasingly difficult for the elderly population to retire because everything costs so much.  I've heard that many Koreans have to have two jobs and work at least 12 hours a day just to pay for small apartments that cost around $300,000.  They also have to buy food which isn't always the cheapest.  If they have children, paying for school is an added expense.  In some ways life is very difficult here for a Korean.

So what's the answer for these struggling capitalist nations?  More government oversight and more taking from the wealthier to give to the poorer?  Maybe, but when you look at nations that are doing that now, it does not seem like things are going well.  Does the answer lie somewhere in between?  Should there be some capitalist mixed with some socialist?

In the end I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff and am willing to consider the possibility that I'm just completely naive on these issues.

Also I don't want people to think that because Guevara didn't support capitalism I think the freedom to display his picture on things should be oppressed.  Absolutely not, I think freedom of expression is important.  I guess I don't understand why anyone would want to displays this guys face around.  But if that's what someone wants to do than so be it.

Anyways that's that...

Oh one final thought that popped into my head.  It's a bit of irony actually: I wonder, with how anti-capitalist Guevara was, how he would feel about a capitalist system taking his picture and making tons of money off of it?

I'm out