Sunday, March 25, 2012

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...


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