gamcheon village.

February 15, 2014

gamcheon village.

Another successful Saturday. Today, I went to Gamcheon Village in Busan. Gamcheon Village is a beautiful village on the top of a hill and all of the houses are painted fun colors. Back in the 1950's, a lot of people fled here during the war. Busan was one of the only places that didn't have anyone fighting in it. People sought refuge in this village and built these houses practically on top of each other (it can also be referred as Lego village). Even in the 1990's, this village was the one of the poorest places in Busan. In 2009, repairs were made and artists were hired to paint murals all over the village. There's still about 10,000 residents living here so they actually block the whole village off at 5:00 to respect the privacy of the residents. It was crazy because there were so many tourists there walking around the small alleyways and we were literally walking through somebody's neighborhood. There were clothes hanging on lines throughout the entire village.

When I was doing my research on how to get there - everyone advised me to take the bus when I get off the subway because the walk was brutal. But, why waste my money? Ha. I felt like I was climbing Mount Everest! Such a steep, curvy, walk.. but it was only about twenty minutes. I felt productive. It was well worth it when I saw the first mural. There were beautiful, bright paintings everywhere. They had arrows on the walls letting you know where you could go. I ventured into the village and it was full of tiny alleyways. I don't know why but I have this weird love for small side streets.. like you can find in Europe. I just think they're so cute. This village was filled with them and all of the houses were painted a different color so it made them fun. There was a lot of climbing and a lot of walking up and down steep stairs and pathways. They had some free places you could go into with writings on the walls and quirky art. I loved it. I'll definitely come back here once more before the year is over.

Let me just talk quickly about how I love all of the cafes here in Korea. There are like a hundred million different coffee shops. They have cute names and the ambience in each one is perfect. Waffles are a big hit here and they usually have waffles on their menus instead of bagels. I actually haven't had one yet. Koreans are also big on giant loaf breads. Today, I thought I'd try one and I ordered a "cheesy bread" as it read on the English menu. It turned out to be a piece of cheesecake. I didn't mind. All cafes also offer cheesecake or macarons. I actually tried my first macaron the other day. To die for! What's funny is that Koreans call them macaroons but a macaron (one o) is actually different than a macaroon. Anyways, cafes in Korea are fantastic. They have some chains but I think most of them are independent, which is nice.

On my way home, I stopped in Nampo.. which is a big touristy shopping center (I had to buy a USB for my camera!). There is also Lotte Mart here which is a giant department store (the one with an entire floor as a food court). I got four sushi rolls for about $10! WHAT A GREAT DEAL. I didn't eat them all, don't worry. Anyways, I'm about to hit the sheets. But let me tell you real quick that I got this awesome box of chocolate from one of my students on Valentine's Day. Yayyy. Til my next post.