Gamcheon Culture Village
For our breakfast Mike and I head over to a nearby McDonald's. We notice queues at two nearby restaurants. One is for Choryang Milmyeon Restaurant, known for their Cold Noodle and huge dumplings. This is touted as a Must Eat place in Busan.
Choryang Milmyeon Restaurant (Cold Noodles)
On the same block is the Bonjeon Dwaeji Gugbap Restaurant. This is one of the top five Pork Rice Soup which is a one of the famous Busan dishes that is a favorite of locals and tourists alike.
Bongjeon Pork Rice Soup Restaurant
The soup is a labor intensive dish with the broth made by boiling pork bone for hours. Unaware that such culinary breakfast delights were so close to our hotel and needing to avoid waiting in a queue, we got a Big Breakfast from McDonald's.
This morning we head to the Busan Station to take the metro train. The Ma's like to walk, so as we got off the metro we started the 28 minutes uphill walk to Gamcheon Culture Village.
After ten minutes, some of us, Trina included, hopped on a bus. Kingman and Tyler toughed it out and walked. (Son Ryan had left for Japan, where his family would meet him after the end of our trip). The bus was a stick shift and the road was winding and narrow. With each turn of the curve the passengers were whipped from one side to the other. It was a bit of a wild but fun ride. Kingman and Tyler appeared not much later, with Tyler looking winded as he hasn't conditioned for this type of workout. In 2000 the village of Gamcheon in Busan was dilapidated; home to many war refugees who fled from the North Korean invasion in the 1950’s.
Busan was the only area in the South Korean Peninsula to be free from fighting and the 20 shanty homes dotting the hillside of Gamcheon swelled to 1000. The population of the whole of Busan in total grew by half a million in less than a year as refugees poured in. Homes were quickly fashioned out of what little material there were, with many refugees using tombstones from the cemetery of the Japanese who occupied Korea for 35 years. Urban regeneration using government funds began in 2009 resulting in a colorful and vibrant village. Korean movies and TV dramas use Gamcheon Village as a backdrop for stories including “Hero,” “Superstar Kam Sa-young,” and “Camelia.” Art shops, boutiques, and cafes dot the winding alleyways. At the first free photo area we greet a golden retriever named Honey Jar, whose favorite napping spot is at the entrance of his owner's boutique, called the Home Market. 
We step over him and check out quaint fashion and home items.
At this boutique entrance plaza you can see the very colorful mural village below. 
Artists have created objects that are useful for staging a nice photo. 
Throughout the village are strung white cartons decorated by kids. 
The tiers of pastel colored houses with bright colored roofs, along with murals, sculptures and other art forms transforms the village into a charming and cheerful place to visit. 
Murals of fishes point the direction for visitors to go up the hill. 
There are whimsical birds with human faces. 
Cats are popular here. 
We enjoy lunch in one of the restaurants. 
During lunch Janet buys a croiffle from a lady who is making them at the entrance to the cafe where we have lunch. It’s covered with sugar. It’s warm, flaky, chewy and very delicious so we buy more. It’s a hybrid of a waffle and croissant. 
I pop into the Little Museum which chronicles the transformation of the village and features items found in the shanty homes during the early years. 
You know you are old when you see a rotary phone as a museum item. 
There is a map at the entrance of the village and you can also buy a map from the Information center. Our group only ventured through the beginning of the entrance and chose not to go up the narrow alleys or the winding path so on my next future visit, I will make sure to hit the spots we missed. 
We take the bus back down and walk to another bus stop to go to Songdo beach .
Waiting for bus to Songdo Beach
An ambulance passes by with it's siren's blaring and stops nearby. We see a fallen motorcyclist on the ground and soon he is being attended to by the ambulance crew.
The Sky Park is part of Amnam Park located at Songdo beach. 
In the park is a dinosaur park where the reptiles roar when you stand close. 
Dino Adventure
A snail park has a theme based on the desire to turn back the time. A large snail has stopped in front of a clock that shows time going backwards. (our time is 2:12 pm.)
Snail Park
A walkway has an artwork of a large, long dragon with wish scales. (you buy a scale at a gift shop and write on it and hang your wish on the dragon. The yellow pieces of papers are supposed to be the dragon’s “scales.”) 
Dragon of Wishes
Up on top of the Sky Park Observatory you can see the Japan Sea and the cable cars.
Japan Sea
There are a few Kodak moment areas.
Message Bottle
Moment Time Capsule
. We take a cable car ride (now known as Busan Air Cruise) across the Japan sea. For an extra thrill (a little more money) you can chose the crystal cabin with a transparent floor. Of course, I'll chose the solid floor cabin no matter what the cost. As we wait in line you can check out information and facts about the construction of the cable cars.
The ride takes ten minutes and takes you one mile to the Songdo Bay Station. This is a great way to view the beautiful sea, the beach, and the cityscape. 
Haeundae LCT The Sharp Towers
The best part of the excursion is we end up at Jagalchi seafood market which is culinary heaven to Kingman and Doug.
Every type of edible living sea creature may be here at the market. There are some stalls that sell cooked seafood, but the majority sell live seafood. 
Seafood takes a lot of preparation and work. 
No Escape!
In the indoor market the water that keeps the sea creatures alive overflows into drain holes in the ground and must be recaptured somewhere underground. 
Kingman is looking for a stall that has the most variety of seafood so that we can purchase everything for our dinner from one place. 
At stall 110, a friendly stall owner with a boyish face entices Kingman with a King crab. 
Kingman tells him he will look around a bit and come back. Not seeing any stalls with more variety, we head back to the gentleman and in quick fashion we buy octopus, oysters, abalone, scallop, Hamachi fish, shrimp, King crab, and snow crab. 
The owner takes a yellow tail fish known as Hamachi out of the tank and prepares half of it for grilling and the other half for sashimi. 
Yellowtail Fish
Cutting Hamachi (Yellowtail) Fish
Everything else is plucked out of the water and placed in a basket.
$348
A 4 foot tall lady wearing a blue vest and colorful scarf takes our basket of seafood and we follow her upstairs where it's a large open space with many stations for eating.
There are some stations where you take your shoes off and sits on benches. 
We are seated across from a large group of locals, all men, boisterously enjoying a meal of seafood and beer. 
The arrangement is the same as the meat market. You pay 5,000 wan per person for the use of the kitchen, the sides, and water. 
You pay for bap/rice. They serve bap in individual silver metal bowls with lids. I like this because it keeps your rice hot. 
The first dish to arrive is the octopus sashimi. It is so fresh that many of the sliced pieces are squirming. With cajoling from Kingman and Doug, Janet, Trina and I squeamishly try a nibble (my nibble being a sliver of a piece that was NOT squirming). I have to admit it wasn't fishy or slimy. That was enough for my sashimi initiation. I left the Hamachi/fish sashimi for the aficionados. I ate the grilled version. The crabs were steamed. With no seasoning of any sort, the taste was all pure crab. Apparently Tyler hasn't eaten seafood this fresh as well and he could be heard commenting a few times on how delicious the food was.
Everything was prepared without any added seasoning. You add your own seasoning such as wasabi, chili with vinegar, or salt to taste. For anyone visiting Busan, this is one thing that everyone should experience. 
This is a glowing report that seafood aficionado Doug sent to his friends and family after the dining experience:
Hi all! This is a special report today from Busan because we had the best ultrafresh seafood dinner from Jagalchi Seafood Market today. The seafood we chose was "ALIVE" when we chose it, brought straight to the chefs where they prepared the food for us and brought it to our table. The seafood meal we chose is the following: Octopus sashimi (carpacio),
a yellowfin tuna (hamachi) where half was grilled and half was made into sashimi,
steamed shrimp, 
steamed scallops, oysters, abalone, 
a whole snow crab, 
and finally a whole king crab!! 
All of the seafood was outstanding!!! Being so fresh, there was NO fishy taste at all!! The abalone was very tender, nothing like back home. The oysters were the best I have eaten, even the shrimp were tender and not rubbery!! Yes, the meal was a bit pricey, but this is an opportunity you do not get very often especially at this bargain of a price. 
We walk out into the night and admire the shimmering lights of the city. 
This featured blog entry was written by Helen K. from the blog Singapore and South Korea 2022.
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