Postcards from the movies

Perchd on the Southeastern-most tip of the Korean peninsula, Busan is South Korea’s second largest city and with a population of more than 3.5 million, every bit as cosmopolitan as Bangkok. 

Yet after three days of travelling around Japan’s rural Kyshu region as part of a cooperative agreement on tourism between Fukuoka and Busan, the frantic pace of life comes as something of a shock.

A flight of less than an hour separates the quiet from the chaos and after setting our internal clocks back to life in the fast lane, we are ready to experience the city’s culture and charms.

Over the years, Busan has expanded to include the nearby satellites of Gimhae and Yangsan and we are thus able to take in Haeundae beach, the country’s most famous strip of shoreline, a delightful temple by the sea as well as the small coastal town of Tongyeong, home to the film sets of several Korean dramas.

Busan – which was romanised as Pusan prior to 2000 – is probably best known to Thais for its film festival, which first saw the light of day at in central Nampo-dong area before moving to Haeundae beach. The BIFF square at Nampo-dong is still home to a multiplex theatre where some of the screenings are held and also hosts such activities as printing the hands of actors and filmmakers.

Nearby is Gukje Market, which offers everything from fresh produce to fashion as well as food stalls while across the way is Jagalchi Market, famed for its marine and dried fish products as well as its restaurants.

The markets are also popular locations for filming and regularly draw movie and drama fans. The local shopkeepers make the most of this unexpected tourism boom and we are amazed to see a large queue in front of shop in crowded Gukje Market, with the owner proudly pointing to its image in the poster for “Ode to My Father”.

Not far away is Gamcheon Culture Village, which is formed by some 1,000 houses built staircase-fashion on the foothills of a mountain.

During the Korean war thousands of refugees of the Taegeuk-do religion fled to Busan fearing persecution from the communist North. Housed at first in the city centre, they were later moved to Gamcheon where they built homes from scrap iron, wood and rocks. It remained one of city’s poorest communities until 2009, when the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism stepped in, organised art projects to restore the village, hired artists to paint murals and offered incentives to artists to move there and run galleries and shops. Several descendants of the original settlers still live at Gamcheon and have profited from the thousands of visitors who pour into the village every day.

A museum at the entrance relates the history of the residents but unfortunately the information is all in Korean. Guides can however be hired for a tour of the village itself and are happy to take visitors around to admire the trick art, sculptures, and even buildings remodelled around a singular art concept including a Book Cafe shaped like a giant coffee mug,

Art projects turning old neighbourhoods into tourist attractions are popular all over South Korea and one of the most successful is Dong Pirang village in Tongyeong city – about two hours from Busan.

While Gamcheon tends to be more popular among local and foreign visitors, Dong Pirang and Tongyeong attract mainly Koreans obsessed with TV drama locations.

Dong Pirang is much smaller and more peaceful than Gamcheon village. The tiny homes stand roof to roof, with narrow alleyways zigzagging up to the hill. 

Dong Pirang embraced the art project before Gamcheon when it was threatened with demolition. A civic group held a mural contest in 2006 and offered a grand prize of 30 million won (Bt915,000)

Thirty-six young artists came from all over the country to paint the walls of the homes and alleys in the neighbourhood during the week of the contest. More art projects have since been organised with artists from other countries, Thailand included, also coming to create their murals. 

The houses have appeared in such TV dramas as “Innocent Man” starring Song Jung-ki and Moon Chae Won and “Padam Padam” with Jung Woo Sung and Han Ji Min.

The entrance to Dong Pirang is on the hill leading up from Gangguan Harbour, home to a thriving fish market, shops and restaurants.

The Hallyeosudo Landscape cable car to Mt Mireuksan is just 15 minutes away and well worth overcoming vertigo for the magnificent view of hundreds of small islands. This too has appeared on national TV, lending itself as the background for the teenage drama “School 2015: Who are you?”

From Tonyeongghang Harbour, Korean drama fans can pop over to Jangsa Do aka Camellia Island, a trip of about 50 minutes by boat. The island is owned by a millionaire and has been turned into a beautiful park planted with camellias or silver magnolias and home to both a maze and herb garden. The owner has faced no problems in popularising his tourist destination, having invited the famous TV programme “Running Man” to shoot here as well as the hit drama “The Man Who Came from the Star”.

 

BEAUTIFUL BUSAN

< For more information about the destinations, visit http://english.visitkorea.or.kr, Teongyong city at http://eng.tongyeong.go.kr/ and http://english.busan.go.kr/.