A Stroll Around Korea's Santorini of the South: Gamcheon Culture Village

As part of our day trip to Busan, we visited the famous village, Gamcheon Culture Village, also known as Taegukdo Village. We took the subway to Toseong station. Then transferred to a village bus that took us to the top of the hill. As soon as we got off the bus, we headed to the viewing deck/ observatory. There, we were able to have a birds eye view of the village. 

Arranged neatly and painted with different colors, the houses at Gamcheon Culture village looked like doll houses. The houses looked like they were built on top of another. I think it is because they were built positioned on the side of the hill. It looked very interesting.

After taking pictures at the viewing deck, we started strolling around the village. There were stores and cafes along the village road. Some stores sell souvenirs to visitors, while others sell street food such as fish cakes, hot dogs, and potato fries.

One of the things that caught my attention was the wall with a huge fish made of painted pieces of wood on it. It was so colorful and catchy.

Nearby the wall, is a building with human birds on the edge of its roof. Its wall was painted with buildings and a cloudy sky.

As we continued strolling, we saw a lot of artistic buildings along the road. Here are some of my favorite ones.

And of course, a place where couples leave there love locks and love messages for their partners can't be missing.

The coolest part of that stroll was when I saw the old water pump. It reminded me of my childhood. Growing up, we didn't have any source of drinking water except an old water pump at my grandfather's land. I used to fetch water from the water pump every afternoon. I never found pumping water from it a fun thing to do. But as soon as I saw the pump at Gamcheon Art Village, I felt an excitement that I couldn't explain. 

 It was a short trip but I surely had a great time. Though it was raining, I still enjoyed walking around.

Gamcheon Art Village may look colorful and vibrant but its past was not as colorful as it looks nowadays. Its history has a stain of fear and poverty. The Korean War brought this village to life. The original houses where built using rusty scrap iron, rocks, and wood. They weren't as fancy looking as visitors see them today. The reparation and beautification of the old shanties did  not start until 2009. In 2010, more beautification and enhancements were done. Those enhancements gave a new face to Gamcheon.

2015 Haeundae Sand Festival (2015년 해운대 모래 축제)

When I was young, I used to play in the the sand. We used to make sand castles. It was always fun. I didn't know that we can make sculptures also.  I only knew that we could make sand castles and mix it with cement to create concrete buildings and roads. 

The first time I heard about the sand festival, I couldn't quite comprehend what on earth is a sand festival and why would they celebrate such a festival? For me it's so random. But my impression changed when I went to Busan this past weekend. 

My husband and I wanted to go somewhere for the weekend. Actually, our decision to go to Busan was made on Friday evening. We searched online and we found out that the Haeundae Sand Festival was going on. I told him I wanted to go there but I didn't want to deal with a huge crowd. So we decided to leave early, very early. We packed our things, went to Gumi Station, and purchased tickets for Busan. We took the 1:33 a.m. train. We arrived in Busan at 3:26 a.m. We then took a taxi to Haeundae Subway station. We walked down to the beach. Along the way, I noticed that a lot of pubs and a few restaurants were still open, and there were many people walking around. Then I realized how lively Haeundae Beach is. People there party until morning. When we reached the beach, I noticed some people sitting on the sand quietly enjoying the sound of the waves kissing the shore. 

We then took off our shoes and put on our sandals. We started walking on the beach, enjoying the cool early morning breeze. It was so relaxing. I was surprised that I didn't feel sleepy at all. 

I spent my time taking pictures. This one is the first picture I took.

As I continued walking around, I saw some dunes on the sand. They looked like huge anthills. When I got near them, I was amazed! They were not anthills. They were huge sand sculptures. Sculptures that were much larger than the tiny sand castles I used to make. 

Each of the sand sculptures looked like it was carefully done by very skillful hands. I loved how they looked. They were very detailed.  Each of them seemed to tell a story.  

Arriving early helped us a lot. We were able to take better quality pictures because there weren't so many people around. Also the lighting was good. It gave more depth to the picture.

The first sculpture I saw was a sculpture depicting the story, Hansel and Gretel. But sadly, I wasn't able to take a good picture of it.

 

The next one was Peter Pan. It was sculpted by two people. 

Peter Pan - a sand sculpture by an American sculptor Ted Siebert and a Canadian sculptor Fred Dobbs

 The third one was a sculpture depicting a Korean traditional story which was sculpted by a Korean sand sculptor. When I was still learning Korean, my teacher told me about the Korean traditional story of Heung-bu and Nol-bu. When I saw the Tukebi on this sculpture, I knew right away that this sculpture depicted that story.

Heung-bu and Nol-bu - a sand sculpture by a Korean sculptor, Choi Jihoon

 This is one of the the most intricate sand sculptures I've ever seen. It depicted the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk.

Jack and the Beanstalk - a sand sculpture by an Italian sculpture Francesca Cosmi

This one depicts the story, Pinocchio. It remind us not to lie or else our nose will grow longer.

Pinocchio - a sand sculpture by an Italian sculpture, Walter Fantino

 Then I saw a sculpture depicting a story about an adventurous young man named Aladdin.

 This is one of my favorite sculptures. It looks so neat and clean. 

Aladdin's Lamp - a sculpture by  Maxim Gazendam from the Netherlands

 Then I saw a sand sculpture depicting one of my favorite stories as a child, The Wizard of Oz, created by a man from the Netherlands.

The Wizard of Oz - a sand sculpture by  Bouke Alema from the Netherlands

 Another sculpture depicting a Korean traditional story of the Turtle and the Rabbit entitled Byeoljubujeon or Byeoljubu Hero. 

Byeoljubujeon - a sand sculpture by a Korean  sculptor Kim Gilman

 This one was made as a welcoming message to the Chinese people. The sign that was placed near this sculpture stated that it depicts Kung Fu Panda breaking out of a wall, which symbolizes an invisible barrier between Korea and China. 

 And another panda...so cute...

It was fun seeing those huge sand sculptures. I can imagine how much hard work the sculptors put in to make such incredible sand sculptures.