Galleries:
Our next port of call is Busan, an hour’s bus journey south-west of Gyeonju and the second city of South Korea. One’s immediate impression is that it is enormous! It has 3.23m inhabitants out of a total population in south Korea of 51.6m and spans a diameter, or around 50km east to west and 35km north to south! It has its own extensive metro system, it’s main (central – haha) bus terminal is some 20km away from the centre at the end of a metro line – so we discovered. It’s even called the ‘Central Bus Terminal’. Such practicalities are there to catch the unwary traveller.
As dramatic architecture and historic temples were to Seoul, the National Park was to Sokcho, culture, more temples and history were to Gyeongju, Busan is noted for its scenic mountain landscapes and beautiful shoreline. Its 2 famous beaches are Haeundae and Gwangalli, which boast views of the spectacular 7.42km Gwangan bridge which essentially links Busan's central beach area of Gwangalli directly to the major commercial and resort district of Haeundae. We also noted the extensive commercial areas to rival the shopping malls of Hong Kong with many of them underground connected to the metro tunnels.
In a city this size for only a few days, like Seoul, it can be difficult to decide what to pick. There are the 2 beaches to visit and generally a beach is a beach pretty much everywhere and Haeundae has a Sea World. On our first night, the city ran a light show with drones over Gwangalli beach in front of the Gwangan Bridge, which was OK but not amazing. Several kilometres beyond Haeundae Beach is the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple – a 650 year old Buddhist complex which is considered to be the no.1 tourist attraction and indeed it was teeming on our visit.
Also a popular tourist attraction is the Gamcheon Culture Village. Known affectionately as the "Santorini of South Korea," (which is stretching it a bit) this former refugee settlement was transformed by local artists into a vibrant open air museum featuring pastel-coloured houses, street murals and handicraft shops stacked like terraces down the foothills of the mountain. A much quieter second version is the Hocheon Culture Village which I captured at dusk as a blue hour shot, although it was raining at the time and there wasn’t much blue to be had.
And right in the middle of Busan is Hwangnyeongsan Mountain which provides a magnificent 360 degree view of the city - which had to be visited for the photography. Even though the weather was poor and the forecast worse, I took a chance. On arrival at the summit cloud was low and descending – and then miraculously within about 30 seconds right at the onset of blue hour it all cleared. You can see the results in the Busan Central gallery.