Busan City Tour 2007 and Working place

Last weekend, Busan Metropolitan City Government offered all the international students in Busan an opportunity to get to know better about Busan through a City Tour. We travelled several sightseeing places in Busan. The most important thing is the whole tour was free of charge!!!!

Terresa, pok mong ah?

Beomeosa temple was our first stop for this tour, one of the largest and well-known temples in Busan. It was fairly easy to get to from the subway, but it still situated deep in the forest. Never mind, we were not going by subway. Hiak!

Hie!

A lot of other people were there that day. Koreans like to buy all sorts of specialized hiking gear for their regular walks in the mountains. A short walk later from the main entrance and we arrived at the temple complex surrounded by forest covered hills. The architecture in temples around Korea has many similarities, but each complex has a slightly different if you look closely.
There is a main temple that is a little bigger and more decorated than others. Smaller temples surround it and each has its own theme. Lots of young couples come to places like these when they are about to get married. The atmosphere in these places is very tranquil, and even though there are sounds from outside it tends to somehow dampen when you are inside. (May be because the temples located in deep forest).
Winter is coming and it’s getting cold these days. This year they are expecting snow down here. The trees have nice colours on them too, from deep reds to bright yellows.
Aiks, guys I am not going to talk more today. I got some work to do now. So I will let some photos to talk. At the end of this post, I attached a nice MV for you. Enjoy!

So messy working desk. Hehe.

Working place.

A place where i always make coffee

To all guys, appreciate your beloved. Enjoy the MV.

Global Positioning System in Korea

Yup, today I am going to introduce a very advance system which I discovered here, as known as GPS (Global positioning system) navigation system. frankly, I am quite impressed with this technology as well. Therefore, this post would be a “tech” post. Don’t worry; I am just making a quick and simple introduction for this system [for those interested]. Hiak!

taken in collegue's car[On the left of the gps navigation monitor is just a PSP]

The main purpose of navigation system is to guide driver to their chosen destination. Feature such as Point to Interest (POI), traffic avoidance etc also included in this SUPER system. You may enter destination information [like how you type “thing” search in google], it searches for the destination location via any line of address together with estimated time to reach. Those controls should be tailored for use whist driving. Complete touch screen operation is ideal for reducing attention taken from the road.

The GPS navigation systems also provide voice guidance features which increase yours confidence in the product and help keep eyes on the road. You should be possible to follow the route by using just the voice instruction. In addition, you should be able to take a diversion without having to manually update information. That means, the device would adapt to the new route and would not resort to instructing the user to turn around.

Closer view. [The "arrow" representing your vehicle]

This GPS navigation monitor also supports plug into car audio system for playing cd/dvd/mp3 which means the one sitting next to you can watch movies and play games.

3rd Busan Firework Festival 20 Oct 2007

Hoho, this post is going to be a long post, because I am going to put a lot of firework photos and talk about fireworks in Gwangan Bridge. Hiak!!Firstly, the "3rd Busan Fireworks Festival", the world's top high-tech multimedia fireworks festival, will be held for two days from October 19 to 20 against the backdrop of Gwangalli Beach and Gwangan Bridge.

That day was just too cold!!!

While Busan may be Korea's second city, there's a feeling that it's got some way to go as far as the development of cultural events are concerned, as the Fireworks Festval seems to be one of the relatively few events of note in the annual city calendar. This of course meant that the desire of local people to attend was particularly high, making the two subway trains we took more like cattle trucks. Clearly the subway authorities had become concerned enough by the number of people to annouce that changing train in Seomyeon,petaling street in Korea (most happening area) would not be possible.




The initial impression of chaos was not to last though. A huge number of police at Gwangalli Beach ensured good crowded control and everyone who arrived early enough was able to take a seat on the beach with relative ease - though we had to wait two hours for the firework to begin. The fireworks started from 8pm to 8.45pm.



Gwangan Bridge - which arcs across the bay in an improbably fashion to apparently link points A and B on the mainland in the longest way possible (It's currently Korea's longest bridge) - was lit up spectacularly, although most of the fireworks were launched from the shore rather than the bridge itself. We'd been promised a multi-media fireworks display, though predictably this translated into meaning fireworks accompanied by loud music. It sort of worked though. If we are going next year, I think we'll take cushions for the beach though; 2 hours sat on sand and pebbles with nothing more than a thin ground-mat for protection is not to be recommended. (There were a lot of hawker selling plastic made cushions cost around 3-4 USD).

Counting Down show

Despite the heavy police numbers the post-festival experience was worrying. We were staying with friends at a Gwangalli Beach but when we left Gwangalli Beach to walk towards to Suyeong, we found ourselves pushing against a flood of humanity surging in the opposite direction. The small group of us intent on going to other way eventually succeeded.


I read that 600,000 people watched the festival last year, and the city authorities expected over one million this year, but our Korean companions told us that this year actually seemed quieter, in which case I can only imagine the horrors of the previous event. it certainly felt like we fought our way through tens of thousands of people walking towards Gwanglli Beach, and the crowded did not really tail off until we were almost at our destination - approximately 45 mins walk.

No longer 23

On 20 October 2007 (Friday), it was my birthday celebration together with another Malaysian Trainee (Deyan) in girls old dormitory. Thanks to all the wonderful angelic friends (All Germans and Malaysians) that actually care and take the initiative to celebrate this wonderful day with me. It is just so meaningful. I am really thankful even though I did not know how to express it in words. If you all are reading this-------------------------------> Thank you, danke !

Thank you all my friends.

Suhan, Deyan, Chau Lun, Skaine, William, Byran and Keat

As usual, a group shot

Romantic Love Story (Episode 1-3)

Well, I'll introduce you a short Korean Love Story MV. Guys, drop your work, just spend a few minutes to watch this MV. Hope you like and enjoy it.

Episode 1:


Episode 2:


Episode 3:


p/s: Frankly say I love the song very much. HIak!

Taejongdae [visited on 03.10.2007]

Jump?

At the invite of Sheng Kiat, we went to Taejongdae during this public holiday [03.10.2007], which is a park by the sea.

I saw 1 of the sign board is written like this:

"Taejongdae is a representative park of Busan, with fantastic rocky cliffs, quiet places in thick forests of various evergreen and deciduous trees, and variety of recreational facilities. It is famous for the fact that the Tshushima island of Japan can be seen from here."

The park itself is beautiful - despite the season which left a good number of the trees bare - but unfortunately we went Taejongdae at a peak time because we had to fight our way through crowds of locals with the same idea. The tourist buses, disturbingly brightly coloured were still running around the park, although why anyone would choose to take a very noisy bus rather than appreciating the quiet serenity of the park's grounds is beyond me.

On the way to the park, we wanted to check out something nearby that looked like a war memorial of some kind. Well, it is a memorial to 'medical assistance units' from the U.N who served in the Korea way. Italian, Indian, Danish and Swedish flags were on it as well as a couple of others I cannot recall.

Along the way, there are Buddhist Temples off the path in the forest. At the far side, where the lighthouse is, we made our way down the cliffs on increasingly perilous sets of steps. As we descended further the route lost any pretence of being a proper path and just became a narrow level bit of cliff with like a two-rope barrier to avoid you from falling off the edge.

On the way down, completely unexpectedly, the path briefly enclosed and within that space was a wall where visitors were encouraged to neatly leave their love message. Perhaps this was to discourage them from writing their messages all over the other rocks on the cliff, but if it was it failed miserably.

We hanged out there about 3-4 hours. Eventually we took "bus" to the entrance of the park. Along the way, proving that Koreans can sell anything, anywhere, vendors hawked refreshment in increasingly precarious locations.

My 1 day girl friend

ChuSeok

Hello, it is time to update the blog again. This post i will be talking about how I spent my "moon cake festival" in this foreign country, Korea.

Before that, I must show you how's Korea moon cake looks like. For this, we bought it in LOTTE market. It cost around 12USD.

Chuseok, also sometimes spelt 'Chuseok', is a major holiday inKorea, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar Korean Calendar. It is similar to our "Chinese New Year". That why I got 5 days holiday. In Korea, Chuseok is a time where families get together and remember their ancestors. For us foreigners at the dorm, we travel.

---------------------------------Nampodong--------------------------------------------------


On Monday(24/9/2007), we went to Yongdusan Park in the Nampodong area of Busan. In Korea, 'yongdu' means dragon's head and 'san' means mountain so it seems this is Dragon's Head Mountain Park. Apparently the mountain looks like a dragon's head from the sea. We quickly made our way to the collection of buildings which form the base for the park's tower to escape from the heat. Amongst the usual cafes and shops selling tourist trinkets, were an art gallery which perhaps was not too keen on photos being taken(shit, got scolded by old man in the art gallery corner).


---------------------------------Busan Tower------------------------------------------------

After that, we went to the Busan Tower, the highest storey in the city
Busan Bridge

------------------------------Yongdusa Park---------------------------------------------



------------------------------Busan KTX Station-----------------------------------------

After that, we headed off to Busan KTX Station. Korea KTX train, perfectly exemplified my description of Korea as an average of Japan and China. The train in China had floors covered by regurgitated food, children sitting on overturned buckets, and shredded seats. They cost only a few dollar to go half way across the country.

On the other hand, Japan's bullet train cost upwards of $140, but are silent, spotlessly clean, and look like airplanes from the future. The seat rotate so that everyone always faces forward regardless of the direction train is going, and all staff is required to turn and bow to the passengers before entering or leaving the train car. (That's what Japanese told me)

Now, what i noticed is that, Korea KTX was not dirty but was not flawless, but did not hurt your ears when the brakes were applied, and cost a mere $40 from Busan to Seoul( cheaper when holiday). Just right in between Japan and China.


-------------------------------JagalChi Market----------------------------------------------

Jagalchi market was stinky, full of every type of sea creature and a lot of ajummas (old woman that selling these creature, all with curly hair and a visor cap), but it was interesting to walk through.

-------------------Geungjeong Mountain Fortress------------------------------------



--------------------------------Children's Park-----------------------------------------------

On Tuesday, we went to a Children's Park, a theme park meets botanical-garden type place. It was built a few decades ago but is still very popular. This park is enormous and you could spend hours just walking around in it. Along the way, you see little Korean kids laughing shouting, crying, pointing etc. In the center of the park is a large dam and corresponding lake. It's very relaxing place to be.


In the various wooded ares of the park, you can see many familiar picnicking. I'm assuming that's how you spell 'picnicking'. Since coming to Korea, I've noticed my English deteriorate significantly. Sometimes I'll write a word and think, hm.....that does not look right, only to find out later that it was the correct spelling.

And then, right at the back of the park tucked neatly into a mountain fold is an aging theme park. Entrance is free and most rides only cost a couple of dollars. So we had a ride on the roller coaster, which was largely constructed from old wood and the major safety feature was 'holding on tight'. It was scary for those two reasons alone.

--------------------------------Haeuadae Beach-------------------------------------------
I am lucky to live/work in Busan, South Korea. The beaches are fablous and so easy to get to using public transportation. We made our way to the Busan Aquarium just beside the beach. The entrance fee for international student is cost about 7USD dollar(Offer for international student) which original price is 14USD. My company is just facing the Haeundae Beach. (I am waiting next year summer).

Gwanggann Bridge

--------------------------------Yonggungsa Temple--------------------------------
Yonggung Temple means King's Dragon Palace. Its also a Buddhism sanctuary with a wonderful view of dark blue sea and breaking white splintering water.