With love in our hearts,
we find even the most mundane things sacred and beautiful.
With love in our hearts,
we become kinder and gentler,
even to complete strangers.Without love in our hearts,
we find the world meaningless and random.
Without love in our hearts,
we become strangers even to our family and friends.– Haemin Sunim
Gamcheon Culture Village was one of my to-visit places when I travelled to South Korea. I told myself, I needed to see for myself what this village is all about. Why are people, tourists and Koreans, flocking to visit the village. This village was not well-known by tourists until Korean variety shows came here to film part of their show’s content.
I took a day trip to Busan (from Seoul) on a bright and sunny Saturday. I would never recommend a day trip to Busan to anyone unless you really have it all planned out because Busan has so much more to offer. I did it because my main reason was to visit Gamcheon Culture Village and hopefully throw in a city bus tour in 6-7 hours. I would love to extend my stay but I was travelling with friends and a day trip was what we could manage.
So, we set off at about 8 am and took the KTX to Busan. We reached at approximately 11 am where we were greeted by another friend of ours who was temporarily in Busan for short-term stay. From Busan KTX station, we changed to the metro to one of the stations and from there, we boarded a bus that brought us up to the top of Gamcheon Culture Village.
At the entrance of Gamcheon Culture Village, we visited the information booth to obtain a piece of map each that costs 2000 won per person. With the map, it will guide you to scenic places of the village. At the same time, it will bring you to various art exhibitions displayed around the village. Each time you visit these exhibition, you get a stamp. In some places, after receiving a stamp, they will also give you a postcard as a reward. There are a total 2 postcards you can get.
The weather that day was fantastic. The sun was shining brightly in Busan. The temperature was spring-like about 10-degrees. It was a good combination of sun and wind. There were many visitors at the village on that day – be it tourists and Koreans. There were teenagers dressed up in Hanbok as well going around to conduct their own photoshoot complete with tripods. I have so much love and admiration for them because of the excitement they portray when they walk around in their Hanboks.
As we were walking around the village, I can’t help but think how the locals of the village could put up with the influx of tourists and visitors each day. How do they go about living their lives normally when you have visitors standing up against your door for a picture or two? There are many signs that advised visitors to keep our volumes down because this is an actual settlement and people are living in it. But it felt like an invasion of their privacy somehow. I guess it brings them good business when you have a constant flow of visitors but at the same time, I felt a tinge of sadness because the peacefulness that they may have once experienced, are gone? I don’t know. Maybe I am just thinking too much. I guess, if it was me living there, I would appreciate some kind of quiet period season where I don’t have visitors nosing around my house with cameras of all kinds of sizes.
Thoughts aside, I did enjoy walking around and through the narrow alleyways of Gamcheon. It took us approximately 3 hours to complete the village tour and we even had Mango Bingsu during our break time because – because.. Bingsu. It’s a must.
Everybody gotta try Bingsu.
Will I be back for Busan? Definitely.
x
Nur
Travel & Come Back 