[HiKorea Hostel(Guesthouse) in Haeundae, Busan] Recall in Gamcheon-dong, the Korean Machu Picchu

 When I was young, I used to visit my grandmother two or three times a week. When my mother went to work, I had meals and slept at my grandmother’s house. Her house was located in a narrow alley and it had a flush toilet. I had to go up quite high stairs to go up to the rooftop. The house has been changed into a villa, but because it was full of my childhood memories, I often recall the time. It is perfectly fine to travel on 9 March, 2013. The culture village in Gamcheon-dong where I visited made me recall my beautiful childhood memories unconsciously. Although it was crowded by lots of travelers, Gamcheon-dong will still be remembered as a calm and quiet place like my grandmother’s.

When you take a step into the culture village, you will see the Haneulmaru (the Sky-floor). The way to Haneulmaru is decorated with the name ‘Namoo(tree).’ The author Kim Sangho who created this art work compared the process of the village growing up to the growth of a tree. He allegedly hoped that this culture village of Gamcheon-dong will keep on growing and developing as trees grow and bear fruit. Actually, this village was not popular to people outside at first. However, some artists, who loved the scenery of this simple and beautiful village, decorated it making this village achieve its fame. Is that the reason? We can feel the hearts of the artists and residents who love the village here and there throughout the Gamcheon-dong culture village.

When you arrive at the Haneulmaru, you can enjoy the sceneries of Gamcheon-dong and the Gamcheon harbor at the same time. They are so charming, cute and pretty that people come back here again and again, but rather, I could get calm and quiet impressions continuously despite of lots of visitors. Wouldn’t this be the charm of traveling? We can feel various feelings each even looking at the same scenery.

Anyway, this Haneulmaru plays a role of a general guide here in Gamcheon-dong. When you visit here, you can buy the culture village map with 2,000won in the name of ‘House project tour in Gamcheon-dong, a visitor’s stamp book.’ You might wonder why you have to pay for the tourist map but if you get all the stamps in this map, you can get a beautiful postcard to send, so it is pretty much worth it. I strongly recommend that you buy the map even if you don’t really need it, because you might be able to miss some must-sees without it, and cannot get the pretty postcard also. It has more than the value of the price, so you should buy it.

The three theme houses on this map are the house of peace, light, and darkness. You can find one more house, which is the house of the wind. I would like to introduce the house of the wind and peace. The artist, Park Taehong, who created the house of the wind introduces this place as, “I used wire to describe the wind veining and made people look at themselves through various mirrors with different angles.” Don’t you feel the wire as the real wind after listening to his words? It looks somewhat dangerous to see people standing in the wind.

The house of peace is the most unforgettable one for me. Well, entering the house, my eyes were caught by a phrase that says, ‘Peace: Respecting others’ thoughts.’ How simple and exact the words can be! This house consists of Room of Bowl and Room of moon. ‘Bowl’ symbolizes what contains everything, and the ‘moon’ means ‘to give moonlight to everything in the world equally.’ Especially, I sympathized with his idea regarding the moonlight of the author, Jeong Hee Wook. “Regardless of the gap between the rich and the poor, race and religion, the moon shares its light with everyone equally. Like the moon, peace helps all people in the world to live equal lives.

 ‘Modern People’ which an artist, Shin Mookyung, had created caught my eyes as well though the map didn’t mention it. It describes modern people who just continue working in daily lives by showing their hands keep typing on computer keyboards or just working at their desks. I think it is try to tell something to people who visit Gamcheon-dong. The visitors must be coming here to take a break from their busy and tiring work, so Gamcheon-dong, probably, is the very place where busy people gather to take a break. Of course, I was one of them also. I began to like this village more after I enjoyed this art work. It felt that it was understanding my situation.

I found a ‘supermarket’ for tourists on my way out from the house of light. Compared to other tourist attractions, it sells products in cheaper price. Hot drinks are 500won, and cold drinks are 1,000won. I bought a citron tea for 500won also. I expected a meager citron, but wow! It was full of citron. I could see that they were selling drinks in a real cheap price. I chat with the storekeeper drinking the tea for a while, and she said the price was reasonable because lots of customers were students. Thank you Gamcheon-dong, for your overflowing, generous heart.

I asked her whether it was noisy or not because of many tourists, and she said that the neighbors feel uncomfortable with it, but she is happy for it. They might be distressed because the village is crowded with people on days when about 4,500 people come. Particularly, visitors make too much noise which causes the residents distressed. Although it is a tourist spot, I think tourists need to have etiquettes and make efforts to lower their voices for the residents.

There is a special space for tourists only in Gamcheon-dong. It is the ‘Gallery for Scribbles.’ The walls and ceilings are filled with the memories of the visitors, from just a few phrases like ‘someone came here,’ to various interesting drawings. To give you a piece of advice, there are pens equipped for scribbling, but they don’t work well because too many people use them. You might want to bring some markers or pens with you when you visit Gamcheon-dong. It’s a good chance to leave your trace at Gamcheon-dong.

There are a number of artworks not only made by artists, but also created by some residents. This work was created by a resident, Kim Jungju. “I, one day, found a cork of a wine bottle on the street. Even though it played an important role for wine, it was finally thrown away with no use. When I looked at it, it reminded me of my father who had retired after working as a government officer for 36 years diligently. … (Omit text) … After the day, I started to talk to things thrown away and started to create my artwork reflecting this.” Arts are not only for artists. Gamcheon-dong seems to tell us like this.

Actually, Gamcheon-dong is special not because of these artworks, but because of the real scenery and the real lives of the residents here that we can see. I could feel how special this village is looking at the high and steep stairs. It reminded me of the memories on my grandmother’s rooftop, which I mentioned before. Also, the clothelines here and there in the village seriously touched my heart. Since many things there were precious and difficult to see in other places these days, just hanging around here and there itself was pretty fun.

After hanging around, I could feel myself hungry so I looked for a cheap but tasty restaurant, and the Son Kalguksu (handmade chopped noodles) restaurant that I went in first was very good. I had Deulggae(perilla) Kalguksu which had a deep taste of the soup, and the KKakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), a side-dish, was excellent. Moreover, the price was only 5,000won! If you want cheaper food, you can choose others as the Deulggae Kalguksu is the most expensive one. The restaurant owner was very kind. She gave me more KKakdugi by herself and thanked me when I kept on saying it is so delicious. The food was heavy and decent, and the noodles were chewy! I highly recommend this place.

Gamcheon-dong is special. Whether you go there with other people or by yourself, it is not important. It is a place where you can recall your precious memories. It might be just one of the tourist attractions for some people, but it might be an unforgettable place for someone else. I hope everyone who visits here will be the latter. If you have not been here yet, even though you live in Busan or traveling, please go and make your own precious stories. It might be a special tour that you won’t be able to enjoy at other places.