Igidae

August 19, Friday – Feeling bored after staying in the room for 2 days, I decided to go somewhere for a small tour. I had been looking at the tourist guide map for quite a long time the day before. It was rather difficult to choose since I had been to most of the famous tourist spots. I will save the Beomeosa trip for next month since the scenery there is nicer during autumn. After some thinking, beach trip is the best as it is summer now. Thus, I decided to go to Igidae and Sinseondae. Both of these places are beach parks and located at the same region, Nam-gu. It was the first time I was going to some new places alone.

I departed from the dormitory at around 10am and took the shuttle bus down to the subway station. I took the subway to Pukyong National University station. It was around 11am as I reached there. I got out of the subway and was walking around, looking for the bus stop with the bus numbers 20, 22, 24, 27, 131 and 131-1. Next, I walked around the area, looking for some food to eat as I was a bit hungry. There were a few small restaurants nearby but they looked very dirty to me. After some walk, I decided to have 2 “sam kak gimbak” (it is almost the same as gimbak, with rice and some ingredients, but its shape is triangle) from Family Mart as lunch. It was not very filling but enough for the time being.

I went to the bus stop again to wait for the bus. As I was waiting, I noticed that the destination of the bus is different. They were heading to Seomyeom and Busan National University’s direction. I walked over to the bus stop at the opposite direction to check it out. It was written there “Yongho-dong”. I guess this one should be correct ^^ Luckily, I have picked up certain level of reading Korean characters. It sure comes in useful in such situations. The bus headed to Pukyong National University’s direction. Unlike DSU, the university is located on flat ground. I like the gate at its entrance, it looks ancient. After a while, I saw many LG apartments. I did not really count, but I think there were more than 10 blocks. I guess this is LG Metro City. I was supposed to get off from the bus at there and walked for 30 minutes.

As I was checking on the directions to Igidae Park, I saw Gwangan bridge on my left. Gwangan Bridge is a very famous bridge. It is something “must see” if you visit Busan. I walked towards that direction and was sweating a lot along the way. According to the weather forecast, it was around 31 Celsius on that day. The bridge is indeed very outstanding and grand. It looks much nicer in the reality than in the photos.

Then, I walked back to my original location and walked straight after the junction. There weren’t many cars taking that road. It was quite deserted. I began to wonder if I was taking the correct direction. I took note with the time before walking further. I came across a kindergarten as I was walking and had a look inside. It was really need, tidy and cute. I continued my journey and saw 3 huge “onions” before going up the hill. It was a long way up. I saw a signboard written “Igidae Park” on the way. I was able to see the sea shortly after the signboard though it was hard to notice as it was covered up by the trees. I bought a can of Pepsi at the vending machine beside the road before entering the park. It cost 700 won.

I was going down hill after accessing the entrance and was able to see the sea shortly after that. The area was very cooling due to the trees. The view of the sea sure was nice. I was able to see a few seagulls flying around as well. There weren’t many shops and facilities around like other tourist spots. Strictly do not go to the toilet there as they were spoilt, with no flushing system and water supply, causing it to be extremely smelly. The price of the juice there is also much more expensive. 1000 won for each can and 2000 won for a bottle of soju. There were not many people there as well. I was able to see Gwangan Bridge, the APEC venue and Haeundae Beach from there. It was like shooting 2 birds with a stone.

At first I thought that the area was very small, but it was not true. This rock beach is actually very long. There was a small trail on the right side that connects us to the other side of the beach. We were unable to see it unless we walked over there. There were many things that I like about this beach:

- the water is clean, I can see the red coral reefs and stones underneath the sea, which is further out in the sea (even though at some areas, there were some rubbish noticeable, floating in the sea).
- there are living corals just beside the rock, at your finger tips. It is not really noticeable unless you have a close look at it. It comes in white, orange and purple color.
- it is a nice fishing spot. You can get fish easily there.
- there are many rare species of wild plants around the area.
- it is windy there, a nice spot for picnic and relaxing.

As I was exploring the beach, I played around with the soft corals just beside the rocks. I put my hand on it and its sticky parts were like trying to hold me and suck me. I was shocked at first but later, I find it very nice to play around. The red color coral reefs are bit hard. At some areas, there were green seaweeds on the rocks. It looks like the ones that I normally have in my set lunch. There is some mini volcano-like stuff beside the stone as well. If there were alive, it was in dark brown color; else they were in light brown color. It seems like there is some sort of living creature inside this mini volcano. They are breathing, in-and-out. Water is important for them to survive.

Suddenly, an arjesi (meaning uncle) called me and gave me a green apple. He asked me to sit down and we were enjoying the beautiful scenery there. I was able to see the seagull up-close as it was flying just above me. It was really nice! I did not understand what he was talking, but he just kept on talking. He even asked me to have some of his gimbak. Later, they cut some sort of sea animals - round in shape, with some torns but not round in shape, into 2 parts and suck out the meat inside. It tasted like “siput”. It is really tasty! They managed to catch some fishes. There were a few types of them, jumping around in the small net. The arjesi took out one of them, put them on the back of the plastic ware, hold them and then slice them while it is breathing! After slicing the meat out, the fish is still alive, struggling. Now I know where they get the idea of ghost fish (in the movies) from. Then, they dipped the fresh meat with a kind of Korean chilly sauce. The arjesi also helped me to take photos.

There are many wild plants there as well, each of them have their own uniqueness. Some plants have leafs make up of 3 petals of love shape fold into half. It's like a symbol of triangle love. There are many more flowers with different colors and shapes as well.

I actually plan to depart at 2.30pm but ended up staying there 2 more hours. The arjesi even offered to drive me back as his house is near DSU. However, he was drunk and started saying weird things. I faster said goodbye to him and ran off. I was walking very fast, hoping that he did not follow me. I took at bus to Seomyeom and did some shopping there before going back to DSU. I visited Mini Mall again and departed at around 8.30pm. It started to rain at that time. Many people rushed in into the shopping mall to avoid getting wet. Many of them also bought umbrellas from there. The business sure was good. Luckily when I reached DSU, the rain had almost stopped.