Pn Tay's Blog

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Jagalchi Market (부산 자갈치시장)

It is almost evening and we have walked to the famous Jagalchi Market!!! We were so happy to see this colourful sign on top of the building: our destination before dinner!

Korea's largest seafood market

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The first floor of the building is the fish market while the second floor has a raw fish center and a dried seafood section.

Introduction
Jagalchi Market, located on the shoreside road in Busan's Jung-gu, is Korea's largest seafood market, selling both live and dried fish.

Most of the people who sell fish are women, so the women who sell here are called 'Jagalchi Ajumma,' 'ajumma' meaning middle-aged or married women.

Here I am, squatting beside the Ajumma, I am also one, except I do not sell fish!

This market represents Busan and is famous throughout the country. If you visit you can eat fresh raw fish right at the market. Everywhere you can see women selling mackerel, sea squirts (ascidians) and whale meat on wooden boxes along the road outside of the market and along the shore.

"This a huge fish market, and there is lots of great fish and other seafood there, and you'll have to opportunity to eat squid that is still wriggling when you eat it!"

No, of course we did not eat any live squids, in case you are wondering!

" It's truly a place where freshly caught fish is bought and sold. Fresh fish can be bought for comparatively low prices, and an economical meal can be enjoyed by buying the fish from the market and then taking it upstairs to the raw fish center where it can be prepared for just a small additional cost to cover seasonings and maeuntang(spicy fish soup).If you come very early you can see the activity of fishes being landed."

Store Information
1F: Fresh fish market (live fish/live eel/albalone/live fresh fish)
2F: Hoe Center (East.West Hoe Center/Resaurant zone/dried fish zone)
3F: Soribada norabang, exhibition room
4F: Dadohae Korean restaurant
5F: Oase Seafood Buffet
6F: Oase convention center, buffet
7F: guesthouse, sky park

Convenient Facilities
Rest area, tourist information center, exhibition room, terrace, sky park, elevator, escalator, etc

(from the

Every year in October the Jagalchi Cultural Tourism Festival is held, and it is easy to visit because of the convenient transportation provided by subway. Jagalchi Market is where you can see the lifestyle of the Busan locals.

Men cleaning and cutting fish for you to be cooked upstairs,

Next, we will be going for our most delicious seafood steamboat /barbecue dinner!!!

Yongdusan Park (용두산 공원)

After our cultural experience (dressing up in the hanbok) our tour guide took us to Yongdusan Park. This is not included in our itinerary but since we had time and we needed to get to the Jagalchi Fish Market, and the best way there is via Nampodong Road.

"Near Nampo-dong is the Yongdusan (Mt. Yongdu) Park, which is accessible by escalator. Wildly popular among tourists, the park is a must-see location for those who enjoy walking or wish to catch a birds-eye view of Busan from the park’s observation tower."

"Yongdusan Park is a park located in Jung-gu, Busan, South Korea. The 118-meter-high Busan Tower is located here. Yongdu means “dragon’s head” and “san” means “mountain”"

In the park ground there is a bench on which is seated a statue of the actress in "winter sonata" ...I have forgotten her name!

Oh, her name is here: Choi Ji Woo and the reason for her statue having pride of place here is because she is "Busan Tourism Ambassador" hmmm...quite an honour right?

This is the best I could pose with my stumpy legs laa...

So now we are going up Busan Tower

On the observation deck there was a love chair, and of course the famous locks ( you can see them behind us) but we were too over the throes of love to pen any heatfelt message for each other.

Look at the amount of locks and notes, I really hope they found what they were looking for. I did!

You can see the cityscape and the wall of locks.

Statue of the Great Admiral Yi Sun-shin

Busan Tower, Citizen’s bell, flower clock, poe
m themed streets, statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin, Baeksan Anhuijae Monument, Yongdusan Park memorial monument, Chunghon monument, Yongtap (dragon) monument, Yongdusan Art Gallery.....we saw them all!

Dragon Monument

Citizen's Bell

Tour guide insisted we pose like this

she also demonstrates how it's done

Yes, she loves to pose, like this!

So all our pics are like this too, hehe!

Flower Clock

Now it was time for us to take the escalator down to the street below.

And we found ourselves in Nampo dong agian!!! We were here yesterday.

Nampo-dong, a Shopping Paradise
Nampo-dong is also known for its assortment of shops. Concentrated mostly on the main streets of Nampo-dong are a wide variety of stores selling not only luxury brands but also discount products. But the true attraction of shopping in Nampo-dong lies in the shops and stalls specializing in imported goods. From clothing to shoes, bags, and fashion accessories, the stores offer products that draw not only teens, but young professionals as well

I was asked to buy 100 packs of mask so I chose Skinfood and Face Shop at 50% off

We also had to pass BIFF Again.

Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) is synonymous with Nampo-dong. Held every October (15 years running), PIFF is one of the largest and most authoritative film festivals in Asia. During the film festival, visitors can frequently run across Korean and international superstars at boisterous red carpet events. The festival’s success subsequently promoted PIFF Square, establishing Nampo-dong as a regional focal point. Naturally, the square is surrounded by top-notch movie theaters like Busan Theater, Daeyoung Cinema, Cinus, and CGV, making Nampo-dong a fascinating stop for movie buffs.

Finally!!! We saw all these aquatic watery things!! We are at Jagalchi Fish Market!!! Next Post ya!!!

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Busan Museum, Culture Experience Centre and Wearing the Hanbok

Welcome to Busan Museum and the Culture Experience Centre.

Today we will get to soak in some Korean culture and even get to wear the hanbok!

(traditional Korean wedding/royal costume)

This is the entrance to the museum

Entrance is free, cultural experience is also free

(wearing of the costume)

We could also experience 3 aspects of culture : the tea ceremony, Takbon or rubbing of texts and images but we chose the wearing of hanbok only due to time constraints. We had to book our slot and wait for 3 pm.