Haeundae Beach Busan Korea May 2017
Haeundae Beach (해운대해수욕장) is the most famous beach in Busan. The white sand beach is roughly 1.5km long, over a 30~50m wide area, creating a beautiful coastline before a shallow bay, making Haeundae Beach perfect for swimming. During the hot summer months (late July to early August when most Koreans take their summer vacation), Haeundae beach becomes heavily crowded into a virtual human wall with thousands of people and parasols packed into a mile of sand. Visitors to the beach come from all over South Korea as well as outside of Korea. Haeundae is home to most of Busan's expatriate population. There are many beach-related cultural events in Haeundae. Along with Geumjeongsan and Dalmaji (Greeting of the Moon) Gogae, Haeundae is one of the most popular spots in Busan to view the New Year sunrise, with around 1000 people gathering before dawn. Also, a popular beach event occurs in the first week of January when the temperature is around 0°C, the "Polar Bear Club." This event has occurred annually at the Choseon Beach Hotel since 1988.
We also went visited the Yongdusan Park (용두산 공원) which is located in Jung-gu, Busan, South Korea. Yongdusan Mountain (49m) in downtown Busan is one Busan's three famous mountains. It was originally called Songhyunsan Mountain, which means a mountain with a view of the sea through the dense pine tree forest. Later the name was changed to Yongdusan, as the mountain peak was shaped similar to a dragon's head (yongdu), protecting the area from foreign invaders coming from the sea. The mountain held shrines to the mountain gods build by the Japanese before national liberation. Now the mountain is home to a variety of monuments, including Cheokhwabi Monument, Chunghontap Pagoda, 4.19 Revolution Monument, a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, and Busan tower. During the Korea War, displaced people built houses on the sides of the mountain all the way to the summit, but these communities were burned down two times, also removing all of the trees. Since then, fierce efforts to plant trees have created a beautiful park. The park was called Unam park in the time of the Liberal Party's ruling but was renamed Yungdosan park after the April 19 Revolution (1960). The park offers a beautiful view of Busan Port and the surrounding scenery. In particular, the night landscape from Busan tower is magnificent. The tower is usually mentioned in tourist guides as a good place to get a view of the city's port. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation during our visit.
