South Korea 2017 - Busan Gamcheon Culture Village 부산 감천문화마을

Gamcheon Village began as a refugee village in the 1950s. In 2015, local artists and villagers gathered began to revive the historical value of Gamcheon "Village Art Project" and soon this attracted various attention of businesses and tourists. As we know it today, Gamcheon is Korea's Santorini.

We had our hotel concierge write down the name of Gamcheon in hangul as we are taking the cab there from Haeundae. Thankfully, it was easily understood and we arrived there safely. There are also buses going up to the vilage but we were just too lazy to figure that out. It was pretty amazing on how the transports were able to manouvre up the steep slopes towards the village.

entrance to Gamcheon Cultural Village

Entrance is free. To get an English map of the area, simply walk into the tourist information centre located right at the entrance of the village. The price of ₩2000 will get you a map and a postcard. There are toilets located at the entrance as well as within the village. The map has demarkation for these as well. But do note that some of the toilets are located at quite a steep slope!

bus stop near the entrance

if you don't want to get the map...

What do foodies do when they go sight-seeing? Inevitably, we gravitated towards the food. We know we've been watching too many kdramas so much so that corn dog became one of our to-try items.

corn dogs and skewers

Corn dog is American food, similar to budae jigae which is also a remnants of that era and has become part of the food culture in South Korea. Corn dog is sausage battered with lotsa bread crumbs and flour and deep fried. After which it is drizzled with ketchup. I think kids would like this more.

corn dog with ketchup

steamed octopus

The village was easily walkable and plenty to see. Outside of the toilet, there was an elderly lady with a Ppopgi cart. 뽑기 (ppopgi) is an old-fashioned sugar korean candy. You'll get a pin to draw on the sides of the melted sugar and if you are able to do it without breaking the candy, then you can have another candy for free.

Ppopgi 뽑기 seller

As with any other tourist attractions, there are plenty of photo-op spots for Instagram worthy shots. We were there around noon, and while there are many tourists, the place was still quite comfortable to walk around.

behind-the-scenes

cafe with art installation at its rooftop

There are many nooks and corners to be explored as well but do watch your steps.

downwards

Soon, we came by a small cafe and decided to have some snacks. Downstairs sells knick-knacks and handmade accessories. It was more of a dessert cafe with traditional desserts such as red bean or pumpkin porridge, mochi and cold drinks.

cafe cum retail

It is semi self-service styled so order at the cashier and make payment. For items that needed to wait, the staff will bring it to you. There are seatings both downstairs and upstairs. Washroom is at the rooftop though.

souvenirs

lemonades, red bean porridge and choco-pie

so huge!

The rooftop view was superb. One could see those colourful houses from this cafe.

rooftop view

For the dessert, I'd recommend the hoobak juk or pumpkin porridge. So yums. Didn't like the red bean one because there is gui-pi in it.

very nice pumpkin porridge (dessert)

After resting our feet, we walked somemore to find The Little Prince.

ice-cream looks good but we've had our dessert

poop bread?

OOTD spot

ahh, we are getting near

There is a photography spot to take your photo with Little Prince. But it actually look kinda dangerous as one would dangle their feet while sitting one the edge.

queuing up for Little Prince photo-op

Here is what the people are queuing up for:

one could sit beside the figurines and take photo

taken near Little Prince photo spot

Was actually feeling quite famished by the time we stop for lunch. Had our food at a place called 'The Plate'. A British-esque place. More about that in the food blog.

Then, of course, we needed to exit the Village before everyone else starts to leave as well. But before that, some snacks, again!

물방울 떡 raindrop cake

물방울 떡 strawberry and mango flavour

All in all, Gamcheon Culture Village is worth a visit if you're in Busan! Allocate about 2 to 3 hours for sightseeing in the village.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Website: http://www.gamcheon.or.kr/