We have not seen enough yet to know whether Busan is typical of Korean cities. We are told it is different from Seoul, the city everyone identifies with Korea. But I do not know yet whether the difference is like New York and Boston, whose differences diminish with distance, or New York and Los Angeles, where differences are systemic. The “New York state of mind” has its counterpart in the “LA state of mind” – without the pun. Perhaps that is the Seoul –Busan difference.
Busan is built essentially among the hills alongside the Nakgonggang River delta. A number of streams from the north have over time cut valleys down to the Sea of Japan, leaving high and rugged hills that loom above the urban centers. The hills themselves are not built up with high-end houses as a similar city in the US would be, so they loom like dark elders over the bright lights of the city landscape.
Because it is built in the valleys, Busan itself is separated into districts by these hills. Add in the fact that there are over 3.6 million people and you have an idea how concentrated with people, streets, and buildings the valleys are. Chalky gray or tan high-rise apartment buildings dominate certain sections of the city. New high-rise buildings are going up continually. From my window on the hill, I can see the long arms of many construction cranes down toward the Haeundae Beach-front.
I do not imagine that these things are all that unusual for Asian cities. Nor do I imagine it is all that unusual for life at street level to give an entirely different impression than my hill view gives.
Immediately out the front gates of Pusan National University the streets are alive with lights, sounds, smells, crowds, trucks, and cars. For an American village boy, the all-out sense blast can be dazzling and daunting. Immediate sensory overload. It is a little like walking in Times Square except, of course, that the signs are mostly in Korean.
In the morning, many shops remain closed and foot traffic consists largely of people with destinations. Even shoppers are focused. By mid-afternoon, when sidewalks and coffee shops are full of young people dressed up for school, vendors begin to set up tables and lights on the sidewalks to display their wares. I took particular interest in a pocketbook vendor whose “warehouse” was no more than three feet wide. Her stock of pocketbooks lined the walls for twenty feet in an enclosed space between buildings. She displayed her merchandise on two metal racks set in front of her crevice with just enough room for her to slip between them to assist customers.
Dozens of coffee shops and restaurants and sidewalk hot food stands buzz with customers. One would think that so much competition in so close a space would drive many out of business, but as night comes on all the eating locations come to life.
What I find most interesting are the streets, shops, alleys where an older Korea still lingers. These I have yet to explore sufficiently to offer comment. We are seeing the modern Busan overtaking the older Busan. I will take this as a necessary sign of progress, of change that means the life-blood of the city is still pumping.
Soon I must go in search of the old Busan, the older Korea.
No comments:
Post a Comment