2. Riding the ‘Danubi’
As it got dark, I got off stretching my arms and found a large road and Korean restaurants lined up packed together at one side. As I walked a little a sign that says ‘circulation train platform’ guides the way. Following the arrow I went up and there was a tourist information center, and under my feet on the road there was a phrase that says there is a train platform 100m upwards. Just in time there was a cute looking train circling, headed for the platform.
The residents just walk for exercise, but since it was getting dark and looking at the map it was quite a distance to take a look at everything, so I decided to take the train. The train is very cute looking. The name of the train is ‘Danubi’ which means it crisscrosses the entire place. (the name is so cute also) The ticket is 1,500won for an adult, and it runs with an interval of 30 minutes. The route is shown behind the ticket, and it circles like this: [Ticket booth → Taewon Pebble Yard → Gumyeong Temple → Observatory → Youngdo Lighthouse → Taejong Temple → Ticket Booth]. You must have your ticket in order to ride back after getting off to look around, so you must hold your ticket. There weren’t that much people since it was in the weekdays, but in the weekends there are so many people that the Danubi which can board up to 96 people is full and short of seats.
It will be nice to get off at every station to look around, but the places that most people get off are the ‘observatory’ and the ‘Youngdo lighthouse.’ The ‘Taewon pebble yard’ is also visited by many people, but since it is not that far from the station, people don’t usually take the train to go there. For information, the ‘Youngdo lighthouse’ is also very near from the ‘observatory’ so after you take a look at the ‘observatory’ you can take a walk to the ‘Youngdo lighthouse.’ If you are in a hurry you can get off straight at the ‘Youngdo lighthouse.’ No problem.
I didn’t know that the ‘Taewon pebble yard’ was so close from the station, so I waited a long time for the train and got off at the ‘Taewon pebble yard.’ The clear view of the sea puts me into awe automatically. If you go down the stairs there is the ‘pebble yard’ spread out as its name, and everyone would touch the round pebbles of various colors once. Actually there were people who came to collect pebbles. At one side people sold seafood that they caught at the very spot (maybe) but sorry to say, they couldn’t sell them that day. To the opposite side there is a small path that leads to the dock for the cruise ship. The little pebble yard which has a different feeling from the sandy beach has its original form of cliffs and rocks that have been sharpened through erosion, so it looks as the sea that one has found accidentally while wandering around in the nature.
The sun was setting slowly and I took the Danubi that arrived next and went straight to the ‘obvservatory.’ It was quite a distance from the ‘Taewon pebble yard’ to the ‘observatory’ so I could ride on the Danubi for a long time, but it wasn’t boring because the announcement introducing Taejongdae and matters to be attended to were being announced constantly, and because I could enjoy the scenery of Taejongdae outside the windows. As I got of the ‘observatory’ station, the first thing that greeted me was the sculpture of mother and son which is so famous. Actually I couldn’t feel that much inspiration as the name itself had, so I wondered why it was so famous, and found out that this place was the rock of suicide at Taejongdae. There were so many people that commit suicide at this cliff so people made the sculpture of mother and son here in order to prevent suicide. It was pretty plausible after listening to the story, but it wasn’t that moving.
Well you can look at the sea with nothing disturbing your view, and if the weather is good the ‘Tsushima Island’ of Japan can be seen faintly. It was a little foggy and the time was when the sun was going down slowly, so I couldn’t find anything like it. However I could see a small island located there, and the name of it was the ‘kettle island.’ I think it will be a very pretty island suiting its name if you take a look at a clear day.
As to show that Youngdo is a city where industry and shipbuilding industry has developed, I could see ships for trade and big and small ships every now and then. I didn’t go there, but there is a café where you can enjoy tea or meals while looking at the view of the sea. There was a photo exhibition of the actress Choi Ji Woo (she is the honorary ambassador of Busan) being held here now so I wanted to take a look, but it wasn’t opened that day. I think it was the day off at Taejongdae generally. (or is every Monday…..?)
I walked to ‘Youngdo lighthouse’ from the ‘observatory.’ It was almost evening then. This place is the highlight of Taejongdae, so the path leading down and the simple parks were formed nicely. But at dark evenings the way down doesn’t show well so you must be careful. Even though it is marked with fluorescence colored lines, but it also didn’t show well so I, who is timid went down very carefully. Elders and children must be aware!
As evening came I could see the lighthouse that has lit up. You have to walk quite many stairs down to the lighthouse, but since it got dark it was very dangerous that I couldn’t go down hastily. I also passed the rock of gods that is said to have the most beautiful view at Taejongdae. You have to walk down a much more dangerous path than the lighthouse, and at night you can’t go there because it is too dangerous. Somehow, in order to preserve the original form of nature there must be some dangerous elements left for human beings, so I decided to come here again earlier next time and turned back.
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