Looking at the Marine Kingdom from 1,500 years ago

[Special] ‘Gusan-myeon, the Mecca of Marine Tour’

Marine drama filming site is crowded after its repair
Attractions such as iron production site and dock from the Gaya period

 

Gaya Hall

Gimhae Hall

Gimhae Hall

Horse stable

Iron production site

Movie filming poster

Well in front of Saemijeong

Entrance of marine drama filming site

Entrance of marine drama filming site

Entrance of marine drama filming site

Wave sound path

Wave sound path

drama filming site

Sea & Wood Scent World

Changwon marine drama filming site was created in April 2010 by investing a project cost of 4 billion KRW on the area of 947m2, in Seokgok-ri, Gusan-myeon, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon, in order to promote and educate drama shooting and marine history. At the entrance of the filming site, 16 movie and drama posters filmed in this site from 2010 until now are displayed to greet tourists.

The filming site consists of a total of 25 buildings in 6 zones. It is equipped with the iron production site, dock, marketplace, sailboat, weapons, living supplies, and various items from Gaya period.

It is necessary to take a pamphlet from the tour information center at the filming site entrance. It is much more helpful to know about the buildings and zones by looking around different parts of the filming site while reading the explanations of pamphlet in the hand. Having no guide sign is not very helpful for drama filming that sometimes occurs.

Gimhae Hall can be said to be the main part of the filming site. As the main filming place of drama Kim Su-ro, it displays the bedrooms of Kim Su-ro, Queen Heo, meeting rooms, and all kinds of props. There is a photo zone at the entrance of the building to take a picture like Kim Su-ro and Queen Heo by putting one’s face.

A dock to bring a ship for maritime trade is located toward the sea from Gimhae Hall. There is a ship hanging around in place according to the wind direction at the front sea of the dock, and a ship that seems to have been used for drama filming is anchored at the mud flat.

If you go across the bridge at the 2nd floor of Gimhae Hall or go toward the left of the filming site, you will reach the Haebanchon area. It has reproduced the life of ordinary people by having a shoe store, blacksmith workshop, earthenware store, etc.

The marketplace has recreated a market from Gaya period. It has a store selling animal skin, farming tools, clothes, as well as an inn selling raw rice wine (makgeoli), and also displays fruit-shaped props.
In addition, there is also Gaya Hall that was used as an inn, joint water Saemigyo, horse stable, and aniron production site that smelted collected iron ore. The filming site that recreated the buildings of Gaya period was established in 2010 and went through several repairs.

Another fun element to visit this place is a well-maintained walk trail. There is a wave sound path, a marine forest path to start from the marine drama filming site and return to the original place. Its total length is 1.7km long and it was created in August 2016. Nature’s present magnificent marine view and thick, dense pine groves stand in harmony. There is also an observatory tower and every person of both genders and all ages can walk comfortably. ‘Sea & Wood Scent World’ nearby is a good place to enjoy walking, as it is a fragrant place throughout all 4 seasons by planting 700 herbs and landscape woody plants.

Foreign tourists’ Downtown Sightseeing onPublic Bike.

Business agreement with 3 tourist hotels.

Will have test operation from June this year.

 

Agreement to support the use of crisscross bikes with 3 tourist hotels

Foreigner tourists riding crisscross bikes.

 

‘Crisscross bikes’ have become easily available for foreign tourists staying in tourist hotels. It is expected that they will not only provide travel conveniences for foreign tourists but also instill new energy into city sightseeing.

The cityhas recently signed an agreement to support crisscross bike use with 3 tourist hotels. In the current crisscross bike operating system, only local Koreans and domestic foreigners registered in Korea could use the bikes, but this agreement has solved the difficulties of crisscross bike use faced by foreigners visiting Korea on short-term. With a separate signup procedure for crisscross bike use, it will be planned for them to use the bikes easily with a crisscross bike use card of a tourist hotel’s name. Foreigner crisscross bike service will start from this upcoming June. Once the city’s foreigner crisscross bike serviceis activated, the service provision will be expanded to the entire tourist hotels and accommodations throughout Changwon.

The tourist hotels participating in this agreement include Pullman Ambassador Changwon, Hotel International, and Changwon Hotel Co., Ltd. The 3 tourist hotels are where many foreigners visiting Changwon usually stay. Since the introduction of ‘Crisscross Bikes,’ the first public bike system in Korea, in October 2008, the city has run 270 terminals and 3982 crisscross bikes which are the largest size in Korea. 14,320 people on average ride crisscross bikes a day.

A city official has said that “Foreigner tourists prefer riding on a bike to a car when visiting the main tourist attractions of the city. With this, there has been an increasing number of inquiries on the use of crisscross bikes and thus we have arranged a plan for crisscross bike use for foreign tourists.”

 

Here is a brief introduction of the 3 tourist hotels.
■Pullman Ambassador Changwon

Pullman Ambassador Changwon

Has a total of 321 rooms including 13 suites designed by famous Korean and overseas designers, providing comfort, vast space, and modern and refined specialness in harmony with tradition. It also has a variety of drink and food businesses, small/medium/large ballroom facilities accommodating a total of 1,200 people, and ‘Club City 7,’ the area’s first 2,000-pyeong high-class membership fitness center.

Pullman Ambassador Changwon provides a customer-focused service for you to experience work efficiency and entertainment, as it is connected with Changwon Convention & Trade Center, CGV that has 8 movie halls, the City 7 complex shopping, etc.

■Hotel International

Hotel International

Consisting of 4 underground floors, 9 ground flowers, and a parking facility for 400 cars to park at the same time, it is also evenly equipped with all kinds of facilities such as Gyeongnam’s largest convention hall, 7 small banquet rooms, all kinds of restaurants and wedding halls, as well as additional amenities to relieve a day’s fatigue and for tomorrow’s vitality in sauna.

As soon as you enter the lobby, you can feel the sense of Hotel International hidden in the Korean traditional beauty. An advanced service by staff members with rich experiences at the lobby front, which is full of dignity as an international hotel, is also noteworthy.

■Changwon Hotel Co., Ltd.

Changwon Hotel Co., Ltd.

There are 173 rooms to enjoy business and rest together. This hotel has various room systems such as ultrahigh speed wired/wireless internet, digital TV, hinoki bathtub and shower booth that suits customer tastes, and safe-deposit box inside a room. Differentiated, customized hotel services are also provided through sauna, fitness room, and a free laundry service.

In addition, the hotel has a large seminar room that can accommodate up to 500 people to have a reception, large-scale event, or wedding, and is fully equipped with refined and modern indoor decorations and lighting, modernistic sound facilities, convenient traffic network and large parking facilities, and high-tech communication.

‘Cherry Blossoms Feast’ to Captivate 3 million Tourists

Multimedia Fireworks Show on April 1st 

Yi Sun-sin Victory March on April 7th

Martial Music Festival on April 7~9th 

Fringe Performance in Yeojwacheon and Gyeonghwa Station

Jinhae Gunhang Festival will be held in the entire area of Jinhae district such as Jungian Rotary for 10 days from April 1st. Jinhae is Korea’s largest port city as well as the world’s largest city of cherry blossoms. This year’s festival theme is ‘flower-light-hope.’ The city is preparing the festival to attract 3 million tourists, which is 300,000 more from 2.7 million tourist last year.

Special events include the eve festival and opening ceremony on March 31st, followed by a commemorative event, victory march, Yeojwacheon starlight festival, multimedia fireworks show, art/performance/experience event, and the opening of military camp, etc. For main events, Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s Victory March will held on the specially-prepared stage of Jungwon Rotary from 2:30pm to 5:00pm on April 7th, and a patriotic parade performance in which 580 people of 11 military bands and honor guard teams participate will be held from 1pm on April 8th and 9th. Also, a great commemorative ceremony will be carried out from 1pm on April 8th.

Jinhae-ru Marine Multimedia Fireworks Show, one of the highlights of nighttime events in Jinhae Gunhang Festival, will be held in the sea in front of Jinhae-ru at 8pm on April 1st. Especially famous for a fantastic night view, Yeojwacheon Starlight Festival will be held on the Romance Bridge from March 31st to April 10th. It is chosen as couples’ typical dating course. A fringe performance will also run at Yeojwacheon and Gyeonghwa Station this year to hold various cultural art activities such as busking.

The Naval Academy and the Naval Headquarters of Jinhae base are must-sees during the Jinhae Gunhang Festival, because are difficult to enter at usual times but will be open to the public. You can participate in various experience events such as the Naval Academy Museum and the Turtle Ship view. Along with the aspects of the naval base, you can also enjoy the colorful, fancy cherry blossoms of Flowering Cherry that is over 100 years old.

Highlighting the characteristics of port city, Jinhae Martial Music Festival will be held for 3 days from April 7th to 9th in Jinhae Public Stadium, etc. This year’s slogan is an ‘echo of naval port and the melody of future,’ and 600 people from the army, navy, air force, marine corps military band, and the honor guard will participate in it.

Flower rain that falls altogether after the full bloom is also romantic. The large Flowering Cherry trees that bloom along 1.5km of flowery stream in Yeojwacheon and 800m-long flowery railroad of Gyeonghwa Station are the peak of cherry blossoms throughout the year and is the best place to greet flower rain. The Ahnmin Hill of Simni Cherry Blossoms Walkway is perfect for a driving course. You can also enjoy a picturesque scene of fairy-tale if you see the snowy white panoramic view at Jinhae Top on Jehwangsan Mountain Park.

Cherry Blossoms and Fireworks

 

Multimedia Marine Firework Show of Jinhae Gunhang Festival Last Year

 

Jinhae Gunhang Festival: April 1st ~ 10th

Jinhae Gunhang Festival, Korea’s largest cherry blossoms festival, will be held from April 1st to 10th this year. Last year, 2.7 million tourists from Korea and abroad were impressed by the beautiful feast of cherry blossoms. 217,000 foreign tourists came, an increase by 6 times from 2015. As years go by, Jinhae Gunhang Festival is growing as a global festival. The city is arranging different kinds of responses to resolve the inconveniences of tourists.

Murals, Waking Up the City Sentiment

Yegok Flower Town, Gagopa Winding Path, Changdong Art Village, etc.

Imbuing ‘Vigor’ with Fancy Colors and Images to the Old Atmosphere

Murals are giving to city villages that have lost vitality. At the same time it is attracting more people, delivering warmth to the villages. We will visit a major mural town of Changwon and observe its scenes.

‘Flower Murals’ of Yegok Village

It was winter but flowers were fully bloomed here. Every alley was full of flower scent and there were various kinds of flowers. These flowers are not planted on the ground but are rather welcoming guests on the wall. They are ‘flower murals,’ the communication medium connecting  villagers and strangers. Through them people naturally disarm the mind boundary. Yegok Flower Village is a tranquil country town with 70 households, 220 residents. Surrounded by a mountain, the town is where people can take a comfortable rest while having fresh air. The flowering complex stands in front of the village as well as chrysanthemums and cornus officinalis stand on the farm road for people to fully enjoy the beauty of nature. The old city of Masan, where Yegok Flower Town, preserves the history of Korea’s chrysanthemum cultivation. After 6 farms in Hoiwon-dong area started the commercial cultivation of chrysanthemum for the first time in Korea in 1960, it went through rapid development and exported chrysanthemum to Japan and in 1976 for the first time in Korea. When the Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival is held, the chrysanthemums of Yegok Flower Town are most commonly exhibited along with chrysanthemums cultivated from Jin-dong and Bukmyeon. Yegok Flower Town was selected as a ‘Good Farm Village Tour to Enjoy September Epicurism,’ jointly held by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs and Korea Rural Community Corporation.

Mural Village of Gagopa Winding Path

To revive the beautiful elements of Masan, this path was completed in December 2013. In the Mural Town of Gagopa Winding Path, built in a mountain village of course Seongho-dong from Changdong through Burim-si, you can find various murals in every street corner as well as exotic photo zones. When you walk past Burim-si from Changdong Street and walk toward the Seongho-dong Community Center, you will see a small apartment on a hilltop. That’s right, a colorful, variegated mural town has been built in the mountain village nearby. It is not that huge as it has 30 households with an area of 452m2. However, when you look back after going up the alley, you will see that it is a great place to view the Masan Port. It is even more affectionate as clothesline hanging outside, flower pots on the street, and the senior citizens’ center in the town go along well with the murals. With creative murals that have incorporated themselves into the town landscape, you can also find ‘Blonde Marilyn Monroe’ by Andy Warhol. There are also unique attractions including a mural that has ‘Flower’ by poet Kim Choonso of Masan and a hundred-year-old wall that was built before 1910 and was used by town residents. No matter where you start from either alley, you can take a look around. Taking a step by step, you can also appreciate the scenery in harmony of mountain village and murals, and enjoy the atmosphere of the coastal waters, city view, and murals of Masan.

Changdong Art Village Murals

There are also photo zones and murals in Changdong Art Village. A total of 9 artworks, including 3 photozones and 6 murals, were selected to be drawn from 23 artworks submitted for the design contest by artists who moved into the art village in June last year. Changdong Art Village has been invigorated in every street corner through these, providing various contents and attractions to tourists. Combined with other cultural contents of Changdong Art Village, such murals and photo zones are giving vitality to the city. It is the free Hanbok rental business. You can easily find tourists wearing colorful Hanbok are trying to preserve fun and enjoyable memories into photos in exotic murals or photo zones.

 

 

Declared ‘2018 Visit Changwon Year’

‘Moon Sculpture’ to be erected on Yongji Lake

 

The City of Changwon declared ‘2018 Visit Changwon Year’ to strengthen the internal and external image of Changwon and to attract tourists more actively. To develop Changwon further, it not only needs mega events to innovate itself into a creative tourism city but also needs to maximize synergy effects by connecting with cultural sports events such as the Shooting Championships and sculpture biennale. To revitalize the tourism industry in Changwon, Masan, and Jinhae areas in regards to this, the city has established a plan and is executing it one by one.

Observatory erected in Gapo Beach

 

Scenery from the Gapo Observatory that covers Masan bay at one sight

An observatory to enjoy whole scenary of Masan bay is made at Changwon-si, Masanhappo-gu, Gapo-dong.

Upon the completion of the “Gapo District Coastal Observatory Walkway Construction Project,” which was commenced in August last year, the city provides observation platforms, walking trails and marine water facilities as a healing place for citizens.

In this area, an observation deck with a height of 18m and a width of 2.5m was installed, and 137m long Masan walkway was established. The cost of the project was KRW 500 millio (special grant tax). During theday, you can admire the spectacular scenery of Masan bay here. In the evening, the scenery lighting installed on the observation deck creates an ambient atmosphere.

Additionally, Gapo district waterfront area with camping grounds, fountains, multipurpose grounds, children’s play facilities, and Gapo coastal park decorated with promenade and rest area are expected to be popular as a healing space for citizens.

A city offi cial said, “Next year, we will make a coastal circumference road connecting the Gapo coastal park to the Gapo district waterfront area with the theme walking trail as a starting point, and the whole area will be transformed into a spot of a marine facility, representing Changwon area.”