Colorful People of Gamcheon Village in Busan, South Korea

You can't go to Busan without visiting it's most colorful village. Gamcheon started out as a village for the poorer working class people in the early part of the 20th century. After the Korean War, a large number of families moved to the area and it has steadily grown since. In 2009, the significance of this village as a cultural hub was recognized by the ministry of tourism.

A renovation took place to beautify the village and turn it into more of an artsy and craft community. It is a place now where part of the heritage of the Korean people is preserved.

There are about 4,000 residents of this village but it looks much larger with all the tourists. I'll share photos of the people in their traditional dress. I'm unsure how many are locals of the village and how many are Korean tourists, but I believe most are tourists as I saw many dressed this way entering the village.

It was mostly the women that were dressed this way. I did come a cross a few men, though:

I'm not sure if these are prison clothes or Korean army uniforms or ????. I suppose they could be pajamas but it was the middle of the afternoon.

I kinda stole this picture. She was posing for this shot for her friend but I decided to steal the moment and take a shot myself.

I really didn't know what she was doing but she looked like a schoolteacher.

Theres a lot more pictures like this but you get the gist of how the traditional (fancy) dress was for the Korean culture. But I expect these were not the clothes they wore when this village was established. Being a poorer, labor community it is unlikely any could afford these dresses. Today this cultural center has evolved to a much more chic culture.

I really wish they had kept the working class tradition of this village. Now it looks like a slice out of Greenwich Village. The village didn't hold its true cultural identity but morphed into this artsy type culture that never had roots here. At least that's my perspective.

But I did enjoy the buildings and the very narrow streets. I would hate to be one of the 4,000 residents here, especially if I had a car. Good luck driving through the crowds!

One of the many narrow streets.

I climbed these stairs to get a good aerial view of the city:

The view:

This spot with the fish like art structure was the most popular spot for picture taking:

There were many arts and crafts stores. I bought a few items from this handcraft shop;

I spent about one and a half hours here but you could easily spend much more exploring every narrow street. But the paths are quite steep as this village sits on a hill. Too many stairs for old bones.

Just before I exited the place I noticed two local ladies just sitting. Not talking but just sitting. I asked in English if I could take a picture. They didn't answer so I took it anyway. I knew I could outrun them if they got violent:

Now that's an expression of someone who looked like they were from the old, original village. How come I'm the only one smiling?

I'll leave you with a few videos: