[HiKorea Hostel(Guest house) in Haeundae, Busan] Nampo-dong Street

Nampodong is the biggest downtown in Busan and is considered as a tourist attraction of Busan along with the Jagalchi Market. There were many cinemas from the old days, so there is the BIFF(Busan Film Festival) street which is the bigggest festival in Busan, and there are many events that take place there. You can also find the handprints of actors at the BIFF street.

The peculiar attraction of Nampodong is that you can feel the fragrance of the modern times to the atmosphere of the modern city. There are different moods on each streets and alleys, and from an alley of street stalls with people seeing fortunetellers and reading tarot cards, there are alleys with street stalls selling the ‘seed’ Chinese pancakes(Ssiat Hotteok) that have become the specialty of Busan and snacks. At the street stalls that sell the Ssiat Hotteok there are many people waiting in line for their turn. After the Ssiat Hotteok of Nampodong had been introduced on TV several times, it had to pay the penalty of fame, and has become a must-try food for tourists that visit Busan.
The streets of Nampodong shine with neon signs of various colors at night. To the back of the buildings at are the symbols of Busan, there shows the Busan Tower at the Yongdusan Park. There is the Gwangbokro-Bosudong Bookstore Alley-Yongdusan Park-Jagalchi Market-International Market near the Nampodong area, so it is always crowded with people.

In between the small alleys there are overflowing restaurants, bars and cloth shops. So there are people who say they think of fancy signs shining when they hear the word ‘Nampodong.’

Starting from the franchise coffee shops to café with fabulous interior, there are many café that take place at Nampodong.

At another street there are street stalls that sell various kinds of accessories, fashion items and food that light up the street. This place feels more like a market, and if you follow this street there are many vintage shops. Since Nampodong is nearby the port, it has been an animated place of import and export from the old times, so there are many cloth shops that sell vintage clothes imported from overseas at Nampodong. Following the trend, these days many shops just decorate their interior in vintage style, and sell vintage style clothes according to their individuality. So if you take a walk looking into those vintage shops, you can get nice clothes with cheap prices, so many people visit this place. Moreover, there are many cloth shops that have unique characteristics not only in vintage style, so there are many people who visit Nampodong just to buy clothes.

The Gwangbokro is the main street of the Nampodong area. This is the street where the famous Nampodong Tree Festival of Busan is held. Through the street improvement business of Jung-gu, Busan, the signs have been organized and street lights, benches and sculptures have been set up, making the view much tidier. Faraway you can also see the Gwangbok branch of Lotte Dept. Store.

Among the various festivals at Busan, the ‘Christmas Tree Cultural Festival’ is quite popular among many people. Setting Christmas as the starting point, Nampodong in December is indeed a place for festivals. The streets are lit up with beautiful lights on trees, and snowflakes are hung on them. People enjoy the tree festival at Nampodong with excitement and thrill of the end of the year. At this time of the year, men and women of all ages enjoy the great lightings and the atmosphere of the festivals.

Nampodong is close to the Busan station and the Busan passenger ship terminal, so tourists visit this place easily. Also Nampodong is not a main street that you can find at any place but a place that holds the history of Busan as it is, so it has a lot more meaning in it. The modern history museum of Busan or the Choryang Ibagu Street, Bosudong Bookstore Alley and the democratic park are the places that embody the history of Busan just as they are.

The Christmas Tree Cultural Festival this year starts with the opening lighting ceremony at 7 o’clock P.M. on Saturday, November 30th, and on the 25th of December, on Christmas, there is a Christmas event being held, and on the 5th of January, 2014, there will be an ending event of turning the lights off. How about making great memories of winter at Nampodong, the symbol of Busan this year-end?