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| Haeundae Beach |
It looks like springtime in Busan today. Not so surprising given that this is March 15, but the weather forecast had announced cold temperatures, so I'm glad they were wrong. And since we're living not far from the beach I was starting to think about how soon it would be possible to go take a dip. That was until I asked Her, and she said there is a "swimming season" in Busan, basically from June to August, and outside this period you simply can't swim. Bummer...
[Edit : things have changed a little since I wrote this post. It looks like swimming is now tolerated before or after the official "swimming season", only there will be no swimming area (with boats and jetskis getting dangerously close to the shore), and no lifeguards. But you won't get fined. At least that's what I saw in Haeundae Beach]
Apart from that slight inconvenience, the Korean beaches that I have visited in Busan and Jeju Island are pleasant places, with a few specificities when it comes the Korean "beach culture", even if at the end of the day the principle remains the same : soaking up the sun, swimming, playing, and relaxing.
The first time I was at Haeundae Beach in Busan, I was struck to see that things seem much more organized than in Europe or America. Rows of colorful parasols are installed and the vast majority of people rent one, although you don't have to. Koreans like them. Foreigners less so. So a few years back the city came up with the idea of a "foreigner zone" without parasols, but it was heavily criticized as a form of segregation and I'm not sure it still exists. Also, It's apparently customary to rent a rubber ring (for kids and grown-ups), so there are quite a few of them as you can see below.
The first time I was at Haeundae Beach in Busan, I was struck to see that things seem much more organized than in Europe or America. Rows of colorful parasols are installed and the vast majority of people rent one, although you don't have to. Koreans like them. Foreigners less so. So a few years back the city came up with the idea of a "foreigner zone" without parasols, but it was heavily criticized as a form of segregation and I'm not sure it still exists. Also, It's apparently customary to rent a rubber ring (for kids and grown-ups), so there are quite a few of them as you can see below.
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| Haeundae Beach |
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| Jeju Island |
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| Songjeong Beach |
Beaches like Haeundae Beach can get very crowded in the Summer (I've read scary things about a million visitors a day, so you cannot even see the sand, but I haven't seen any such thing with my own eyes). However, let's not deny it, there are a lot of people there, which does not make it the best place to swim. But it's quite OK to take a dip and float on your back, or drift on your rubber ring.
The safety of beach goers is taken very seriously, so the designated swimming area is not super big, and you can't really go far from the shore. I was surprised to see that lifeguards are actually in the water, treading water near the buoys that mark the swimming area and they will whistle or even yell at you if you happen to go further out.
Beaches are also places where you can observe some of the Korean specificities or idiosyncrasies that I have already mentioned in other posts. Korean beaches look pretty safe to me, like the rest of the country. You can leave your stuff unattended on the beach (which I would never ever consider in France) without worrying that it might get stolen. Also, I remember that one time when there was a rip tide warning. Before I knew it, everybody was out of the water, when I've seen lifeguards have an impossible time trying to get people to comply in similar situations in France.
Beaches are also places where you can observe some of the Korean specificities or idiosyncrasies that I have already mentioned in other posts. Korean beaches look pretty safe to me, like the rest of the country. You can leave your stuff unattended on the beach (which I would never ever consider in France) without worrying that it might get stolen. Also, I remember that one time when there was a rip tide warning. Before I knew it, everybody was out of the water, when I've seen lifeguards have an impossible time trying to get people to comply in similar situations in France.
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| Beach goers out of the water after a rip tide warning |
I also mentioned the efficiency and expeditiousness of Koreans. I was once shocked to see that at the end of the day (Haeundae Beach, for instance, "closes" at 6 pm) the beach was littered with cans, food wrappers and plastic containers. Not surprising since there are virtually no trash cans, but that is no excuse. The good news, however, is that it was all cleaned up in no time. But still, I'd rather people got used to taking their trash with them.
Which brings me to a sad thing I saw in Jeju. As we were visiting a nice place with a cute beach, I noticed that it was actually covered in plastic bottles. This was probably not due to tourists or locals, they simply washed up on the shore there. But that's a sad reminder of how bad the problem of plastic pollution is.
Which brings me to a sad thing I saw in Jeju. As we were visiting a nice place with a cute beach, I noticed that it was actually covered in plastic bottles. This was probably not due to tourists or locals, they simply washed up on the shore there. But that's a sad reminder of how bad the problem of plastic pollution is.
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| Look closely and you'll see dozens of plastic bottles. |
