Busan is good

[News Focus of Korea.net] Winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest visit Busan

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Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) hosted the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest from May 11 through to June 26. The winners of the contest visited Busan.
http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=127353

 

Winners of the "Talk! Talk! Korea 2015” contest have been invited to Korea as part of their Gold Prizes and were given the opportunity to see first-hand the nation and the people that inspired their competition entries across six categories: photographs, videos, covers of the song “Arirang,” online comic books, calligraphy and postcards.

 

In recognition of their creativity and for the novel ways in which they expressed their love for the nation and for all things Korean, they were given the opportunity to travel across the country for free, as they each won in their own category. A total of eight winners flew to Korea from Turkey, Bulgaria, Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Puerto Rico, and starting on Oct. 19 they embarked on a week-long journey to explore Korea.

 

On Oct. 21, the group headed down to Busan to hit some of the most-visited tourist spots in the port city.

 

 Kubra Rendecioglu of Turkey, one of the eight winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest, lays a wreath at the grave of a Turkish soldier who died in the Korean War at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Korea, in Busan on Oct. 22.

 

The eight winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest look around the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Korea in southern Busan on Oct. 22.

 

The winners first visited the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Korea in southern Busan and paid tribute to martyrs from the Korean War (1950-53) from their respective nations. Among the deceased placed to rest at the cemetery are soldiers from Turkey, Colombia and Puerto Rico, whose governments dispatched a number of troops to fight alongside the Republic of Korea during the war, soldiers from Indonesia and Vietnam, countries that provided material support, and soldiers from Bulgaria, a nation that offered medical aid.

 

 The group placed wreaths on tombs dedicated to fallen soldiers from their respective nations and observed a moment of silence as a token of their sacrifices.

 

“Puerto Rico was part of the United States back then and entered the Korean War as U.S. soldiers,” said Elizabeth Gonzales, the Puerto Rican winner. “As a Puerto Rican myself, I feel proud. It’s a big honor for me this time to pay my respects to those veterans,” she said.

 

“The Korea I see here in person is a nation that has achieved tremendous development over the past many years, compared to what it looked like 60 or so years ago. I am astonished by how the nation has risen from the ashes of war," she said.

 

Winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest listen as the guide tells the story of the Korean War and of fallen U.N. soldiers, at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Korea (top) and at the United Nations Peace Memorial Hall (bottom), in Busan on Oct. 22.

 

The group was then bused to the Gukje Market, one of the city’s representative traditional markets, in Nampo-dong, downtown Busan. Visiting every nook and cranny around the market, they were excited to learn they could get a variety of items, from socks and bags to fashion accessories, at such bargain prices. Some of them were spotted haggling over the price with vendors in Korean, even if less-than-perfectly-fluent.

 

Winners who were able to grab a free return flight to Korea for their excellent entries into the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest wait for a bite of sunflower seed sugar cake, or hotteok, one of the market's specialties, at the Gukje Market in downtown Busan on Oct. 22.

 

Sunflower seed sugar cakes, or hotteok, are sweet treats filled with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and honey, stuffed into a disc of dough and fried in boiling oil.

 

 

Kubra Rendecioglu of Turkey enjoys her tall ice cream cone, one of the specialties at the Gukje Market.

 

 Winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' competition shop for colorful socks at the Gukje Market in downtown Busan.

 

The winners were also able to sample some of the market’s famous delicacies, including rice cake in hot sauce, tteokbokki, noodles mixed with a salty and spicy sauce, bibim-guksu and rice rolled in seaweed with radish kimchi and slices of marinated octopus, chungmu gimbap. After a series of inquisitive bites and nibbles at these never-before-sampled foods, they all exclaimed that, “This tastes really good!”

 

In particular, sunflower seed sugar cakes, or hotteok -- a fried delicacy filled with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and honey, stuffed in a disc of dough -- most captivated their taste buds.

 

“I’ve never tasted this kind of food before. It’s sweet with sugar and also healthy with nutritious seeds. I feel healthier having this one,” said Dilyana Simeonova from Bulgaria. The woman from Turkey also loved the food, saying, “It's really yummy. We have a similar type of fried pancake at home, too, but this is really tasty.”

 

By Sohn JiAe

Photos: Jeon Han

Korea.net Staff Writers

jiae5853@korea.kr

 

Winners of the 'Talk! Talk! Korea 2015' contest visit the Gamcheon Culture Village in Saha-gu District, Busan. The neighborhood is nestled along the slopes of Cheonmasan Mountain and is home to many old buildings decorated with artistic wall paintings and sculptures. It is also home to numerous small cafes and stores, making it one of the most popular tourist spots in the city.

 

The source of news: http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Society/view?articleId=130704​​