Busan is Korea’s second largest city and is situated in the South. It’s here that you’ll find Korea’s long sandy beaches, no waves and thousands of people during summer. Koreans flock here in their thousands to soak up the summer sun and relax in the water. The beach is divided into perfect grids of umbrellas and you can buy a spot for 5000Won. No one will steal your shit, but what you do have to face is the thousands of people packed like sardines in the motionless sea. Thousands of sunscreen, colour matching, sun soaking weekend goers who all rent a yellow tube and obey the beach rules.
There is no sign to tell you how everything works (maybe in Korean), but you soon figure it out as you rub against the people while taking a dip. The sign could read something like: “Don’t go too deep, you might drown, but don’t worry, we’ll tell you when you’re too deep – we’re watching you!”
The scene in the water can be compared to a new years day in Durban, South Africa, with thousands of people standing in the water no deeper than chest height. There are life guards patrolling to see that you don’t go any deeper than chest height and if you do they will blow their whistle and chase you back. This chest-height-line is the beach DMZ and guarded to the same extent. Behind the ‘line’ are cowboys on jetskies who heard people like cattle if they do cross this ‘chest-height-line’ (no one does though). The jetskies are the biggest threat in this ‘big lake’ with Life Guards speeding up and down to look cool and hopefully blow their whistles. This was summer at Hae-undae beach, but I am sure their all the same.
It is a decent sized sandy beach with warm water. No waves and again too many people on a summer weekend. Next time I’ll rent a yellow tube and the current might take me to Japan and a Jetski Cowboy will come to ‘save’ me.
