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The Evening in Busan
To talk about South Korea, I could have started with vibrant Seoul or the more traditional Jeonju.
Instead, I go with Busan, the second-most populous city in the country. Why? Well, because it's evening when I'm writing. And evenings call each other for me. Always.
But not only because of the evening. Perhaps also because there is the sea in Busan. I talked about it a few days ago with a friend: I really like to divide the places into those in which to live and those to be visited only for tourism. Some manage to partially satisfy both needs, but I will not list them here. However, I told this friend that in a hypothetical place where I would like to live there should be the sea. I don't need to dive often or sunbathe, but I'd like to meet it in front of me while I walk, every now and then. It is not far from Rome, but you certainly do not happen to get to it by pure chance.
In Busan, however, this may happen. I would have a whole not so crowded beach in front of me, to start the day. In addition to the evenings, I also like mornings.
By this, I do not mean that there is nothing to see in Busan. For example, it is very pleasant to walk around the Haedong Yonggungsa area, a temple complex overlooking the sea. I have a good memory of it because it was my first encounter with Korean color combinations. Yes, they are recurrent, but they are very alive and personally they didn't bore me. At least having only been there a few days. Then the sculptures, the distribution of the complex and its elements, together with the surrounding vegetation, suggest a certain liveliness, hint at the confusion, but without getting lost.
But, as always, I will not be here writing the city guide: there are really many other bloggers who are much more capable than me in this. Unfortunately, I'm in a hurry. I want to end this day in Busan as soon as possible and direct my thoughts towards the evening.
Here it comes, I feel it. The celestial lights go out and the artificial ones come on. The cities of East Asia are a party at night: life re-proposes itself, restructures itself, insinuates itself and leaves you no respite. I know, it is not ecological. And, even in these areas, they have recently taken steps towards greater moderation in terms of energy consumption. But, forgive me, let me enjoy them as a child who knows little about the world, who believes that he can only earn from the future. Just for a few seconds, at least.
I'll stop immediately, also because those are not my evenings after all. My lights are dim, my moments are glued together, they echo each other. For example, at this moment I accompany the tapping on the keys with a glass of white wine, which is spread on my palate, kneading all my thoughts. And there is no other noise, even the city seems to have fallen asleep, although it is not very late.
And this is where I find a Busan more suited to my style. How can I explain it?
Having married a Taiwanese, my life is enriched by the culture of that area of the world. Which not only includes Taiwan, but often also Japan and South Korea. As a result, I am more informed than I was before about what is going on in those countries, but not only about the boring things that are read in newspapers. Sometimes I happen to listen to Korean music (without understanding a word, of course) or to see some of their film or television production (dubbed or subtitled). By this, I don't mean to have become an expert on their culture, but I can say that some common habits or ways of thinking still manage to transpire.
So I see the young man struggling to insert himself, to launch himself into the adult routine, often defeated by life or work commitments. I watch the difficulty of romantic relationships, sometimes a little glossy, sometimes even too twisted. And, above all, this group of employees who struggle, who elbow in, who spend their evenings drinking even when they don't feel like it, with a thousand gestures and expressions of respect due to roles and age differences. And they have incredible alcohol resistance.
But then, next to this difficult, ruthless, capricious South Korea, I see another one. It is that of great friendships, where drinking is the worthy conclusion of the hectic days, where the daily affections obscure the blinding everyday life. This is where I find my evenings, this is where my Busan lives again.
First of all, I'm going to have dinner: this in the photo was the best of my entire itinerary in South Korea. And, needless to say, it was in Busan. Here I learn that I can reload the kimchi and other side dishes at will. When they explained it to me, I didn't believe it. And here my wife makes me meet another of my Korean friends: the soju. It is a fairly cheap distillate in South Korea, that you can drink during a meal. It has a range of tastes and, in my opinion, it's even too easy to drink. Watch out, anyway: this is not water. It usually has a 15% or 20% of alcohol content. Sometimes even more. I'm not as trained as the locals and I'm quite cautious in drinking it.
But afterward, I go for a walk to the Gamcheon Culture Village, a previously disadvantaged area of the city. You need to go up, to go up. And here a color show awaits you, which can be appreciated even in the evening. The area has been renovated with various kinds of street art. A strategy that I would like to see more often also in Italy, if I am allowed to say it.
First of all, here I quench my infinite thirst for colors (as I have already written here too). But not only. Here I also find my evenings, where the stillness leaves room for memories, but also for the imagination. Painted walls open worlds, set up unexpected escape routes. And, in the end, admiring the view, I also find the terraces: theirs, but also mine. Those in which I imagine spending happy hours, aggregating friendships from the past with the present and future ones. Taking them all to Busan, sipping Soju together, oblivious about the world and its issues, while the sea in the distance mixes itself in a little clumsy way.
The evening in Busan is the evening I long for.
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