Amazing Scenery: Cheon-ma Mountain

       Last summer, millions of people visited Busan to enjoy sea waves and vast beaches, such as Haeundae, Gwanganri, and Songjeong. However, Busan also has a lot of beautiful mountains. Busan is one of the mountainous cities in South Korea. It has more than ten mountains and they are famous for their mountain trails and beautiful scenery. It is no wonder that many people in Busan go hiking, including me.
      

       I usually go hiking when I feel a little sad or frustrated. Lately, I’m not in good spirits because of my workload and failing a presentation. All of this has brought stress upon me. To relieve some of my stress, I decided to go to Cheon-ma Mountain of which I first visited 3 years ago before joining the military. Could Cheon-ma Mountain listen to and solve my problems?
       To go to Cheon-ma Mountain, I had to take bus number 61 or 17 heading to Nambumin-dong in Seo-gu. I took bus 61 and got off at Nambumin Gokakji station. No sooner than I got off the bus, I could see Cheon-ma Mountain towering before me. Now the problem facing me was how to get to the top of the mountain. To solve this problem, I had to go through alleyways between lots of houses. You see, Nambumin-dong is one of the many hillside neighborhoods in Busan.
       Cheon-ma Mountain was not that hard to hike. It just took about 30 minutes to get to the summit. However, it was a little steep and there were hundreds of steps that you would think it is tricky for a while. After a few breathless moments, I found an iron horse statue. It seemed like it came out of the sky. There was a sculpture Park at Cheon-ma Mountain, and I could catch about 45 works of art. Also, there was a small exercise play ground and several pieces of exercise equipment that people were using. It was not boring at all to walk through the woods thanks to the sculptures.
       When I was on the small hill, I found a pavilion where I could see the vast straits between South Korea and Japan. Lots of ships were floating on the sea. At that time, the idea that Busan is a famous port city hit my mind. I thought “this is the first door that Koreans can use to go abroad by ship!” Also, some say that we could see sometimes can see Daema-Island, the nearest Japanese island when the weather is fine.
       I moved my feet closer to the edge of the rock cliff called ‘Cheon-ma Rock’. This rock’s surface was hollow with depressions which seemed like a horse’s hooves. According to residential legend, those hooves were made by a horse which looked like an Asian dragon descended from the sky that left it’s footprints on this rock, later going to Daema-Island. Matter-of-factly, there was a pasture for a war horse on Mountain Cheonma during the Silla period.
       When I stood on that rock, amazing scenery spread before my eyes. I was facing Yeong-Island where low white clouds ware passing by. A wide sea, endless harbors, ships and uncountable houses and buildings were making unbelievable spectacles. I said to myself “This is Busan!” I was so impressed and relieved my stress in no time.
       When people go to Haeundae or Gwanganri, they no doubtedly will be fascinated by its sea and beaches. However, if people want to know the dynamic Busan, they should go to Cheon-ma Mountain, and be thrilled by indescribable sights.
       
                                                                                    By Seo Won-wook, Reporter
                                                                                    nirvana@pusan.ac.kr