Introducing Busan & Gyeongsangnam-do

South Gyeongsang province is a study in contrasts. Travellers looking for big-city action are unlikely to go away disappointed as Busan is full of interesting restaurants, thousands of places to drink and enough cultural assets to fill a few days of exploring. It’s the country’s second-largest city and one of the world’s busiest container ports, but Busan is not a high-energy Asian megacity. It is evolving into an interesting place thanks to a number of ongoing and proposed megaprojects. Chief among these is Lotte World 2, a 107-storey tower currently under construction in slightly dilapidated Nampodong.

The goal of turning Busan into Korea’s movie capital took a great leap forward when the city government announced plans to build MGM Studio City, an amusement park with studio sets and a film academy in conjunction with US media giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. With the closure of the US military installation at Camp Hialeah, the city is left with a difficult question: what to do with a large, valuable tract of land that’s 10 minutes on foot from Seomyeon?

While developers are busy rearranging the urban landscape, change comes slowly in the towns and fishing villages dotting the expansive countryside. Adventurous travellers willing to hop on a bus and explore will be rewarded with pristine islands, scenic mountains and lush rice paddies. While wandering the streets of a quiet village, don’t be surprised if a local resident asks if you need help and then insists that you join his or her co-workers for dinner. Find yourself lost on the back roads? Stick your thumb out and you might be surprised to learn that hitchhiking works here. Few people speak English, but all you really need to succeed is a warm smile, patience and the ability to read body language.