Bamboo Forest

One of the best ways that I've found to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon in Ulsan is to stroll through the bamboo forest in Taehwadong (it's also one of the 12 scenic areas of Ulsan). The forest is man-made and runs along the Taehwagang for about a quarter of a mile, give or take. I'm not sure when it was built, but it seems to be a relatively recent addition to the city, maybe as part of the "Ulsan Ecopolis" campaign to beautify the city and make it seem less like an industrial wasteland. As a matter of fact, in the 1980s and 1990s many cities in Korea (or, at least, Seoul) began beautification projects, perhaps as a response to the decades of industrialization that brought economic success to Korea along with environmental degradation. For example, Seonyudo in the middle of the Hangang in Seoul used to be a water purification plant before it became an "eco-park." It is perhaps significant that this renewed interest in the environment coincided with the end of the military dictatorship and the beginning of (nominal) democracy in Korea. Of course, I could simply be talking about something I really don't know anything about and this is really just speculation anyway. After all, the relationship between humanity and the environment has always been an important part of traditional Korean culture, especially the harmony between humans, Earth and heaven. But I digress. I have spent some memorable times in the forest, during the day and at night. It's strange to see something like a bamboo forest in the middle of the high-rise apartments and traffic jams of Daundong and Taehwadong, and I'm glad that it's there.