Busan! When we planned our trip I was not interested in visiting this city. Boy, was I wrong. This is a terrific place and our day with our guide, Willow, was one of the best on the trip. After meeting us at the pier, Willow took us to the Oryukdo Sky walk, a 15 meter glass bridge overlooking a high coastal cliff. The views here were outstanding.
Only JoAnn and Willow . . .
. . . took the walk as I am uncomfortable with heights. The sky walk is very popular. Here is a picture of it.
The overlook was adjacent to a recently constructed apartment complex. Here is a photo of the complex. We saw numerous complexes like this one and a multitude of tall, really tall, buildings as we were driven around this mountainous city of 3.429 million people. According to Willow, the tallest building (which is currently being completed) will top out at 101 stories.
From there we were spirited off, through high rise canyons and one of the city’s beaches, to the seaside Haedong Yonggungsa Buddhist Temple. The temple built in 1376 was destroyed by fire, during war with Japan, and rebuilt in the 1930’s. We visited on a Saturday and the place was overwhelmed with people. In addition to a multitude of people, the area is replete with color.
As we made our way in the direction of the temple, we stopped to allow Willow to take our photo with the statue of a dog (JoAnn was born in the year of the dog) and a statue of a rooster (I was born in the year of the rooster). Here we are with our respective statues.
There were fierce looking deities watching us as we made our way in the direction of the temple.
There is even a pagoda to traffic safety donated to the temple by the taxi drivers association. Take a look at these two photos.
The temple structures are colorful and interesting.
There is a large, reclining Buddha who is the subject of worshipful adoration . . .
. . . and this group of three in a serene sense of repose.
Here are a couple of additional photos of the temple’s beautiful art.
And, there is also one enormous Buddha.
As I said, this is a seaside temple. Here is a view of the coast from the temple area.
Our visit to Haedong Yonggungsa ended as we made our way up the mountainside and back to Willow’s car. Then, we were off to lunch to fortify for the balance of our day.