Busan

We got up early and mom ran up to the club room and grabbed 2 croissants for breakfast. Then we hopped on the airport limo bus and rode back to the Jeju airport. We got on a plane to Busan, landed and took another limo bus to a hotel (The Paradise) near where we were staying (The Sunset). We walked across the street and saw lots of western restaurants, like Bennigan's, because that's what I would choose from all the chains we have in the States. Then we walked into our hotel's building. The bottom floor was under construction and mom was facinated by the older women who were hauling wheelbarrows full of cement blocks through the hall and down the stairs. The building also housed 3-4 restaurants and a Thai massage parlor. Our hotel room was pretty nice with a semi decent view of the ocean if you stick your head out the window. We were just across the street though, so that was nice.

We were both hungry and went for brunch at a place directly next to our hotel. Mom got "brunch" which was a waffle (like a square eggo), 2 eggs, 4 bacon strips, a salad, toast, oj, coffee, fruit and choice of potatoes which mom didn't really want so she got a backed potato with sour cream. I had a cheeseburger and a coke light.

Brunch at Breeze Burns

Then we went back to the room to decide what to do for the day. We only had 1 day and didn't really want to go to the aquarium (even though it was across the street). So we decided to find the Mermaid Statue and then go to a temple on the water. The front desk had some English maps and the park with the mermaid statue was easy to find. We walked along the boardwalk on the beach and snapped some pictures. Hardly anyone was there, but it was a Monday and still chilly. In the summer it's packed with umbrellas.

Beach looking to the left of the aquarium, so east I think

We passed the Westin hotel, which sits at the end of the beach, and walked into the park called Dongbaekseom (or Camellia Island). It was more stairs - yippee! These stairs were not too bad though. The statue was very close to the entrance we came through. According to legend, the mermaid, called Princess Hwangok, left her home to get married and missed her house so she went to the cliffs to see it. People used to rub it for luck but there is really no way you can get over the rocks to get near her now. Then we continued up the walkway towards a lighthouse. The whole walk was very pleasant because it was a nice day, it was somewhat shaded and right along the waterline. There is one part where you have to cross a suspension bridge, and I didn't really like it, but I was able to cross it without freaking out.

Lighthouse on the tip of the island from near the mermaid statue

The Little Mermaid or Princess Hwangok

Mermaid from above

View of the beach from just past the mermaid in Dongbaekseom park

My arch neminsis - the suspension bridge

At the top of the steps is a lighthouse. There is also supposed to be some rock where a poet carved the words hae (sea) and un (cloud) which lead to the name of the beach. But I couldn't figure out which rock they were talking about. Then we saw a sign to a memorial for said poet (Choi Chi-won) and it said 100 m, which isn't that long. What the sign didn't mention was that the entire 100 m was up steep stone stairs. Stupid sign. (Like that alliteration?) There was a courtyard, a big monument thing, a pavilion and some signs. There were also some people doing random exercises.

Me and the lighthouse

This could possibly be the hae or un rock, but I didn't see anything written on it

This is supposed to be a non-smoking sign, but they forgot to add the cigarette, so it just says stop being a blue monster

Monument to Choi Chi-son

Then we walked back down to the bottom and out of the park. We tried to catch a cab to go to the temple, but we had the wrong name and the wrong directions from the front desk because they got confused on where we actually wanted to go. The cab driver was all confused and made us get out. So we walked back down the beach and saw the public foot bath - which is just a fountain looking pool of water with smooth stone things on the bottom. There were a lot of people using the foot bath. We went back to the room to try and figure out where we wanted to go and got a cab to the correct place. I'm glad we did because it was very interesting.

Foot bath

We got a cab which took us up further north along the coastline and brought us to the Donghae Yonggung temple. It's entrance way is lined with zodiac characters and other statues. Then it was totally decked out in laterns because Buddha's birthday was the following week. After you walk through the entrance, there are 2 paths to take. The left leads to a small statue of someone (don't think it's a Buddha) on the edge of a cliff. It's very pretty to look at. While we were there, we saw an old lady carrying a huge thing of seaweed up the rocks on her back. It did not look fun.

Main entrance with lots of lanterns

Mom was born in the year of the rabbit. Maybe that's why she likes salads so much.

I'm the year of the monkey

Pretty sure this is the holy family. Not sure why they were in a Buddhist temple across from zodiac figures.

Water from the left side of the compound. The statues are literally on the coast.

Not sure if this is a Buddha, but people were praying to it. This sits over the previous picture.

Seaweed lady

Then you go back to the split and if you go straight, you walk through a tunnel and over a bridge into the main temple area. There were lots of statues here. There was a temple proper with 3 Buddhas set up inside. Then there was a huge gold potbellied Buddha outside of that temple. It was hard to get a good picture because of the lanterns and the poles and wires. Then there is another smiling Buddha underground in a small cave. There is a pool where people drank water, but neither mom nor I was interested. Next to the cave entrance were 2 huge pigs. I've seen pigs all around Korea, but I don't know the significance.
 

Inside the tunnel

Buddhas outside the tunnel

3 gold Buddhas inside the temple proper. The ceiling is covered in lanterns.

Mom under lanterns on the main courtyard

I made her stand next to the pig butts.

Gold potbellied Buddha

Little smiling cave Buddha

Then, you walk past the courtyard area and up 108 stone stairs (it was in the book, I didn't count them) to a high up statue of Gwaneum, the Goddess of Mercy, who was also difficult to photograph.

Lanterns just above the stairs to the top platform

Goddess of Mercy

View of the main courtyard and the coast area from the top platform near the Goddess of Mercy

View of the Goddess of Mercy (top right) and the main courtyard from the other side of the bridge

After we left the temple, we had to walk back down to the road to catch a cab. It was a longish walk and I'm glad we got a cab up the hill. We had to wait awhile on a cab because Koreans kept stealing them from us. But we finally got one and went back towards our hotel. We got dropped off a few blocks from out hotel and walked down the beach in the opposite direction as before. We passed an art wall and walked to a small fish market. The large fish market is in Gwangalli and across a large bridge. It would have been cool to see, but neither of us really wanted to ride an extra 20 minutes to look at crabs. We walked around the fish market and I had to go outside because it started to stink. They had lots of tanks set up and you pick your fish and they will cook it in a restaurant upstairs.

One of the graphics on the art wall

Fish market

Another view of the beach with no people

We opted not to eat fish and walked back down the beach towards our hotel. We stopped in an Italian place and had mushroom risotto. It was a nice place and a short walk from home. Then we went back to our hotel and relaxed and fell asleep pretty early since I had work the next morning. All in all, Busan was very nice and I am planning to go back there.