haedong yonggung temple.

February 09, 2014

haedong yonggung temple.

Today was fantastic. I feel much better but this stuffy nose is a killer. Anyways, I took the subway back to Haeundae, which I think has become my new favorite area of Busan. There's so much to do around here and the beach is fantastic. I then stopped in the tourism center to find some guidance on how I could get to this sea-side temple. A twenty minute taxi ride to near the temple only cost me about ten bucks. I've noticed that it's really hard for me to tell the driver to let me the hell out. We were sitting in traffic and the meter had already gone up 3,000 won and we hadn't moved an inch. So I'm trying to tell this man to let me out of the taxi so I can just walk the rest of the way. No one ever knows what I'm saying - even when I hand them money.. they're still confused. I need to learn how to say "let me out!" Sheesh. Granted, it was a two mile walk but it wasn't all that bad. I don't even need to join a gym or anything here because every weekend that I explore I probably walk a minimum of five miles each day. I love it. There was no entrance fee at this temple! The entrance road was lined with gift shop things where they were selling cute bead bracelets and food and other trinkets. The temple itself started with a line of Chinese horoscope statues where you could put money in an make a wish.

The temple was absolutely astonishing. It was on a cliff and the views of the ocean were outstanding. It was so peaceful and beautiful. There were so many Buddha statues everywhere and you were actually able to take pictures of these ones. I threw a coin into a "lucky coin divination" and made a wish. An American guy from Chicago started talking to me and when I told him I was from Boston he told me that I didn't sound like I was from Boston. I hope I'm not losing my wicked awesome accent. I plan to definitely come back to this temple when the weather gets nicer. Plus, there's a scenic ocean walk and a beach - but it was another two miles away and it was already getting dark so I opted out.

When I made it back to Haeundae, I decided to go to Shinsegae.. which is the largest department store in the entire world. It is three time larger than Macy's in NYC!!! There's 14 floors and on one floor, there's something called "spa world" so I decided to give it a go. Sooo, I buy my entrance to inside and they give me a change of clothes. When I get to the women's locker room.. there's naked Asian ladies everywhere. EVERYWHERE! You literally were expected to get butt naked and bathe in this hot tub type Roman bath pool. Then, you change into your clothes that were provided and you can hit the sauna and something that said "foot bath". But I had to abort that mission fast and take the loss because there was no way my ass was stripping down in front of all of these people. Nooo way. One lady even had her kid in there! Why is your child just walking naked freely around all these old Asian ladies?! Omg. No. Just no. Spa World was not okay. However, in Shinsegae.. there was an Au Bon Pain!! I usually try to eat random Korean dishes for dinner but there was a huge sign that said "Boston" so I had to eat there. Had to. I didn't even know that Au Bon Pain was started in Boston!

Anyways, I'm outta here. I'll let some of my pictures speak for the temple when I say - it was fantastic. But ya know what's really weird? So I saw a bunch of swastika looking things on a bunch of signs. Apparently, the sign for Buddhism is a reverse swastika. Does anyone besides me find this really strange? It's strange, really. Later days!

Oh btw - I booked a trip to Tokyo and Jeju Island. Apparently flights go super fast around here because I had to book them for September and August. Bummer. But yay!