In 2007 when I visited Korea, I went for the first time to Yong Gung Sa temple in Busan. It is very beautiful since it is right on the coast. Though it is very pretty, it has a different feel than some of the other mountain temples we have visited in the past. It didn't help that this was during the Children's day holiday so there were millions of visitors and it was very crowded. Besides that though, this temple had a very commercial atmosphere, almost like it had sold out to tourism and so some of the magic was lost.
We parked near the "walking road in forest" and then walked to the temple.
There will be a giant cultural center built soon just West of the temple so there was a lot of remodeling. It seemed strange to see beautiful sculptures tossed in with broken boulders.
Sadie is our traveling rock star.
Temples offer visitors the opportunity to write messages on roof tiles if they donate to the temple. Later when the buildings are fixed up, they use the tiles in constructing the roof. With Children's day and Buddha's b-day coming soon, they had piles of these out back.
Beautiful pagoda....
For traffic safety. More evidence of the apparent commercial influence here. There were shrines, pagodas and patron monks and nuns for everything.
You can see here how crowded it was.
Amber and Sadie posing in front of the water Buddha. This temple is dedicated to the water dragon and since this is the year of the black (water) dragon, it was a big deal.
Cute kids.
Taylor and Judd pose for a pic.
Though the temple was a bit of a let down, the drive there was awesome. We got to go over the Kwanganri double-decker bridge that goes from Haeundae to Yongdo. It was under construction when I lived in Kwangan 11 years ago. The view was amazing. I hear they do a big fireworks show in the fall, maybe we will have to try and be there for it.
Surfing Buddhas??? Oh here is a good one. If your family is expecting a baby you rub this belly and it supposedly ensures you will have a baby boy. When I was here last Amber was pregnant with Addy and I rubbed it. Soon after we were blessed with my little sunshine Addy. I just had to get another picture. Click here on this link if you want to see the old picture.
Next we went to Song Cho'ng beach. This is my favorite beach because in comparison to Kwangan and Haeundae, it is pretty quiet and undiscovered. not as many hi-rise buildings right on the beach, but still a good place to soak your feet and play in the sand.
Logan had a blast playing chicken with the waves.
Judd and Taylor enjoying a moment together.
Sadie saying "hi" to a passerby.
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