Busan for Chuseok: Part 2

Sunday

We motivated ourselves to be up and out the door by 12.  Dad, I know.  12 isn't early but it's the best we could do.  Neither of us is quite the early bird that you are. We made it to Gecko's (a foreigner favorite) for a delicious western lunch accompanied by a few grown up beverages (it's 5 o'clock somehwere right) and a coloring sheet (they know us far too well).  We ate ourselves silly with western food and eventually made our way outside where it was raining...again.

Next on our list was the famed Haedong Yonggung Temple (해동용궁사) or known to the foreigners as the "Temple by the Sea." Unlike most other temples in Asia, this particular temple was not built near the mountains but on the edge of the sea.  The beautiful view, shrines intermittently placed along the walk and the grandiose sculptures that pay homage to the Buddhist religion make it a sight to see.  Due to the fact that I also came to this particular temple last year I had a general idea on where to go and which parts Dan would like.  It was a change coming here with just one other person instead of an entire group.  While taking photographs together was a bit harder due to the fact that we had to badger unsuspecting people to take our photos, I enjoyed it in a different way from last year.  This year was quieter and we were able to truly feel the spirit of those that came to the temple to pray.  With the rain falling all around us, the temple was less crowded and gave us a chance to stop and really look at what we were seeing instead of snapping quick photos and moving onto the next shrine.  Here are just a few pictures of what we saw on that rainy afternoon.   

After our afternoon of temple visiting, we decided to take the subway and haphazardly stop wherever we thought looked like fun.  We saw a stop that included the Busan Museum of Art so we thought, "Hey, why not!"  We hopped off our subway and went into one of the most unusual museums I have ever been to.  I am not a self-proclaimed art enthusiast of any kind (neither is Dan) so the majority of the art we saw was a bit lost on us.  Due to the fact that photography was banned in the "contemporary" section of the museum you won't be able to truly appreciate the little gems we saw.  For example,  one "piece of art" was a wall length piece of gray felt that fell to the ground at an angle.  That's it.  No really, that's the art.  No paint.  No different colors.  Just gray felt, at an angle, on the ground.  Another was string that had been stretched from the ceiling to the floor at different angles.  It didn't make a picture.  It didn't make...well...anything.  It was just white string.  Like I said, the "art" was lost on us.  While there were some paintings that we thoroughly enjoyed, it wasn't exactly a museum that  I would recommend to anyone who is not an art enthusiast. 

After our attempt at appreciating art, we took yet another subway ride to a bridge i've been wanting to see since our arrival in Busan.  It is in the University district and is one of those bridges that has the cable archway that stretches across the ocean.  My favorite kind of bridge.  At night, the cables light up in different colors and people come from all around to see it.  Unfortunatley, we weren't able to see the bridge in all its nighttime glory but the afternoon panoramic shot did come out quite nicely.  

A rainy panoramic of my favorite bridge

We were just about ready to call it a day and start the walk back to the subway station when something caught my eye to the left of the bridge.  I saw something circular and huge.  It looked like a ferris wheel but surely the amusement park enthusiasts we were would have known if there was an amusement park near us.  Right?  Wrong.  We had stumbled upon a rinky dink carnival of sorts hidden in the heart of Busan.  During our walk to our little carnival we also stumbled upon something else.  A Coldstone Creamery.  Just looking at the smile on Dan's face was enough to convince me that we clearly needed a waffle dish of deliciousness for our walk. 

A waffle bowl filled with cheesecake ice cream, strawberries
 and blueberries?  I don't mind if I do!

We eventually made our way to the amusement park carnival.  It had a ferris wheel, one roller coaster, a scrambled eggs sort of ride, log flume, spinning chairs, drop zone and of course...a viking ship.  We screamed like tiny children as the viking ship became almost vertical with the ground.  Laughed ourselves silly on the spinning chairs.  Enjoyed the view from the top of the ferris wheel.  While it was a itsy bitsy amusement park, "Me World" made our Sunday evening an amazing one.

With our Chuseok vacation coming to an end, we made our way back to our hotel where we found another delicious foreigner dinner, this time mexican food.  We ate ourselves into a food coma, took to the beach with a bottle of Korean wine (our favorite) and talked until our eyes became sleepy.  We talked about our favorite parts of our time in Busan, the upcoming weekend and everything else in between.  

While this Chuseok was completely different from the mayhem of last year, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I was able to truly experience one of my favorite cities with one of my favorite people.

What's next on our agenda?  This weekend we will go to Everland, the worlds 4th largest Amusement Park.  Get ready for a post filled with rides, amusement park food (hopefully) and the sights of Seoul!