Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
The weather since leaving Shanghai has been quite humid with rain & sea mists prevailing. Our sail into Busan cruise terminal occurred under a blanket of rain, so when I disembarked for my tour of the Buddhist Temple I doubted my choice of tour, thinking the 108 steps to the entrance, past statues of Buddha and along the dramatic rocky landscape would be slippery and an invite to a fall. However the rain eased off and by the time we arrived it had stopped but I still needed to take care as everything was wet and drips still came off the many stalls lining the pathway at the top of the walkway down to the steps.
The information describing the drive to the temple stated a 'breath-taking journey through glorious country-side'....well it needs to be rewritten....the country-side is now either empty blocks ready for high rise apartments or already built apartments! Fortunately I ended up on the first bus out of the terminal and consequently the first to the temple, so heading the Princess tours for the period. We even were ahead of another cruise ship which happened to be in Busan for the day as well. This position worked a treat 'cause we only had the local tourists walking around the sites but when we were returning to the bus we passed many of the Princess passengers descending.
The next stop was the APEC House which was built for the 2005 APEC Leader's meeting. I think at the time it was built a lot of trees had been planted for the occasion and would probably had been quite immature but when I was there they had matured and were very impressive. The view from the building and lighthouse nearby to the mainland is well worth seeing.
Our last stop was the Gukje International Market, another busy site, with tourists and locals walking around.
By the time I returned to the ship, it still had not rained. Lucky me!
View through the rain of container dock from our balcony
as we sailed in
Looking at the ship's sky walk as we sailed under the Gwangan Grand Bridge
Me in front of statue of sea dragon which is considered to be one of the beliefs of this coastal Buddist Temple where the sea dragon had given good luck.
Some of the 108 steps
Diarama of APEC House.
Construction of a 103 story building across the bay from APEC House
Majestic Princess taken from Gwangan Grand Bridge
Gukje Market
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