…Busan

Busan is on the southern tip of the Korean penninsula, so it was considerably warmer there than here in Seoul when we visited last weekend. We were even walking around in short sleeves! My cousin’s been working down there as an English teacher and we took the opportunity to visit him and cash in on some of those hotel points from Hyatt that we’d accrued in 2012. They just opened a new Park Hyatt there, and it was experiencing some growing pains and wasn’t fully 5 star yet, but the minor troubles we experienced garnered us a free upgrade to a suite (which is always nice with Neko, as we all sleep better when we’re not sharing a room), and a free bowl of fruit (most of which we gave to my cousin, as it was a LOT of fruit for one day!). Our room had a great view of the marina and these great wooden floors which lent it an old world aesthetic even in its extreme newness.

At Haedong Yonggungsa Temple just Northeast of Busan, getting ready for the lantern festival to celebrate Buddha’s birthday.

All over the grounds of the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, there were little buddha statues.

And mini stupas.

One big Buddha (the scaffolding is to hang the lanterns for the festival).

…and more mini-buddhas

The temple overlooks the ocean, and several groups of people were holding services on the rocks below.

Slightly more traditional statues, these are behind the massive statue of the Queen of Heaven

Two Golden Pigs… are they the biggest piggy banks ever?

Mr. Adventure and Neko have no idea what’s lurking in the bamboo behind them…

…a ravenous tiger.

One of several statues of the Queen of Heaven

Later that night, we visited another temple.