Port 12 Busan, South Korea

by Ed · April 28, 2024

Insa! Greetings!

We arrived in Busan, South Korea, on 30 March, 2024, under bright blue skies with light cloud cover!

The view on the right from our veranda after docking is interesting! The low gray swoopy building is the Busan International Terminal. We never have to go there because the building at the bottom of the picture is also the Busan International Terminal! Buses are already queuing up for the myriad of tours today!

Just to the left is an even more interesting sight! In the lot near us there are pads, gravel, and grassy areas set up for people to camp on! Tents are erected on the platforms and in the gravel areas. We watch a family of three taking down their tent on one platform while another family of four is erecting their tent in the gravel. It is unclear why anyone would choose this area for a camping site, but the area over the bridge may have the answer. There are clearly paths to walk and ride bicycles over there. Roads also appear to lead to nowhere. We learn later that this site was designated as the main Olympic Arena for South Korea’s bid to host the Olympics! They did not win and the lot sits vacant.

We head out for our tour to see the Beomesa Temple. I stop to be silly in front of the Welcome sign! Apologies for the poor illumination.

Leaving the Busan International Terminal for the buses we are greeted by these two lovely folks! They love having their photo taken!

Already the sky is beginning to turn solid gray. Ugh.

On the bus we see the South Korea cherry trees also trying to blossom! Two more days and this tree, and others on the way, would be full of pink! So sad we’re early in many places!

South Korea’s population has been exploding since the Korean Conflict, and single-family homes are now rare. Before the Korean War South Korea’s population was only about 200,000 people. As the conflict ramped up, people from the north part of Korea moved south to get away from the communist regime taking over the north, and the southern population exploded to 800,000 almost overnight! Since then the population has grown steadily to about 3.5 million! As a result, multi-condo or multi-apartment skyscrapers are everywhere! Thousands can live where only a few hundred single-family homes would be.

We arrive at the entrance to Beomesa Temple. This is on Geumjeongsan Mountain – that translates to “cold well mountain”. This little building at the bottom gives you an idea of the trek we’re about to take! Up the mountain we go!

We never received a clear answer on why the lanterns are here, but the supposition is a celebration is soon to take place, or just took place, and we benefit from it! The rainbow of lanterns makes the climb a little cheerier since the sky is not helping!

To the side, black marble pillars mounted on the backs of turtles catch our eye! These are monuments recognizing donors who support the Beomesa Temple!

The lanterns change from round to cylindrical shapes, but the colors still enchant us!

We go through three gates to reach the Temple. You actually see all three in this image! Every structure is beautifully decorated!

Looking up we see the final gate – Bojeru Pavilion! I’m a little envious of the people already making their way down… this is a long uphill walk!

We come out of steps from under the Bojeru Pavilion and into this grand courtyard! We are surprised to learn there isn’t just one temple here! You see three directly ahead! The center is the main Temple, Daeungjeon Hall. To the left is Jijangjeon Hall. To the right is Gwaneumjeon Hall. Whew! That’s a lot of complex names!

There are four more on this side! I’ll spare you the names. And the temples on the other side can’t all be seen from the courtyard – they go further back and behind other temples!

Immediately to the right of the Bojeru Pavilion is this beautiful structure – the Bell Pavilion!

To rescue all sentient beings this pavilion holds four different percussion instruments. Two I’m not showing are a Dharma bell to rescue sentient beings from hell, and a cloud-shaped gong for airborne beings. The third item is a fish-shaped gong for waterborne beings, and…

…a huge Dharma drum for earthbound beings! While this drum is stunningly decorated, it is clearly suffering from a lack of dusting to keep the top clean! Maybe dust reminds earthbound being of being earthbound?

This is the Bojero Pavilion as seen from the courtyard. The center has the steps we ascended to reach this place. The Pavilion is the largest structure here and is used for Dharma gatherings and Buddhist ceremonies!

I loved watching this – a couple’s child trying to take a photo of his parents! He struggled with it enough I had a chance to set up for this picture!

I won’t belabor the temples themselves. But I’ll show this – the Buddha in the Daeungjeon Hall. There were numerous supporting characters and guardians on both sides!

Along the back side of the grounds is this huge rock face! Boys are climbing underneath to collect rocks to make stone towers of their own. But most interesting is this rock is the site of some of the first “graffiti”! Apparently local Hindus were not happy with Buddhists establishing this Temple. The words say the typical “Buddhists go home!” and “We don’t want you here!” epithets.

Jijangjeon Hall is actually three temples in one! Each of the open doors reveals a unique temple inside. Walking beyond Jijangjeon Hall reveals even more temples. This place is incredible! The architecture is amazing! It has been rebuilt after fires, but the structures are still wonderful to see. Every temple has its own style, from small to large Buddha statues, to paintings on walls and framed paintings of Buddha. but everywhere there is a peace. Monks are seen walking between buildings. People are engaged in prayer. Gongs and bells occasionally sound out.

After exploring the temple grounds on our own, it is time to head back down the mountain. We leave by a different gate than we entered.

Then we join the original path near the bottom. Remember these lanterns?

Back on the bus, we head back toward Busan to the downtown market. I’m surprised to see Kenny G advertised on this shop’s door!

Busan has reclaimed the riverbed to create a large park for the people. There are trails, ball courts, and exercise equipment!

We head across the long Gwanjan Bridge. The bridge disappears in the haze.

We catch a glimpse of Insignia as we pass the cruise port! But we’re not going there yet!

Soon we’re back in town and at the market. We learn it’s the Busan International Film Festival, or BIFF, that we’re visiting!

We walk down BIFF and the first half is all hot food setups. After a block the street changes to merchandise vendors.

After spending some time around the food stands and other shops in that section the entire group turns around to visit the fish market. We leave the BIFF area and head toward the water. There are a lot of fish stalls with tanks of fish and shellfish, but we are looking for the fish market behind this sculpture!

Stepping inside, we see the cleanest fish market ever seen! There is no mess on the floor, and no smell of rotting fish.

Tanks like this catch my eye – the lobsters and crabs are amazing!

What we learn is this market is not your typical find-some-fish-and-take-it-home-to-cook market. Here you find some fish (or crab, shellfish, or other item), pay the vendor for it, and tell them how you want it cooked. Then you go upstairs and find a table. Your dish will be brought to your table!

That’s the end of the excursion. We don’t have any fish cooked for us – we’ll go back to the ship and get whatever dish Chef has prepared. Soon Insignia comes back into view. This time we’re on the same side of the water!