Very nice day…

What a relaxing day!! Had a nice sleep-in, then coffee and eggs with two ladies travelling from New Zealand.

Spent the rest of the morning making reservations for the next month. Guess who waited too long to get a plane ticket out of Japan?😐😐😐😐😐😐

Samgwansa temple was my first stop today. So delightful! I was the only foreigner there, got a lot of surprised looks. But everyone was nice❤

Then back to the hostel for tofu and broccoli. 200 beds and one burner…cooking may not be in my future after today.

The late afternoon activity was a visit to the UN Memorial Cemetery. Great visit and I had the place to myself. When that closed, the UN Sculpture park, UN Peace Park, and Busan Arboretum kept me busy until the mosquitos drove me back inside.

Dinner was pot stickers and banchan at some anonymous restaurant. Yummy!

On the walk back to the hostel, I found 20 bucks on the ground!!!!!

All in all a great day.

Here’s todays pictures…

This place is easily reachable by bus. Mostly women here.

The buildings themselves are relatively new. Some of the Buddhas inside are older though

These steps number 108. You reflect on every step your mistakes of the past. When you get to the top, a hand washing allows you to move forward with a peaceful feeling in your heart.

If I could read Korean, you’d know what these said

These banners are just like the lanterns at some other temples. You buy one to support the organisation.

The pagoda is new but holds many old, old relics

Again, a new statue, but made with the same stone as the palaces that housed the Joseon kings. Like from the same quarry

I was inside a hall admiring the Buddhas, wishing I had a snack, and a nice lady handed me this mochi! How interesting

The Templestay program here allows you to stay the weekend or longer to meditate and pray

This is a six. Ton. Jade. Buddha. Awesome

This nature path covered 20 acres. Little Buddhas were on every stump

Enough culture and religion, you say? Where’s the picture of the knockoff Trevi fountain in the basement of a department store? Well, it’s right here!!

If you ever wanted to pay 70 bucks for 2 melons, Lotte Department Store is for you!

The UN Cemetery was really neat. There’s still a burial or two, as widows of the Korean War pass on and are buried with their husbands.

This is the original flag flown at the first burial in the cemetery

I’d like to see these roses in the summer

There’s an eternal flame at the memorial wall

Brave Oregonians who died defending the Republic of Korea

Lots of great sculpture here at the Sculpture and Peace park

What you can’t see here are many very aggressive mosquitos

Arrival in Busan…

Not too much to tell.

High speed train was great as always!

The metro here is so much smaller it’ll be a breeze to figure out. Only 5 lines!

Went to a “cultural village” lol. It’s a good place to take pictures at least. The day was wonderfully sunny.

Jumped on a random bus after that, it took me to an interesting area, I got off, and what do you know, it’s something I wanted to see! Glad that worked out !!

Went back to check into my room, and took a lovely walk. Found some ice cream and groceries and now I’m in for the night.

Here’s todays pictures…

The snacks in the green box tasted like twinkies, the stick thing was cheese?, and the bun was sunflower seeds and red beans

The Gamcheon cultural village was this old slum they’ve dressed up and added toilets and many photo spots. The bright paints make it cheerful to walk around

It’s genius, really. Something from nothing, I love it

That seagull cracked me up. Look at those eyes

Hopefully you can see the story. I’m sure it misses something in the translation

I think you can actually stay here (shudders)

This is a costco. The froyo isn’t nearly as sweet as froyo in the us

Eating out here is as spendy as at home. Here’s what i spent on some groceries. Tofu was the cheapest at 1100 krw. Eggs and broccoli about the same, 2450 krw. Instant coffee was the most expensive at 7150 but still a good deal. Coffee shops are ridiculous here!

I’ll never learn…

Another Monday morning, another trip across town to something closed on Mondays….you’d think I would’ve learned my lesson lol.

The day turned into a long, wet walk, a late lunch, another walk, and an early evening.

Here’s todays pictures…

Royal tombs of the Joseon, and a nice park I’ll have to see next time

Pretty ritzy part of town, a latte was 9 dollars. I kept walking

This coffee was only 3.50, so we warmed up for awhile

Clean and beautiful riverfront bike path. Lots of great birds

I hadn’t seen a space invader tag for a while, so this was cool

Moving on to Busan tomorrow, I’m excited about this!

Awesome museum date…

So today was kinda awesome. A long wander around, then a museum date with JunHee was the perfect Sunday.

As a jumping off point, I took a look at the Dongdaemun Culture Park. Very shiny, new place with some modern art.

Across the street was some enticingly old looking stuff. The City Wall Museum was the proof that I’d been wanting; Korea wants to preserve its past. Everything is so new here! This museum details the efforts of the government to show some very interesting history. The walls and gates are being preserved and rebuilt. In a few years, I’ll come back to see how fantastic it is.

Afterwards I thought I’d just walk to the museum, it can’t be that far, right?

Hahahahahaha Seoul is ****** big!

Found a bus and some lunch. Kimbap of course.

Spent a delightful few hours with lovely Junhee seeing Seoul. A lantern festival is happening right now. So cool.

Here’s todays pictures…