Climb That Hill - Busan day 3 (part 2)

After looking around the main complex for a while, we went up another set of stairs to get a different vantage.

There were more statues up on the upper level.

 

Out on the north side of the complex there was yet another gold statue.

We also passed some folks from a Taekwondo dojo that were taking photos in front of the spectacular temple.

We also went down close to the ocean for a while.

We weren't wearing Taekwondo gear, but we made use of the same backdrop.

This stone pagoda was pretty cool.

This priest and a bunch of ladies were doing some sort of ceremony where they piled up a bunch of... I'm not sure what, they look like shopping bags -- and then set them on fire.

Another cool bridge.

On the way back out our Taekwondo friends were still at it.

At the top, outside the entrance to the temple, there were a bunch of little stalls selling food and souvenirs.

Back to the bus stop.

And that was the Hae Dong Yong Gung Temple.

Down By The Sea - Busan day 3 (part 1)

Wednesday, August 17, we got up and had breakfast. It was a beautiful day.

After breakfast we headed for a corner of Busan right by the ocean. Well, a different corner of Busan right by the ocean -- three of the four corners of the city are right on the ocean, including the corner where our hotel was.

Our destination was a Buddhist temple called Hae Dong Yong Gung Temple (海東龍宮寺).

The entrance to the temple had 12 statues representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

There were a wide variety of other statues, carvings, etc. The black thing that looks like a tire in front of the pagoda on the right is, in fact, a stone tire -- it's a pagoda dedicated to traffic safety.

A pair of lions guarded the gate into the temple complex itself, followed by a marker at the beginning of the "108 steps."

There were various statues on the way down the steps, too, including this set of Buddhas (bodhisatva?) dedicated to "academic achievement."

At the bottom of the steps we ended up at the ocean.

At that point there was a collection of statues, a couple of which had bowls of water. It's supposed to be good luck to toss a coin into the bowls. Yours Truly managed to hit the further bowl. I'm not sure what good luck is supposed to show up now, though...

Crossing over a stone bridge, we came to the main temple complex.

Civilization isn't far away, but from most angles, the temple complex seems isolated between wooded hills and the ocean.

More statues.

Giant golden pigs. I have no idea why.

Tiny little Buddha statues. They were all over the place.

More giant golden statues. I assume these are somehow related to the aforementioned pigs.

 

Sibling selfies.

 

 More to come...