Busan, South Korea

We made it to Busan, South Korea on July 26.

Country #14

Since we arrived a bit late that evening, we didn't start exploring until July 27.

Busan Station

In front of the fountain at Busan Station

We went to Chinatown since it was the area for foreigners to shop

There weren't a lot of Chinese shops - mostly Russian and Korean

But walking around was still interesting

We walked by the famous 40 steps

The 40 step stairway was a place for locals to gather during the Korean War

The 40 step staircase has now come to symbolize the sorrow and grief of those living during the Korean War

Paul was impressed with this statue

We decided to take the steep stairs to the Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park

The Busan Tower

This is the view of Yongdusan Park from the base of the Busan Tower 

Busan Tower

This park is known for being a romantic spot for couples; hence these heart lockets with love messages written on them

Keeping with the romantic theme, we posed in front of these love turtles

Yongdu means dragon...and this is Yongdusan Park

Statue of Yi Sun-Shin a 16th century naval hero

A different view of the park

After strolling through the romantic park, we headed to Gwangbok-ro.

Pretty lanterns

Gwangbok-ro where there are plenty of shops

And statues for Paul to play with

And kick...

This bull was not happy

Next stop was the Jagalchi Fish Market.

Old buildings on the way to the market

Jagalchi Fish Market was very interesting

You could buy all sorts of sea creatures 

Including the spoon worm - check out a video of them moving

We headed back to Gwangbok-ro to find some dinner

The next day on July 28, we headed to Taejongdae Park. Surprise, surprise, the weather turned out to be similar to when we visited Mt. Fuji...foggy and overcast. So, we didn't get a great view. This is beginning to become a pattern (you'll see in future posts). And, the worst part was that it was not just foggy but hot and muggy too!

At least we could see some of the cliffs and the water

Yes, that is fog behind us

We heard it's supposed to be really pretty

The Yeongdo lighthouse and infamous art of overlapping circles - the red circle symbolizes the sun, camellia flower, universe, five oceans and six continents while the blue circle symbolizes the sky and sea

The bar in the middle symbolizes the light from the lighthouse

Asian Paul

It was too hot to go all the way down to the rocks

But it wasn't too hot for Paul to ride this wild seahorse

It felt like a scene in a movie...

As we walked towards Taejongsa Temple

Taejongsa Temple amidst the fog

Dynamic Busan