Busan Korea

Busan from our Balcony

Terry got his Great Wall and I got Korea and Vietnam. Seems like an equal trade. Terry served in Korea when he was young and was less than enthusiastic about revisiting those countries. Our first stop, Busan, looked nothing like the Korea of his past.

The 38th parallel is the most militarized border in the world. The war cost the lives of around 34,000 Americans and 1.1 to 1.8 million Koreans. Some estimate a total casualty count of 2,800,000 counting North Korea (military and civilian), South Korea, China and UN troops.


With North Korea promising to attack someone or everyone, I was a little apprehensive about our visit, but the Captain and staff assured us that threats had been evaluated and we would be safe. We were visiting just a corner of the country. Thankfully they were right.

DOA

My laptop was officially pronounced dead. It refused to launch windows and the hinge on the left was broken. It has served me well through many trips. This was the first time I carried it in a backpack (i.e. Terry didn't take care of it). That may have been a mistake. Although Terry had his, I am not great at sharing and less adept than many in familiarizing myself with new and different equipment, be it software OR hardware.  We toyed with the idea of a replacement but that seemed inadvisable so far from home.

Our excellent port lecturer told us about many attractions that we didn't see, given that we had already purchased a tour; the KFC with a peking duck sandwich, the site of

the International Film Festival and camera guy statue.  At the theaters, they serve dried fishy stuff instead of, or maybe in addition to, popcorn. I'm maybe not too sad that I missed that.  We also missed the Busan Museum with life size dioramas  the UN Memorial Casualty which still contains 36 Americans, and a spa where being naked is normal.  Next trip.  We did get glimpses of city life as we motored through it and I did take the obligatory Uncle Vint pictures from a moving car which generally turned out to be a blurred mess. They do challenging things with motorcycles.

Means "to be good"

Our first stop was at the Beomeosa Temple, one of  South Korea's largest temples, which dates back to 678 A.D. There was a rather steep climb to the buildings, so some of us elected to stay at the bus.  The main temple hall was built in 1614. The swastika, our guide explained, predated its use by the Nazis, and in general meant  to be good or to be with a higher self and was incorporated by Buddhism and eastern religions long before being corrupted by the Nazis. 

A number of temples were being used by the followers who were less than enthusiastic about us visiting. I have to admit I would not like having a tour through my church if I was trying to pray .  Beomosa temple has several national treasures, but I was more attracted to the natural beauty of flowers, trees and hills.





Our last stop was the Ja-Gal-Ch'i fish market, known locally as 'Aunt's Market' established by women peddlers during the Korean War. They evidently eat everything here. Fortunately eating was not on the tour. They were not wildly enthusiastic about us taking pictures either, but as ugly Tourists we did anyway.

The cutest display was a petstore window full of puppies.  It was all I could do to resist taking one home (like they would let me take it on the ship). I easily forget how much attention puppies take.

Although they say they eat dog here, hopefully these are pets, not food.