Busan, Korea

Busan is South Korea’s second largest city and its largest port. We had an opportunity to experience both the traditional culture and the modern economic powerhouse. Below are pictures from our ship as we cruised into port in the morning and some street scenes from during the day.

The sign in the middle of this street advertises the Busan film festival, which just closed. It’s the largest in Asia.

Hongbeopsa Temple is a large Temple surrounded by beautiful grounds. And guess what? It has the largest Buddha statue in Korea. We took part in a formal tea ceremony and a meditation practice there. The tea ceremony followed all the traditional rules and we can testify that they take it seriously. One of the lovely Korean ladies sat behind me and grabbed my wrist every time I started to make a wrong move.

This was our first look at the Buddha through the trees.

We had a delightful welcoming committee.

This monk welcomed us into their beautiful group room and encouraged us to share the story of Buddha.

Every one of these implements is essential to the tea ceremony process.

This lady and her translator led us through the lengthy tea ceremony. If I wasn’t being gripped so hard by my helper, it would have been a more meditative experience. It was delicious tea.

Our next visit was down at Busan’s harbor where we visited the Jagalchi fish market, the largest in South Korea and its older and smaller sister market across the street. The variety and quality of the fish was amazing and the whole layout was beautiful– clean and efficient. We were disappointed we couldn’t stop for lunch. People were choosing fish and having it cooked and served right there.