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Published: December 6th 2009
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The first morning in Pusan I bussed to T’ongdosa. The bus dropped me in a small town with no signs for tourists like me who only reads English. Then a chicken and pizza restaurant proprietor drove me to the temple, saving me 30 min of walking and at least another 15 min of figuring out where I was going. T’ongdosa, founded in 646 AD, was the first of the Three Treasure temples. Specifically Master Chajang brought back fragments of Buddha’s bones, teeth, relics, and robe from T’ang Dynasty China. The relics were stored in the stupa on the Vajra Platform outside the Main Buddha Hall. Thus the Main Buddha Hall does not have a Buddha statue, instead there was an open window facing the Vajra Platform. Followers walked around Vajra Platform to pray and pay respect. Some building had the paint intact looked beautiful, others without paint looked its age.
For Busan city, SC recommended that I check out the fish market, Jagachi Raw Fish market. Whatever you can think of was there. I even saw a humboldt squid laid out along with other smaller ones. What’s a humboldt squid? Or who cares! Humboldt squids are large, up to 5-6
feet, aggressive pinkish squids that live in the warmer waters. Each year they are found further north, probably due to global warming. Then I found the raw fish building mecca. The first floor was jammed with small sashimi vendors laid out with tanks of live sea animals on one side, table on the other, and a small platform to slice the animals up squeezed somewhere. Wanted to stop and examine the squirming slimy sea animals in the tanks but I couldn’t. Every vendor eyed me, as soon as I slowed they rushed to me first with Japanese then Chinese, gesturing me to their tables. The floor above specialized in dried fish, and above that a larger spacious sashimi restaurant, probably good for parties. A short distance outside this place was the street markets. Street food vendors galore, shops go on street after street. Korea was like a shopper’s paradise. After this area I checked out another part of Busan, Gwangalli, with good night scenery. There were restaurants, bars, cafes, and a nice soft sand beach facing the picturesque Gangan Grand Bridge. Very romantic, I left very shortly.
The next day I went to Seongnamsa. It felt quite different from
the other temples I visited, more aloof. There were few signs describing about the temple halls, and in fact fewer halls available for visitors like myself to enter. Could be that they were under major construction; a good sized temple hall was being erected. Also this was the only old temple that I visited with glass sliding doors installed inside the ancient wooden structures, my guess was that its for better insulation and ease of use. Later I read that the abbot nun had done much to improve, renovate and expand this temple. Also this temple was very focused on Seoung/Zen/Chan meditation, which could explain why they don’t even have an information office for visitors. On my way back my bus stopped on the other side of the street in front the Chicken and Pizza restaurant. Great opportunity for me to take a pic, as a reminder of the kind man who gave me a lift the day before. To my surprise, the man from the restaurant rushed outside to wave to me. If any of you stop by this area, please go grab a few slices or something. See pic. I left for Seoul that Friday evening.
Only
Just two days left in Korea, on Saturday I got on a hop-on-hop-off bus to see Seoul. On my way there a subway attendant went out of his way to walked me half way through the platform to the exact spot where I can transfer to the next train. Late in the afternoon, a couple of Koreans friends I met in Gyeongju brought me out for some window shopping and then we all went for a few drinks. Sunday I cold noodled the whole day, just couldn’t get enough. Then I unwound in a coffee shop.
I came to Korea to visit and pray at the many ancient and beautiful temples. I would have been happy with just that. However on my short journey from one place to the next, I came across many warm people. They were eager to help me and make my visit hospitable. Difficult for me to put into words, their acts of kindness made my trip in Korea that much better.
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dukjin
Steven Chang
nice
I also went to Gyeongju but didn't get to try the rice cake. Seems we went to the same places - Gwangalli beach, Sekguram, Busan fish market, etc. Anyways, good writing, and glad the people were nice there and you even made friends. You probably saw more of Seoul on the hop-on-hop-off bus than I have.