"Busan from above" or "The last thread in our shoestring" {Darrell}

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After last night's good eating and latenight fireworks, we found ourselves sleeping in our little Yeogwan rooms until about 10am. We we got up, we found that everyone was taking it slow and had theirr own ideas about what to do with the day. We quickly took the opportunity to head out towards Geumgeong , the mountain just north of Busan, which is the site of a 500-year old fortress.

We used the subway and busses to get to 버머사 (Beomeosa), an old Buddhist temple at the base of the mountain, where we would begin the hike. Korea is very famous for its old temples, so we took the time to curiously look around the courtyards and peer into the candlelit rooms with the eerie gold Buddah idols. There must have been about 5 of these rooms where people were praying and meditating in front of the sculptures. The architecture of the buildings was truly amazing and the outsides of the buildings are really beautifully painted. But in spite of all of this, it is hard to enjoy the place when it has all been built to worship man and what man has made.

The location of the temple is truly fantastic, and you can see why someone would come to the middle of the lush forest to meditate, and practice artwork. It does make you want to be still and consider the important things in life, but we found that the glory and peace of the mountain scenery, fresh air and forest sounds far overshadowed the attraction of the dark, incence-filled prayer rooms and shrines.

Anyway, we soon headed off past the temple up the side of the mountain. Although it was a steep climb up uneven ground, we kept good pace because of an old grey-haired lady with a crutch behind us, who would gain on us every time we stopped to rest or even look at the trail signs! By the time we reached the top we found ourselves in the middle of thick cloud, so the great view that the guidebook promised was not quite so breathtaking. It was still a great walk along the 500-year old remains of the fortress walls in the mist.

Half way along the wall we reached the impressive West Gate, and a picnic site where we stopped to eat the fresh bread we had bought in a little bakery at the bus stop. Just as we were finishing we noticed a public phone - at the top of the mountain! Cath had been waiting to find a phone for ages and took the chance to phone her grandpa and wish him happy birthday. Wierd how things work out.

We hiked our way to the South Gate (남문) of the fortress where we used our 5hr hike to justify buying the $3 tickets for the cable car down. As we descended out of the clouds we found the spectacular airial view we'd been looking for all day.

Back in town we spent a good 2 hours looking for what is apparently the biggest mineral spa in Asia. That may be so, but despite our 2 maps and limited Korean, we had no luck. When Cath decided to draw money at an ATM and we found that we hadn't been paid yet (turns out it's a bank holiday) we realised that we'd done such a perfect job of budgeting for one months travel that we did not have enough money left to pay for an extra night's accomodation at the yeogwan and dinner. And if it turned out that we still were not paid by tomorrow, we'd be stuck in Busan without enough money to buy a bus ticket home. Crazy hey!

Good thing for us we had planned on meeting up with our boss, Andrew, so we caught the subway back to tell him that he'd better make sure we get paid by tomorrow otherwise we're calling in sick until the pay comes through. We all laughed (nervously) about the problem and he took us out to dinner at a gamjiltang (pork and potato stew) restaurant on the beachfront. Dinner on Andrew, good man.

Due to our lack in finances, we decided instead of staying another night at the yeogwan, to find a nearby 찜질방 (jjimjilbang). These are 24hr public baths. Sounds a bit dodgy, but they pride themselved in cleanliness, and when you're on such a tight a tight budget you can't afford to be too picky. We were once again found to be extremely blessed with the best 24hr jjimjilbang in Busan right down the road, great news since it was already midnight. The spa is made up of 3 floors. The first two are identical, one for men and the other for women. Basically, the first thing you do is put all your clothes into a locker, and walk through to the showers (naked) where you give yourself a good scrubbing (naked). Next I made my way through to the big open hall (yup, still naked) which had 7 pools, each filled with purified natural spring water heated to a different temperature.

I felt a bit awkward at first walking around in my birthday suit, but once I'd burned my toes in one pool (and tried to imediately climb out as casually as possible) and let out a little (manly) whimper when climbing into a freezing cold one, I managed to find the pool which was just the right temperature and take baby bear's spot at the side for what seemed like a happy eternity.

After becoming all pruny, I ventured into the sauna area. This was once again made up of a selection of steam and dry rooms heated to different temperatures. Some were covered floor, ceiling and walls with in a stone beleived to have particular healing powers, such as jade and granite.

Relaxed to a degree where the entire building could burn down around me without my concern, and with the clock already showing 2:30am, I put on my complimentary pajamas and headed upstairs to the 3rd, co-ed floor. On this floor there are a bunch of wooden-floored rooms with different temperatures and lighting. What you do is collect a hard cushion and a mat and then make your bed wherever you feel like. With the help of one of the local women Cathy had laid out two mats next to each other in a quiet corner of one of the rooms, which made me realise all over again how much I love her.

There were no long chats, no reflection on the days events, just a quiet goodnight and were both overcome by sweet, deep sleep.

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Photos

Misty gate
The North gate of the old fortress on the mountain

A long-distace call
Cathy phoning grandpa from up in the mountains

Keeping the pace
Cathy being chased up the mountain by an old lady on a crutch

Off into the fog
The cable car from the top of the mountain

Comments

[Lani]

5* SPA...quite close!!
Wow! What a day for a daydream...Daz, you're second last comment made,was the icing on my cake today! Cause sometimes,without realising it,you let a day slip without telling the person you love,HOW much you love them,and then once again a little gesture like that makes you realise what you have and how deep that love goes...I love you both a whole damn lot! May you be blessed beyond your wildest dreams... When I drove to work today there was snow on the mountains...helderberg and Simonsberg...absolutely gorgeous...so as you guys move into summer,getting new greens and things...we also have the greens,but with a bit of snow here and there AND of coarse that lovely CT wind with drizzeling raindrops everywhere,getting into every dry spot you might have had this morning..hehehe But beautyfulll like always! All the best,and catch up again soon! Lani