BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA!

We had to set the alarm clock to get up and ready for our morning tour. (UGH!)  But once up, and after our coffee and breakfast, we were raring to go!  These were our first glimpses of Busan, South Korea!

John enjoyed his breakfast with a view.

Don’t let that sunshine fool you!  The weather outside was 34 degrees, which meant I needed to layer up BIG TIME for the day!  I had four layers on the bottom, three layers on top and would put on these four jackets before putting on the outer jacket I brought.  I could hardly move, but I was bound and determined not to freeze!

We were officially greeted by two adorable Korean locals!

The Beomeosa Temple, was our first stop of the day.  Nestled on the slopes of the Geumjeongsan Mountain, it was one of region’s major Buddhist, historic temples.  And it was located way uphill (approximately a zillion steps), which allowed us to walk off breakfast!

Loved how these tourists traveled with their pups!

We caught this Buddhist monk chanting during his devotional practice.  (Pretty cool!)

Stacks of stone were everywhere!  They symbolized good luck in Korea and it looked like the masses believed it!  Ask me to tell you the story sometime about John and I stacking rocks on the Road to Honna in Hawaii sometime!  (Because of that story we DID NOT stack stones!)

John wanted his picture taken sitting at this ladies’ store before boarding the bus.  (I have NO IDEA why, but here you go, John!)

On our way to the WET MARKET, our tour guide, Sunny, played K-pop music for us!

Walking along the streets outside the actual Jagalchi Fish Market (the largest wet market in Korea), was fascinating!

Inside the market was quite unbelievable!  They force salt water across the street into the market through pipes and into the tanks to keep the fish alive.  We had never seen such a well run wet market!  Locals come in, purchase their fish, and go up one level where it is prepared for them, and eat it right there!  (Wish we could have had lunch there!)

After the fish market, we were given time to walk around the outside market around Arirangl Street!  It was so much fun walking around looking at everything (and do I mean EVERYTHING) that was being sold and enjoying the sunshine!  It actually turned out to be a nice day, and I actually stayed warm in the eight layers of tops and four layers of bottoms! 🤣  (And Michelle had luck finding more pearls!)

Sunny told us that because so many people these days are on their cell phones and look down when they walk, red and green signal lights were added on the ground!  (Ingenius!)

After the tour, we came back and ate lunch poolside.  Well, not EXACTLY pool side!  There was an area near the pool that was heated and it made for the perfect spot to eat, outside but WARM!

Later, John and I went to the Around The World cocktail party with everyone from the US coming together.  It was fun hearing people’s stories!  Cocktails were enjoyed while listening to Boogie and Kasia, 

followed by another delicious dinner in the Compass Rose, followed by a fabulous performance by a dynamite entertainer,

We loved Busan, Korea!  And we especially loved that we actually stayed warm in the brisk (but sunshiny) day!