Busan Part III: Things To See Outside the City

Yay, holiday weekend in Busan!

In my first post about Busan, I mentioned the amazing Airbnb place I stayed at near Haeundae Beach, called Gina's House. It was such a great place to stay and the best part was sight-seeing with Gina and her other guests that weekend, a young couple from Singapore. 

We did a cooking class during the morning and then drove out of the city to visit some of the famous places along the coast between Ulsan and Busan. The first place we visited was Ganjeolgot, a park with a lighthouse and, for some reason, a windmill and a giant mail box. I have no idea why those things were there.

A giant windmill overlooking the Korean coastline, because, why not?

Great place to walk by the ocean

Also a great place to go if you like unnecessarily large mail boxes

Probably the least attractive light house I've ever seen. Yet, still a tourist attraction...

Also, there was this little "love park" where you and your partner could test the strength of your relationship using these bizarre arcade-style machines. What better authority could there be on your love than these things?

One machine told us that we were destined to kiss... It might be onto something...

This park was a bit silly, but it was still a nice place to get some views of the ocean and go for a walk.

A nicer place to go was the second place we visited, Haedong Yongungsa. It's a temple complex located just outside Busan on the coast. It was possibly the most commercial temple I've ever visited in either Japan or Korea, but the location by the ocean was beautiful and it had lots of touristy snacks and souvenirs. Not a temple you should go to looking for tranquility and zen, but a fun tourist destination if you can handle the crowds.

One of the most beautiful locations for a temple I've seen, with one of the most commercial temples

Statues representing the animals of the Chinese Zodiac

Looks more like the plastic Buddha figure at your local Chinese restaurant than anything at a real temple

Despite the crowds and commercialism, it was undeniably a pretty view

Our host was unbelievably kind to take us on this tour, and even better than the places we visited was the company of Gina and the other two guests. It was my first time meeting anyone from Singapore so it was really fun talking with them and learning more about their country. We had a great day traveling with all of them and I am looking forward to going back to Gina's House again someday soon!


Go to Busan: Part I

Go to Busan: Part II