2013 - Heart and Seoul: Busan

Another beautiful day in Busan. We had a relatively slow start to the day - Han had to get ready! We left the hotel at about 9.30 and wandered through the small lanes until we managed to find a main road and then into an underground shopping mall to find some breakfast. Not your traditional cereal and toast - Kim and I shared an omelette filled with fried rice, Ian had fried rice with an egg on top and Han had Udon noodles. Suffice to say we were all pretty full after that.

We have become masters at taxis in Busan. We had contemplated the subway but the 'cheap' taxis here cost us only about 2-3 dollars more than the subway would and gets us right to where we are going. So after our lovely breakfast we grabbed a taxi and got the wonderful driver - who had passable English - to take us to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Along the way he happily pointed out the other key features of Busan like the UN War cemetery, Gwangalli beach, BEXCO and the Gwangalli bridge - our own private tour guide!

The temple was AMAZING - I had wanted to see this ever since I heard about it. It is one of only a few temples that is built at the sea. The temple - which is Buddhist - hugs the cliff face, has stunning statues and beautiful buildings. It was so serene and the sound of the monk praying and playing his instrument was broadcast throughout the entire site so no matter where you were you could hear him. There were many Koreans in the temple with the monk praying - and you couldn't help but be moved by their devotion.

After the temple we took taxi number 2 - to Shinsegae Shopping Centre - the largest department store in the world. Think David Jones on steroids - lots of steroids!! Whilst it was way out of our league we enjoyed travelling the escalators to each of the 11 floors to check out the golf driving range, the dinosaur playground for the children, the ice skating rink and the hundreds of stores and boutiques. The store is filled with gleaming mirrors, chandeliers and softly piped music. If you were loaded - you would be in heaven! We did manage to find another H&M store and Han happily spent some more money on some new clothes.

Out 3rd taxi of the day took us to Haeundae Beach. It is the most popular beach in Korea. It didn't quite compare to the Gold Coast but it was pretty stunning. The boys all enjoyed a good hour or so in the water, digging holes (Kim) and tricking (Han). I happily sat in the shade taking photos and filming Han and loving the beautiful view.

Today we had lots of people make comments about our family. One lady sat and watched the boys at the beach for over half an hour and when she got up and left she smiled and bowed to me and said thank you and pointed to the boys. Our first taxi driver also said a special thank you when we left the taxi and pointed to the boys. It is nice to know that the Korean people do not resent us for 'taking' their children - but are more grateful that we brung them back.

We ended our afternoon at the beach with a short walk through Dongbaek Park before grabbing our last taxi home. Once home the boys went to the hotel swimming pool before we went to the local Sunmart to buy some dinner - Korean 2 minute noodles, sandwiches, yoghurt, buscuits and nuts.

Tomorrow is our last day in Busan and Ian has a 8.8 km hike planned before we catch our bullet train back to Seoul. So an early night is probably on the cards - at least for me!

One of the small, steep lane ways we took to find the main road.