Leaving Golgulsa temple we drove for a short while towards Gyeongju before arriving at the Yangdong Folk village - a small town never found by the Japanese when under attack by them which meant that it had never been burnt down and the buildings there were original 4-500 year old constructions. They were all inhabited as any other normal residential area, but two families had opened their doors so that people could have a look inside in parts of the houses - mainly inner courtyards; we never got inside any buildings. It was a very nice village, nice and serene, but it was also quite remote so any practical tasks would require at least half an hours' drive (and there was no info on the quality of their internet).
After having lunch we continued to Cheomseonge Observatory and the nearby Royal Tombs. The Observatory is Asia's oldest observatory (built between 632 and 647) and obviously not in use anymore, but it seems largely whole despite its age - though it has started slanting around 5 degrees since getting hit by an earthquake some years ago. Following we had a walk around nearby tombs of past kings - I couldn't help compare them with the numerous burial mounds from the Stone age we have in Denmark, though these were significantly larger. They had excavated only one, mainly - as I understood it - because that superstition prevented them from disturbing their ancestors. The one they opened up had thousands of various precious objects, but not a single body. The conclusion was that it had been setup as a decoy and the body wasn't there (my theory is that the excavation did disturb the ancestor and he walked out without them noticing). It was possible to go inside this tomb and see a few of the things that was found. Lots of gold and intricate designs on jewelry and armor. Basically what you'd expect in such a place.
Cheomseonge observatory.
Royal tombs.
We left for the hotel where we checked in in the afternoon. Unfortunately the hotel - with other hotels - was located a bit remote from the rest of the town so there wasn't much to do outside except a few restaurants. Therefore, 1½ hour's later the bus was ready to take those who wanted out to a Korean barbecue place where we had thick slabs of pork and plenty of side dishes - exactly as it should be. It was followed up by a drive to the Anapji Pond - an artificial pond at the former Donggung Palace. The 20 minute drive there brought us through almost empty roads - until we reached the parking lot of the pond which was absolutely teeming with activity. We got our tickets and did the 40 minute walk around. This was clearly a very popular destination to go to at night and understandable (to a certain degree); the completely still water and the lighting made the area incredibly pleasant to look at and if it hadn't been for the huge number of people it could have been a very nice evening walk.
The following day we left at 0840 in an attempt to get to Bulguksa temple before too many arrived; we got there around 0900 and we managed to have a bit of time before the arrival of the big crowds. It is the biggest temple in South Korea and compared to the others we saw it was definitely significantly more expansive. Many more gates and courtyards, various buildings and multiple pagodas.
We drove for 1½ hours to reach Busan where we started off by visiting Gamcehon Culture village, a part of Busan which has been kept in its original form; numerous colorful buildings set close together up along a hill side in a half-circular fashion. It reminded me a lot of Namche Bazar in Nepal, and people apparently compare it to Santorini in Greece. Especially with today's sunlight shining directly onto the buildings it was a very pretty view and the village was very photogenic. Unfortunately we only had 50 minutes before we had to continue so there was no time to explore any of the narrow streets that cut through the entire area, something we easily could have spent hours on.
Gamcehon Culture village.
From here we drove to the Jagalchi fish market in town; a market where you can buy almost any kind of fish whether you want it filleted, dried or still fresh - in the indoor part of the market all the stalls had aquariums where the fish/shellfish/other sea creature was swimming around and ready to be sold. To be honest many of the fish seemed stressed to their eyeballs being packed in the small aquariums and while very interesting I did leave with a slight sour taste in my mouth. From here we had some free time to roam the nearby food and traditional market to get lunch and if we wanted to get souvenirs.
After lunch we drove to the east side of Busan (until then we had only been on the west side) to Haeundae where we visited another temple, smaller than the previous, which overlooked the sea. It was nice, but it was "just" a temple with the view being its uniqueness. We left for our hotel to check in, and fortunately, as opposed to last night we weren't particularly isolated as there was plenty of dinner possibilities only a few minutes' walk from the hotel.
The following morning we met to leave at 0900. It turned out that a few people had been down to the beach in the late afternoon after arriving and seen the sunset - something I hadn't considered at all. Based on the photos taken it had been quite wonderful and I was a bit bummed out that I had missed that. Oh, well - instead I got to enjoy zoning out in the hotel room for a bit before dinner.
We left for Dongbaek Island, a small patch of land barely a bridge from the main land, a small island with a small circumference of app. 1km. The island is known for the APEC House - the building built for the first APEC summit in South Korea in 2005. Since then it is used to be shown for tourists and rented out for the occasional conference. A rounded building of glass and steel overlooking the sea. Continuing the walk around the island you got a nice view of Haeundae and the beach in front. There was also a statue of a mermaid though it had no connection to the Danish one in Copenhagen (it was also significantly larger).
APEC House.
We continued on to Yongdusan Park and Busan tower getting a very nice view of the city. It was quite small at the top but there were only a few others than us around so it was never crowded. With clear air (not clear sky) you could see the entire city that wasn't hidden behind hills. I must admit, based on the Seoul tower the view here was more interesting and I would have loved to see the city from the tower at night. From here we went to the train station, had lunch and at 1303 we departed on a 2½ hour train ride back to Seoul.
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