It is still SO hot. Apparently Korea is having an energy crisis and public buildings aren't allowed air conditioning!! Luckily I had a/c at school and now am currently on a staycation so I can crank it at home. I honestly don't know how Koreans (and Chinese and Japanese) have survived the climate here in North Asia. It's so horrifying.
ANYWAYS as I said this week I have no school, yahoo, so I have been relaxing and preparing for my trip next week. Yesterday, I went to Busan with my friend Emily. We went to Haedong Yongungsa Temple, which is a lovely temple by the ocean. I was surprised, as I always am, but the massive amount of Koreans sightseeing there. It was hot, but the ocean breeze helped and it was very beautiful. When my parents come to visit I plan on bringing them here so it was nice to do a practice run to figure out the bus route.
Unrelated, but the other day Adri and I saw a woman reaching over the table to pat makeup on to her boyfriend's face.
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| HUGE jellyfish!! |
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| Dragon |
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| Look closely, there are baby buddhas on his face. |
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| There were little baby buddhas hidden around all over the temple. They were a little cute, but also creepy like cherubs. |
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| Dragons breathing on baby Buddha I think. |
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| Not really supposed to take pictures of the insides of temples, but there were no camera banning signs here. These lanterns are bought by patrons of the temple for good luck, kind of like alms? Red is for living people, white ones for the dead. |
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| If you look closely you will see hidden Buddha statues and babies. |
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After admiring the temple, we went to Haeundae. I believe this is Korea's busiest beach. I've been a few times and love it, but this was my first time going in the summer. I was completely unprepared for how crowded it would be. Honestly we North Americans don't truly know the meaning of crowded. The beach was an ocean of umbrellas, you could barely see sand. The water was a big wriggling mass of humans bouncing and bobbing against each other. A little overwhelmed, we just sat under an edge umbrella (still unsure if I was supposed to pay for it) and had a little picnic and enjoyed people watching. Some people would occasionally walk by selling chicken and beer. These poor people looked so horrifyingly hot and sweaty (they obviously were fully clothed since tanning is so disliked here). I can't imagine how their chicken wasn't rotting!
Busan is Korea's second biggest city and Haeundae is quite hip. This means there were tons of modern young Koreans with tattoos and bikinis. It's always quite a surprise from Gyeongju where people literally swim fully clothed. My favourite was a couple with matching tattoos showing "Mini" and "Miki" mouse.
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