South Korea part 2

Korea....

Busan was a contradiction. A busy port in the middle, container mountains visible, lorries crowding the road; a luxury beach hotel to the side - beautiful white sand (being replaced after the typhoon) with hipsters and teens hanging out in the evenings, listening to buskers and setting off fireworks, families taking "la passeggiata" after dinner; a slum to the north, since remodelled as a cultural village with art at every corner, on every wall; high end shopping (Shinsegae where r. bought her almost-free sunglasses); the amazing fish market, where we decided that all fish should be consumed having died of old age.....and taking confidence from our successful arrival, an hour on the subway followed by an hour on a local bus to the north, was another bus, that in 45 minutes took us to the temple of Bulguksa.

Lesson #1 - should you find yourself at Bulguksa, and like us, consider walking to the grotto at Seokguram, forgoing the local shuttle bus, on the basis that it's only 2.1km and the lady in the visitors  advise hut says "it's not that steep", don't. It is only 2.1km, it is often walked, but in the opposite direction. And it is fucking steep!!!! 2.1km, about 45 minutes, of working out your quads / glutes / hamstrings. We only saw 2 people walking the way we went. To their credit as they overtook us they didn't really stare. The lady did give us a half-sympathetic smile when she later passed us on her way down. All the other walkers, coming down the hill, would look away as we approached, I like to think to not let us see them laughing. But getting to the grotto was beautiful, in both sense of accomplishment and scenery. Top 10 thing to see in Korea - tick! Workout for week - tick!!
That day was perhaps the only day other than when we first arrived that the weather was cloudy. An autumn day, made sentimental by eating roast chestnuts as we waited for the bus back down. If it wasn't for the massive Korean temple in the background, and that we bought the chestnuts from an old Korean lady cooking them on the side of the road, and we paid in Korean won, we could have been in London. Perfect weather for mulled wine. How we miss having seasons.......

We departed Busan feeling like there was more to see, more to do. Maybe we will come back. Expert travellers by now, the KTX back to Seoul was easy.