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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Jagalchi Market, Bulguksa temple, and Seokguram grotto

Finally, blogger is working again and I can tell you all about last weekend. Saturday morning we were pretty hung over from saying good-bye to Wayne so we woke up late. We decided something easy was a good idea. So we took the bus and the metro to Jagalchi market. (This took about 1.5 hours from Wollae) Jagalchi market is a huge fish market in downtown Busan. It's like a big festival down there, next to all the creepy crawlies. Luckily, even when hung over I have a particularly strong stomach.



I'll take him him and him....


He's a feisty octopus, he'll probably taste great!


Meh, those don't look too great, put em back!


Crabs!


Wiggly


Live squid. (According to Doug, squid is in everything in Korea, don't believe it!)

We didn't buy any fish that day, not only do we not know how to prepare it, we had a 1.5 hour ride back to be carrying around dead fish. We looked around the market some more and walked over to Nampo market area where we found a Pizza Hut to eat dinner at (OMG!! Cheese!!!), too bad we practically had to sell our unborn children to buy said Pizza. Real american food is super expensive here. If you're on a budget when you come to Korea, stick to Korean food.

I spotted this awesomeness while we were shopping through street venders. I need to figure out how much it is going to cost to mail packages back to the US. If it's not too bad, all my friends having baby's are going to get one of these adorable things for their future darling children.


Don't you want an adorable Korean outfit for your baby?!

Ok, back on topic. Sunday we went to Bulguksa temple, and shrine. It was VERY crowded (due to Buddha's birthday being on Tuesday, I assume).


And now, my coup de gras. My video of the Seokguram grotto. Here's what the sign said outside the grotto:
"The Seokguram grotto is not only known as one of the finest masterpiece of Korean art, but is also recognized the world over as a cultural treasure that is the quintessence of Buddhist art works. It is our duty to make every effort to preserve this great cultural property so that it will remain a historic site for the benefit of generations to come.
The fact that the inside has been open to the public without any restriction has brought about great difficulties in preserving the grotto.
A glass wall has been set up in front of it so that the inner portion may be outside. It would be highly appreciated therefore if you would kindly view the grotto without touching the glass."

There were signs that said No Cameras, so I used video instead. But I had to be subtle because as soon as the guard saw a camera he started shouting "No Camera, No Camera!" I was filming, but there was a Korean guy behind me flashing away with his camera. Finally, the guard realized it was a Korean taking pictures, not those crazy Me-gooks, and he started yelling in Korean instead. Fooled him good!!
There's a gem in the middle of Buddha's forehead that you can't see in the video.

Mwhahaha! Till next time!

1 comment:

  1. That's impressive that all of the fishies there were all alive yet. Usually you see everything dead on ice. I guess if you would have kept it alive you could have brought something back. It has to be fresh to serve raw.

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