Haedong Yonggungsa - Busan

This temple is a good bit out from the rest of the city. There's quite a lot going on here and , like a great many many places in Korea, was burned down by the Japanese at one stage or another. In this case, it was during the 16th Century (?) and it was rebuilt during the 1930s.

No, not by the Nazis (Le sigh)

Naturally, we have some Zodiac animals doing their thing.
Can't have a temple without some representation.
Apparantly this is the only temple in Korea with the animals sculpted.

The temple was extremely crowded and the paths narrow so there was a lot I couldn't take pictures with. It didn't help that I was standing on a bridge either or relying on my camera phone.

Above is Samcheongji. (Three blue ponds......there were originally three) People toss money into the ponds aiming for the bowls. It's meant to be great luck if you can toss it into the bowl held by the statue. There were lots of people trying their luck here.

 

 

In general, this temple has a beautiful setting. What surprised me was how close it was to the shore.



While swimming is probably ill-advised you can certainly walk down the rocks to the water easy enough. The weather was pleasant for January but I imagine it's a lot less welcoming in the rain.