Buddhist Temple and the UN Memorial Cemetery

My view of the Japan Sea at breakfast this morning.

Buddhist Temple 

Today was the first time in my life where I have been absolutely and completely breath taken by a place. We were picked up at our hotel by a guide at 11:00am and headed to a Buddhist temple here in Busan. What makes this temple unique is that it is built on a cliff overlooking the ocean whereas normal Buddhist temples are built in the mountains. With Buddha's birthday coming up, there were lanterns hung everywhere, and there were people working to hang the lanterns as well.

Our tour guide explained to us the purposes of each room in the temple, and we walked around the temple for about an hour and a half. The pictures don't do the beauty of the temple justice -- you all will have to come here and see it for yourselves!

U.N. Memorial Cemetery

My grandfather never talks about his service in the army, and I was unaware that he served in the U.N. Armed Forces in Korea during the Korean War. He has been to Busan, Seoul, and I'm sure other parts of the country as well. Going to the U.N. Memorial Cemetery gave me a clearer understanding of the Korean War. The U.N. Memorial Cemetery has dedications to the fallen soldiers of Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Canada, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Greece, Thailand, France, Columbia, Belgium, South Africa, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. 

When we went into the memorabilia building at the cemetery, the little old Korean men there were so sweet and when they found out that my grandfather had served time in Korea, they lit up and said to thank him for his service and for protecting their country. They had also fought in the Korean War, and it was nice to talk to them because they were so excited to tell us anything we wanted to know. 

After about an hour and a half at the cemetery, we headed back to the hotel for some lunch at a Irish pub in our hotel -- O'Kims -- HA! My ruben hit the spot!

That's all for now! I am off to go with my parents to walk along the water and then through a nearby park!