Lunar New Year-Yonggungsa Temple

            After heading out the previous night we got up, ate our breakfast and set off for Yonggungsa Temple.  It's a Buddhist temple just outside of Busan and it's built right on a cliff overlooking the sea.  It's a beautiful setting and a place that Frank Lloyd Wright would appreciate.

Some statues guarding the temple entrance.

This guy is just cool looking.

Chinese Zodiac statues. For luck you put a coin on the statue. If you throw it and it sticks you'll have a great year.

This lady was collecting all the coins. Not sure if she worked for the temple or not.

I waited but she wasn't moving. Anyways, my zodiac year is the Ox.

Here's what you see after climbing down a flight of stairs past the zodiac statues.

            The video below is showing the temple and how close it is to the sea. It was a gorgeous setting for a temple.  Be sure to notice what the temple means to different people. Most are there to pray, others' are taking pictures but not praying and some are just checking their phones because they're bored.  It goes to show that people are the same the world over.
            Yonggungsa Temple

Another statue to pray at.

A dragon head guarding the temple entrance.

Inside the temple. Look at the exquisite artwork behind the Golden Buddha's.

Here's the massive Buddha statue outside the temple.

Pardon the bad lighting but that's a dragon and you can put Budda dolls underneath him in prayer.

Here's the view of the temple from the sea.

The temple guardian. He's the only cat I've seen in Korea that wasn't afraid of people. I wonder if a sincere Buddhist believes he's a monk.

The white spots on the ocean behind me were waterfowl. They'd dive and catch a fish or crab. It was cool to watch.

Everyone warming up on the rocks.

            I really enjoyed going to the temple as it's one of the few that's on the ocean in Korea.  I also enjoyed watching Korean's either treat it with reverence or as a tourist spot. I even caught some Thai tourists trying to sneak a picture of us on the rocks! So of course I waved and they laughed knowing I caught them.  It was a nice ending to our Lunar New Year trip.  The next week my brother was coming to visit me before heading to China.  More on that later.