Our day in Pusan was very interesting, if quite short. We had another early morning arrival on Tuesday, complete with a beautiful sunrise. The weather was cool and overcast, so in other words, perfect! No dramatics involved with our arrival this time. Our bus was so pretty with lovely blue, gold and white seat covers, gold tassels, and rainbow coloured interior lights. Pusan was a little overwhelming at first sight – so many skyscrapers and apartment complexes everywhere. We've spent so much time in smaller cities and tropical locations that it felt odd to be in a real city again. Spring hasn't quite arrived in Pusan yet, so aside from a few magnolia trees and the odd cherry blossom there was a definite wintery feel all around. Our first stop was at Hae Dong Yong Gung Temple, and it was truly spectacular. After passing through a little market area we reached an avenue lined with statues representing the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Just beyond that was a lovely stone pagoda. Once we had passed the pagoda we went through a golden archway and walked down the first section of stairs, past a little Buddha statue and through a tunnel – and on the other side of the tunnel it was just like something out of a movie. Looking through the trees we could see the Temple in the distance, and just above it on top of the hill was a beautiful statue. It was so surreal, beautiful and peaceful – the only real sound was of the waves crashing onto the rocks below and the monks chanting in the distance. We made our way down the rest of the 108 steps and across a stone bridge to the Temple area. There were all kinds of statues around, including a large Golden Buddha next to the Temple. We climbed up a rocky staircase to the statue we had glimpsed from the other side and the view was incredible down over the entire area. The larger statue was surrounded by smaller figures perched on the rocks behind. After surviving the climb back down the very uneven staircase, we went inside the Temple – it was so colourful inside, and there were candles everywhere. I could have just stayed there all day, but eventually it was time to leave, so we climbed back up to the real world and rejoined the bus. Our next stop was at a viewpoint down on the waterfront where we could see the 4.5 mile long suspension bridge that we had crossed earlier. Lined up along sea wall there were dozens of fishermen trying their luck, despite the clearly posted “No Fishing” sign! I'm not sure that I would have wanted to eat anything caught that close to the many hotels in the area, but that's just me! Our final stop was at the International Market where we were set loose for about an hour to shop. It consisted of a maze of narrow streets lined with small shops selling everything from socks to souvenirs! Down the middle of one street there was a row of open air eateries where people could just pull up a plastic stool, point to the food they wanted and enjoy their lunch. I'll confess that my stomach wasn't quite up to the smell of fish at that hour of the day! We didn't have nearly enough time to see all of the interesting sights and explore the entire area, so I guess this is yet another place we will have to return to! Finally we were hustled back to the ship for an early afternoon departure – it's a shame we didn't have longer than five hours in Korea.