Day 12 - Haeundae Ward & Haedong Yonggungsa Temple

Sunday, November 30th, 2025 

This morning we travelled to a northern suburb of Haeundae in Busan to attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints services at Haeundae Ward.

The great news was today was Haeundae Ward's Primary presentation, so we got to see all the children under 12 years old share their musical talents and testimony with us.  With permission from Bishop Kim, we gave each child a small gift from Australia, some stickers of Australian animals and a Cadbury Freddo chocolate was rather popular.

After Church we went back to the apartment to get changed into walking shoes and then we caught the bus to the northern part of Busan.

This screenshot gives you an idea of how we've been able to navigate in Korea, using Kakao Maps.  On it, I had bookmarked any location we wanted to visit or where we were staying.  Then, wherever you are, you can mark where you want to go, and it will tell you which bus or train to catch, including bus number/s and where the nearest bus stop is.  It shows how many bus stops until you have to get off and also where to then walk to your destination.  It is very impressive and better than I explained.  Here are some screenshots I took today while we were waiting for buses, and it shows a little bus on it so you know how far away it is before it reaches your bus stop.  (It also shows little subway trains moving around).  Warning: it drains your phone battery with intent so carry a spare battery pack for topups throughout the day.

We then walked around 15 minutes to the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple on the coast.

Day 11 - Busan and Haeundae Beach

Saturday, November 29th, 2025

This morning we flew from Jeju Island to Busan, a forty minute flight on Korean Airlines.

Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, and flying in this morning we were met with this vista of skyscrapers and tall apartments surrounded by mountains on the beautiful water.

We caught a limousine bus from the airport to near our apartment where we saw rows of apartments like this:

After we dropped off our bags we went exploring . . .
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Our apartment for the next three nights is on the 36th floor, and this is the view to the left.  The mountain ahead of us is covered in trees of differing autumn colours.

This is our view to the right:



Tonight we went for a walk to nearby Haeundae Beach where there were light shows on display, many celebrating Christmas.

Dinner at the local markets . . .

On the way back to our apartment we passed a BMW dealership where this "Art Car" by artist Jeff Koons is on display.  I visited a BMW Art Car exhibition in Sydney around 30 years ago and have a poster of many BMW Art Cars on my office wall at work, so it was an unexpected joy to see the latest edition here in Busan!

We walked 15,084 steps today and my knee is surviving just fine.

Day 10 - Jeju Flower Bird Park & Jeju City

Friday, November 28th, 2025

 This morning we headed east from Jeju City to visit the Jeju Flower Bird Park.  It actually has many types of animals.

This demonstration of the flying accuracy of the owl was impressive!

Then we headed towards the coast and grabbed some delicious barbequed black pork for lunch.  Jeju is famous for it's black pork and it certainly was worth tasting.

Visited the port town of Aewol and then headed east along the coast.

Everywhere you go on Jeju you see these walls made from volcanic rock.

Tonight we went to a nearby beef restaurant 

The apartment complex we're staying in has a fascinating automated underground car stacking car park:  You drive onto the platform, the door closes and your car disappears down into a maze of stacked parking slots.  I managed to take the below photo through the small window as our rental car disappeared.

Tomorrow morning we're up early to fly to Busan for three nights.

Only 6587 steps today.

Day 9 - Cheonjeyeon Falls, Jeju Automotive Museum & Jeju Chocolate Museum

Thursday, November 27th, 2025 

This morning we awoke to really strong winds and rain buffeting the hotel, strong storm cloud visible over the coastline and white peaks on the waves.  Fortunately we didn't have to check out until 11am but the storm had passed before then and we checked out to milder conditions.  The cold wind and rain did return throughout the day but without the ferocity we saw this morning.

We attempted to visit the "Jungmun Daepo Columnar Joints" but the winds were still so strong on the coast that several people told us, in the carpark, not to attempt the walk down to these volcanic rock formations that we drove to the nearby Cheonjeyeon Falls instead.

We then drove around half an hour to the Jeju Automotive & Piano Museum (what a combination).  On the way we stopped for some delicious lunch.

Then we went to visit the Jeju Chocolate Museum before heading to Jeju City where our accommodation is for the next two nights.

11,300 steps today!