Happy New Year

Today was the Lunar New Year. That meant yet another Monday with no work for me. We left the apartment a bit before 10 am. Our neighbor's door was open and we got a good look inside while we waited for the elevator. They had made a little alter, lit some incense, and were taking turns bowing.

Once we made it out to the street, we heard the sweet sounds of silence. There were almost no cars or people out. I worried that the buses would not be running also. We went to the bus stop and soon boarded our bus. It was nice and empty. We made good time across town, switched to the subway for a while, and then took another bus out to YoungDo Island. YoungDo Island divides the big Busan harbor in two. It has a couple of big hills on it and some major ship building companies. We took the bus almost to the end and then started walking.

We strolled along the small road, past some view points and temples, before eventually coming to the end of the island. At the end are the Taejondae Cliffs. The cliffs are nice and tall and fun to look at. They rocks are made up of interesting patterns as well. In the picture below, you can see a small portion of the rocks. Behind the cliffs, many ships drop anchor and wait.


After some more walking, we made it back to the bus stop and headed home. I guess everyone was ready to go out and celebrate the new year, because the traffic was its usual mess. Many people were out and about, and some of them were wearing the traditional Korean robes, called hanbok. The women's version has a big petticoat, while the men's version has a very tall hat.

We finished off our new year's day with another visit to our local public bath. It was pretty empty compared to last night.