Busan's Famous Water Temple

This is my second time traveling to Haedong Yonggoongsa Temple~

I'm super excited to share this location with you all because it's an absolutely picturesque spot with some real history. It's also super easy to get to from Haeundae, Busan.

We started our day with fresh hotteok! Hotteok ( 호떡) is one of Busan's most notorious foods and found all over the city~

They are little pancake-like treats filled with brown sugar and seeds.

These hotteok were 1,000 KRW or about $1 USD.

We devoured a few for breakfast, along with some fishcakes, and began wandering the temple grounds.

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Walking down to the water temple, you'll be greeted by the 12 Chinese zodiac figures. With animal heads and human bodies, they seem to guard the temple and offer good fortune to visitors.

My sign is the pig ~ Akane's is the rooster

We walked down the crowded stairs to the water temple and took soo many pictures.

Perfect weather meant lots and lots of other tourists

and the temple quickly became packed.

It would be hard for me to share this temple and neglect to also share its rich history~

Built in 1376, during the Goryeo Dynasty, the temple was originally named Bomun Temple (보문사) by a Buddhist master and royal consultant named Naong HyeGeun. According to theculturetrip.com, a drought devastated what is now present-day Korea, resulting in a loss of crops and famine, and people began to reject Buddhism.

The legend goes that a sea god appeared to Naong in a dream, telling him to build a temple and pray, so that people might live happily and turn back to Buddhism. As Naong began searching for this spot, he came across the location of present-day Yonggoongsa. "He instantly recognized that the site was auspicious according to the principles of pungsu-jiri-seol, being situated between a mountain and the sea." The site soon became a divine place of worship for many.

Haedong Yonggoongsa is one of the biggest Buddhist temples in Korea. This, and it's location on the water, make the temple incredibly famous. Sadly, the original temple was destroyed during the Japanese invasion, but was carefully rebuilt in the 1930s by UnGang and fellow monks.

It's easy to fall in love with the intricate roof designs you see on the traditional hanok-style temple structures. They're just so colorful and detailed!

More recently in 1974, the temple's head-monk named JeongAm, had a vision while completing his 100 days of intense prayer. The Goddess of Mercy, whom Bomun Temple was originally named after, appeared to JeongAm in this vision riding on the back of a dragon. It was after this divine experience that the temple's name was fully realized, and JeongAm renamed the temple Haedong Yonggoongsa (해동용궁사) which means Korean Dragon Palace Temple.

To get to the temple from Haeundae, just hop on the 100 bus going East.

There are also plenty of directions at the bus stops and on the bus in English.

Get off at 용궁사국립수산과학원 (16003) or yonggoongsa-gookrip-sangwa-hagwon.

Then, you can follow all the other temple-goers up to the temple