Last updated Sunday June 10, 2007
On one trip to Korea we visited one of our suppliers near Pusan, which is in the very southern end of Korea, as opposed to Seoul in the north. We got up before breakfast and took a commercial flight that landed before dawn, then had a helicopter ride from the airport to the Samsung factory in Ansan. The big Korean companies are famous for building everything, and in this case they even built their own helicopter. It holds eight passengers plus pilot and copilot and makes flights every fifteen minutes from the Pusan airport to the factory complex an hour drive away. It's against the law to take pictures in or around the airplanes in Korea, so I could have gone to jail for these.
The Samsung folks were all ready with a welcome sign for us. Inside their factory we wore slippers, so I got to put my shoes in bin number one at the entrance.
Lunch was, you guessed it if you read the Seoul page, Bul Go Gi. The Ansan version had a much sweeter marinate on the beef and more tender beef. They are famous for it. We talked about opening a franchise in the US.
After lunch we made a quick visit to their famous temple. As you approach the temple you go through a series of gates that are supposed to lift the spirits. At the very least you lift your head to admire the intricate painting inside the roof. Then you pass the statues depicting love and war. That's Ed and I in front of the love statue to give you an idea of the size.
The temple proper is actually a series of small buildings, each with a special purpose. The one in the middle is special because it has artifacts of Buddha, and a burial ground behind where Buddha is buried. We each got our picture taken in front of Buddha's grave, but this is my page so you get to see my picture.
The Koreans like bridges. In the first case they built a small pond, then built a bridge over it. And no it wasn't as cold as Ken makes it seem. Along the stream running beside the temple there were bridges every 100 feet. This one caught my eye because it has no railing and there were little kids running back and forth over it. No one seemed to worry about them falling off.
This mosaic of a warrior on the end of one of temple buildings seemed interesting. Outside the main temple was this new and much larger temple building. Their graves are marked with these pillars riding on a turtle. The temple grounds were very neat, except for this spot where they were rebuilding the wall. An no it wasn't as cold as Ken makes it seem.
I thought this bell and drum tower was cool. That big round thing on the top floor is a drum and the one on the lower floor was this big bell. Unfortunately we weren't there when they banged or rang, and they were chained up so we couldn't do it for them.