Busan--the city of Kari's birth

This sign greeted us at the hotel in Sorak.

We just left the beautiful area of Sorak Mountain--my personal favorite. It's so relaxing there--a little boring for the kids. The teens found the casino and had a ball there. Sadly, Koreans are not allowed to gamble so the sole purpose of the casino is for foreigners.

I took this picture for Mike, the GPS the
bus driver is using shows a red bus rather than
a car!! Hope it shows up for you.

Kari and I at the entrance to Sorak National Park

We rode the cable cars part way up the mountain. From there we could see the largest Buddha statue I have ever seen! It really is cool looking. We have some great pictures both from the cable cars and up close.

The view of the buddha from the cable cars.
The buddha up close and personal!!

While we were in Sorak we went down to the little town of Socho and Kari bought new glasses. They were only $40 and Kari is so excited because they are the first pair of glasses that ever fit her nose properly.

A menu from the Lotteria in Socho where
we ate lunch. Fast food menus that look
surprisingly similar!

Kari walking around the optometrist
shop making sure the prescription feel right.
I think she's styling!

Her new specs!

These two pictures are from
our balcony in Sorak. We woke up to
this view this morning.

We are now in Busan (formerly known as Pusan) where Kari was born. When the Olympics were here in 1988, there was a big push to change much of the pronunciation. So P's became B's...G's and K's were switched...so were T's and D's.
Very confusing!!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to go to the Pusan Office of Holt tomorrow. That is where Kari's intake happened. If there was ever any activity from her birth family, this is where we would find that out. While I don't hold out much hope in finding activity--it will be interesting to see where she was brought to be relinquished.

Busan is in the southern most tip of the peninsula--a port city. Our hotel is on Hyundae Beach--similar to the beaches in Florida, yet very different. We are on the 13th floor of the Novotel Ambassador Hotel. We don't really have an ocean view--but you can see a little slice of it!

Well, more later! We have internet for the next 22 hours!!
Peg