Korea 2024 - Day 7: My Birthday with Buddha

So, I decided to take it easy for my birthday.  It was already a chilly, rainy day and I was exhausted from the 14 hour tour from the previous day. I hadn't spent any quality time at a temple since I'd been here, I decided that was what I needed to do for my birthday.  I woke up after a full 8 hours of sleep and lazed around the room for a bit.  Did a bit of pre-packing as I had a 3 day trip to Busan for the day after.  I also went online to research and try to decide which temple to visit, and decided onn Jogysea Temple.  

After I was done being lazy, I got myself ready and headed out.  The subway trip was short and I found an underground mall at my destination...and made a mental bookmark to check it out on the way back.  It was raining pretty steadily when I exited the subway and the breeze started to pick up a bit too.  Still, it was a short walk and not difficult.  There were tons of shops along the way selling Buddha statues, prayer beads, insense and other religious bits and bobs.  I decided to possibly pay a bit more and buy at the temple.  Which was pretty easily recognizable from the street.

This is all set up for Buddha's birthday, which is coming up next month.  The more I saw of the preparations, the more of an almost Christmas vibe I started to get.

There were inflatable outdoor decorations everywhere.  Most of them pretty cute too.

First thing I did after coming through the gate is to stop at the shop.  Finally got a set of prayer beads at a temple!  Also some postcards, buttons, and incense.  And I got a discount for using my backpack to haul it away, instead of a bag from the shop.

Again, lanterns were everywhere.  So many, that sometimes the view of the temple itself was obscured.  Still...we have many Buddha to see...

Not long after I arrived, I figured out that it was time for the evening prayers.  First, a monk comes out and begins beating this enormous drum.  I managed to get a Short video of the drumming.  After that, he rings a huge bell to call everyone to prayer.  I decided to join in, despite not being able to take part in the prostrations.  I was still stiff and sore from all of the mountain climbing and hiking from the day before.  I did stay for about an hour, listening to the chanting and meditating.  It was a lovely experience.  

Right before the prayers, I bumped into a group from the US.  After exchanging the usual "where are you from?" questions, I was asked if I believed in Buddhism.  I found that question interesting.  Admitting that you believe in Buddhism, actually isn't asking if you are a Buddhist and it's not quite the right question.  I interpreted the question the way I wanted (Do you believe in the teachings of Buddha?) and replied to the affirmative.  This shocked them a little and it soon became clear that they were the Evangelical sort of Christians as they then purposely mentioned God a few times.  I decided not to engage, and extricated myself as prayers were beginning. 

Afterwards, I went out to put my shoes back on (they were still there despite the warnings of shoe thieves) and wandered around the outside of the temple to shoot some photos of the paintings and carvings.  

Around this time, it was beginnng to get dark and the lanterns lit up.  Another close to Christmas vibe. 

This was as good of a view of the front of the temple as I could get.  I loved the decorations, but it did block the photo opportunities.

Also, photographs were not allowed inside, so I managed to capture a couple of the huge golden Buddha statues through the windows at the front. 

The front gate was much more impressive at night.  These are the 4 Heavenly Kings, which seem to appear in front of all Buddhist temples.

And the front is even prettier at nigh with the decorations lit up.

This birth of Buddha is giving serious nativity vibes...am I right?

I then headed back to the subway and found most of the mall was shut down for the night (it was around 7pm by then) and anything open wasn't Donna friendly :).

At the subway exit at my destination, I stopped in a little pastry shop and got a strawberry tart to celebrate.  Thus concluded my 59th birthday celebrations.

Korea 2024 - Day 6: Seoraksan National Park, Nami Island, The Morning Garden of Calm

Buckle up buttercups, this is gonna be a long one!  For context, I got on the bus to start this tour at 6:20AM and got dropped off at about 8:20PM.  Yup, 14 hours of mountain climbing, hiking, and wandering about.  Needless to say, I'm actually completing this 2 days later as I ride the bullet train to Busan.  

As I said, I had to meet our bus at 6:20, two subway stops from my hotel.  I was supposed to be there 5 minutes early, but I did arrive at 6:17.  Our guide for the day, Ki, was frantically texting and calling me via WhatsApp...which is ubiquitous here, but not something I'm very good at using yet.  Especially when running through the subway.  I was the only person at my pickup, so we were easily able to stick to our itinerary and depart by 6:20.  One last stop after me to pick up a pretty good sized group of people and we were off to Seoraksan National Park.  It was a couple of hours away, so we were encouraged to sleep a bit.  

After a quick rest stop, we made it to the park.  The itinerary was to take the cable car up to Gwongeumseong Fortress.  Well, not ALL the way up as you had to climb a bunch of stairs and do a bit of mountain climbing to get to the top.  I made it most of the way up.  However, in the line for the cable car, I connected with a few women who I hung out with for the remainder of the tour, a young lady and her mother (who was my age) from Germany and another young woman from Australia who was born in the Phillipines.  Turns out, we are all K drama fans...

This is how close I got to the top.  I have tons of excuses as to why I didn't go further. The other member of our impromptu formed group who was my age did make it up much higher.  My sneakers weren't the best for climbing rock, my knee was starting to ache, I was out of breath...pick one.

However, I did get up high enough to see some really great views.  It was hard not getting photos of people and mountains though...

Still lots of great views on the stairs down too.  When we got to the cable car, the person in front of me was the last one for the previous car, so I got to be the first one in the car on the way down.  I was able to get a pretty decent video of the Cable Car Ride back down.

Also at the park is a rather enormous bronze Buddha and Sinheungsa Buddhist temple.  This is the Great Unification Buddha and apparently contains 3 pieces of the Buddha's sari and the Tripitaka.  He is 62 feet tall, including the lightning rod and nimbus.

The square in front of it is decorated by colorful paper lanterns in preparation for Buddha's birthday.

There are three different bridges leading over a river separating the statue from the temple.  Supposedly, the middle bridge is easier to cross, so we took that one.  This photo is looking toward the third one, the most difficult.  We came back over that one and it's just longer...

While crossing under the gate in front of the Temple, I looked up to see this cool dragon.  Wanted to share him with you.

We have the temple bell that announces the begining of prayer.

Here are the golden Buddhas in the temple.  This is taken from outside.  We didn't go in, but the doors were wide open so you could see the entire interior clearly. 

There were more lanterns hanging over the open area inn front of the temple too.  Korean Buddhism is so colorful.

Some of the buildings surrounding the temple with a blossomig tree...

Looking back at the easiest  bridge on the way back. There was a third hike we could have gone on, but it was hot and the sun was bright...so we opted to get drinks and sit down for a bit instead.  We met our guide, Ki, at the entrance to the park and he herded us down to the bus.  We had another couple of hours to our next destination, which included a stop at a local chicken barbeque place.  Lunch was not included in the tour and we were welcome to go wherever we wanted, but I've never been steered wrong by a tour guide.  I know that they get kickbacks for this, but they also can't risk recommending somewhere terrible.  

Lunch was fun.  Sat with my group of the 4 of us and we agreed on "not as spicy" chicken with extra rice and rice cakes.

This is what it comes out looking like...all of the ingredients raw in the pan, which goes on a gas hob in the middle of the table.  The red stuff there is the marinated chicken with the ubiquitus Korean red sauce.   I got a fun video of us cooking lunch at our table.  It was also super delicious.  The young lady from Germany fell in love with one of the side dishes - pickled daikon radish.  I like it too...it's pickled and we're German.  That's all you need to know.  I also tried the kimchi and it wasn't too horrible.  My mouth did not catch on fire.

 

Next stop:

Naminara Republic (Nami Island), which is a small island in the middle of the Han river.  It's a technically a resort, but feels like a huge city park.  There's public art, tree lined lanes, gardens, fountains...you name it.

This is your welcome when the ferry docks...

There are lots of pretty gardens and fountains.  

If you are a huge K drama fan, you will think this looks familar.  Nami Island was the setting for the drama Winter Sonata and draws a lot of K drama fans.  This is a statue of the main couple of the drama.

One of the bicycles ridden during the drama.

This bridge, apparently made an appearance.

And this is where they had their first kiss.  I've only recently gotten into Korean dramas, so I guess I need to hunt this one down now...

One of the island's infamous tree lined lanes..this one piney

This is the Elysan Waterfall/Fountain.

A pretty bridge...

There were still blossoming trees on the island!  Lots of people posing for photos with them too.

This is a special tree that I can't remember the name of...oops!   

At this point, we had circled the island (didn't take long, it's small) and it was getting close to departure time.  The four of us headed back to the ferry to meet up with the rest of our tour group.  We made it back in plenty of time for our final stop...

The Morning Garden of Calm

It's a beautiful garden and deserves more of a visit than we could dedicate to it.  We were all pretty tired at this point, but there were certain things we wanted to see.   There was plenty to see in between too...

On the way to the greenhouse containing wild flowering plants.  Apparently, azaleas are wild here and they had a lot of them.

There were many varieties you don't see a lot.  This was a favorite.

Here we have some bleeding hearts too.

I thought these lupines were lovely with the violets and purple coneflowers.

Just some nice scenery.

Here is a part of the rather extensive bonsai garden there.

More bonsai...

And the grandaddy bonsai of them all, the Millenium Juniper.  This guy is literally almost a thousand years old.  Thought that was cool...

And this is something I wanted to see in particluar.  A traditional Korean garden.  Very pretty...

And you can take pictures through this screen which makes it seem like you can see this view through a window in a traditional Korean house.

At this point we were done.  We had separated from our other group member who was my age as she decided to get some coffee at the entrance to the gardens.  We found her talking to a rather chatty older gentleman who was very entertaining.  A few minutes later I found out he was also from the Austin area (Pflugerville) and he was with his grandson (who is from Elgin).  Small world indeed.

Long trip back to the dropoff point, where I hopped on the Subway, got back to my hotel and collapsed.