Seoul Trip II

Last week we had Thursday and Friday off, so after a day of recovery from teaching English Camp, we went to Seoul on Friday for 3 days of recovery from living in small town Korea for months on end.


One of the coolest things we did was visiting Inwangsan - a shamanistic temple right in the middle of the city. The indigenous religion here, as I understand it, weaves together Buddhism, Shammanism, and ancestor-worship. I love the religion-customized for a people and place, and it creates unique sights like this temple where there are Buddhas carved into rock faces, families making offerings to ancestors and hundreds of scattered shrines around the grounds.


The pidgins at this temple were well fed with white rice, and their population reflected it!


Here are a few of them taking flight above the temple and above the city. Magical place for a temple, above and amidst the third largest city in the world.


These naturally formed shapes in this rock are supposed to resemble human figures. It was at least a bit spooky, and a major worship site immediately in front of the rocks.


In some cultures, you might think, "Weird, that a fifty-year-old woman is hula hooping in a shamanistic temple." But in Korea those are just as natural together as kimchi and chocolate.


The two of us, happy to be out hiking on a trip to a city.


A Buddha carving in a rock wall.



Of course, any trip to a major city is as much about food for me as anything else, and this trip was no exception. We stumbled upon this burrito shop totally by chance - the only authentic burrito I've had in Korea, and for like 8,000 won (US$6) with guacamole! To get there exit subway line 1 at Jonggak, exit 6 and go strait until you find Tomatillo, next to an Au Bon Pain.


Later we climbed Mt. Namsan, which is also right in the middle of Seoul and also provided some great views.


Kids chasing birds - cute in any culture.


I got some cotton candy for all the hiking...


...but decided to skip the spawn potage dinner on offer in Insadong.

Taebaeksan Trip

We just had a 4-day weekend for Cheosok, so we decided to go up to Taebaek, the center of coal mining in South Korea, for a little climbing and relaxing with our friends Kate and Chad. Taebaeksan is one of the holiest mountains in Korea. Something having to do with the Dangun Wanggeom - the founder of Korea, whom we celebrate with the national holiday Gaecheonjeol (ie. day off work) October 3. So atop each of the mastiff's peaks there are alters built to Dangun Wanggeom. Exercise, views, friends and culture -- who could ask for more?



Downtown Taebaek - the most cosmopolitan environment we've seen in a while!


Evidence of the cosmopolitan nature of Taebaek!


Walking around Taebaek we found a bookstore with some western literature, perhaps turned pornographic?


We had dinner at a little ajuma's place. Clockwise from the top left: naeng kong guksu (cold, soymilk noodle soup... probably the least appealing vegetarian dish I've found in Korea), naeng guksu (cold noodle soup, only marginally better than the soymilk version), bibim naeng guksu (mixed vegetable noodle soup - that red paste made it less bland than the other two soups at the table, and the hot broth next to it made it warm. I wouldn't seek it out again, but definitely better than the other two), and bibimbap (mixed vegetables and rice, the old standby). Check out the size of the chunks of radish kimchi in front of my bowl! No one was crazy enough to try to put one of those down. Besides Melanie's bibimbap, no body ate much of their dinner, so Kate, Chad and I went out for pizza a couple hours later. I guess we can't claim to have it too hard here if we can always go get a pizza! ;^>


We stayed in a "love motel", a pretty modest one as these things go. It was nice, the elevator was trippy though!


This beautiful lonely red tree greeted us as we started our ascent of Taebaek Mountain (Taebaeksan).


About an hour into the hike we came upon this beautiful temple hidden in the woods.


Us inside a tree!


The top of one of the several peaks we summitted.


An airfield just off to the side of the mountain, with what seems to be a dirt runway and landing strip. Note to self: don't fly into Taebaek!


An alter atop another peak.


Us just beyond the previous alter.


At the end of the hike we found this lake, which is the shape of the Korean Peninsula, and has labels for each of the major cities, and Taebaek.

So that was long weekend number one. The next is only two weeks away, at which point we'll have been paid and will be running off to Seoul for chickpeas, Mexican food and exotic spices, like cinnamon.

Naksan Temple

During our orientation in Yang Yang, Gangwon-do a couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to visit Naksansa (sa = temple). Much of the temple burned several years ago, but the hillsides are reforesting nicely, and we saw restoration of what looked like the last building or two to be repaired while we were there. It's a beautiful temple on a hill over the ocean, and it has what may be the largest statue of Gwaneum (Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion) in East Asia.


Temples are typically built on hills here, so they collect the spring water into beautiful sinks from which the visitors can drink.



The coast of Gangwondo at Naksan, Korea.



Late blooming wildflowers (this was the last days of August).

An algae covered pond and temple structure. Notice the hollowed log behind the small statue, flowing spring water into the pond.

Kyle got into the spring water drinking, following the little girl's lead.

After much ascending we came to the giant Guan Yin statue.

It must have been 50 feet tall, and appeared to be in the sky, somehow seperate from us on the ground.

On our way out: myself, Melanie, Kim and Kyle.