Fortress HIke

 This past weekend Shaina and I decided to take a hike up to Sangdangsanseong, a fortress outside of the main city and a historical landmark of Korea. It was roughly a 5-6km hike but the views we saw on the way to the fortress as well as the fortress itself were well worth it. The pictures speak for themselves.

Korean graves.

Praying MANTIS!

Shaina's praying mantis style.... very deadly and penitant. 

Death bridge... OF DEATH!

Shaina sticks her head in a hole... surprised? Neither was I. 

Me looking just awesome. Look at that view. Gosh I'm great. 

My lion pose... very graceful Andrew. I am an idiot. 

Hey turtle. You got a thingy growin' on your back. Should probably get that thing checked.

Beopjusa Temple Stay

Bo-Kwan and our Korean-American translator. 

Our trip to Beopjusa Temple was quite the enlightening experience. Our guide for the stay was a Buddhist nun who had been with this particular temple for four years. She became a nun in 1992 and was extremely knowledgeable about the teachings of the Buddha and was happy to answer all of our questions, no matter how silly they may have been. When we first arrived we walked from the bus stop to the temple which was about a mile or so. Upon arrival we were shown our main hall and we got our first meal of the stay: lunch. Lunch was vegatarian korean style food. Rice, spicy bean sprouts, kimchi, radishes, sesame sauce, etc. We ate sitting on the floor inside a large hall. After lunch we got our room assignments and changed into our fake monk and nun clothing (pictured below). We were taken by our American-Korean guide through a tour of the temple area and he interpreted what our Korean guide said about the different structures and statues.

A massive cauldron used to cook rice for the monastery in times long past when there were upwards of 1100 monks and nuns studying at the temple. 

Carved into a rock face about 5-6 meters tall. 

That's a big Buddha. The tallest metal Buddha in Korea. 

Temple Palsangjeon. The only fully wooden temple remaining in Korea. No metal was used in it's construction. Our guide said it was put together, "like a giant puzzle."

Ssangsajaseokdeung (Two Lion Stone Lamp)is National Treasure #5.

These images seem to show some sort of hell awaiting for those who committed evil deeds. This is not so because Buddhists believe in reincarnation. These images were created when the people who studied Buddhism were the royals and those below them could only learn from pictures. If you look closely at these pictures you will see the faces of those being punished or awaiting punishment. They look funny right? That was on purpose according to our Nun-guide Bo-Kwan. There is almost a dark comedy at work in these paintings. 

After our tour of the temple our leader, Bo-Kwan, led us on a hike to the top of Mr. Songnisan which overlooks the temple complex. The hike was quite arduous and perhaps my shoes were not suited for this hike. However, shoes and all, we made it to the summit. It was one of the most spectacular and breathtaking views I have ever seen. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves. We had some time to hang around the mountain top and then we did about 20 minutes of informal silent meditation. This was probably my favorite experience of the weekend as it was so tranquil and we were among clear skies, fresh air, and beautiful landscapes.

Close to the top. 

Wow.

Yeah I was kind of tired. 

After coming back down we ate dinner and then went to evening chanting. There we saw the ritual that the monks perform every evening. They hit a drum with heads made of bull and cow skin, one on either side of the giant drum. They sound the bell. They drum on a large wooden fish. And they ring a large gong. All of these noises are made to let the beings of nature know that it is time to sleep and finish your day. After this ritual we entered the temple for the evening chant. It smelled heavily of incense and the monks chanted and bowed before the three massive Buddha statues in the temple. (I would explain what I learned about Buddhism while I was here this weekend but that could be a post itself. Please read this short explanation to a lot of the questions you may have about Buddhism.)

Monks performing the evening ritual. 

We then went back to our rooms to make paper lotus flowers. Mine was pretty shoddy. Shaina's was much better. We went to bed that night around 9pm. We awoke 6 hours later at 3am for the morning chant where the monks would perform a ritual similar to the evening chant. This ritual was only slightly different as it was meant to awaken the creatures of nature. These rituals are performed every day. After morning chanting we performed the 108 bows. Here is a link that will more deeply explain the purpose of the 108 bows. It was a very cleansing and focusing experience. At this time, about 5am, we left for a walking meditation in the forest. It was quite silent and still in the forest. You could hear the leaves falling from the trees. The lake that Shaina and I walked by was clear all the way to the bottom. The scenery was breathtaking as dawn approached. We then come back for a simple breakfast. At around 9am we had a tea ceremony with our fellow temple stayers and asked Bo-Kwan questions about Buddhism while we enjoyed fresh green tea made the traditional Korean way.

Dats a nice lotus flower.

That's some crouching tiger hidden dragon stuff right there.

Traditional TEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and deep fried rice/honey cakes.

Our photographer that followed us the whole weekend. Dude was legit. No digital cameras for this guy. 

Yeah that lens is about 100 years old. He took a  picture of our whole group with it. 

THANKS BO-KWAN!

I was a happy fake monk. 

See ya. 

This experience opened my heart and mind to Buddhism and the experience will not be soon forgotten.

Korean Broadcasting Station story about our temple stay.... Shaina and I aren't in any of the shots...  ㅠㅠ
http://news.kbs.co.kr/society/2012/10/15/2551398.html

"It's not what it seems!"

We spent the weekend in Seoul with our good friends Lee and Remy. While we were there, we spent an hour or so in the Trick Eye Museum Hongdae.

It was a neat little place full of photo opportunities. Here are the great results.