The Ancient Shilla Capital



Entrance to the inn



John in our room

John and I are staying at a traditional inn in the historic city of Kyeongju. It reminds me of some of the nicer inns I stayed in 30 years ago except this one has flush toilets!  





We went to see a famous temple called Bulguksa. It was built in the 9th century. I visited it the last time I was here and at that time it had just been restored. The paint has faded now; I think it is time for another restoration. It makes me feel old. I did the bows I learned at the temple--a bow from the waist and then three bows with your head on the floor and another bow from the waist. The temple lady gave me a stick of inscense to place in front of the Buddha, so I must have done the bows right.

We hiked up to a grotto called Seokguram that has a famous Buddha statute. It was a long hike in the rain, but the cuckoos were calling (the birds that is) and we saw numerous interesting frogs.  At the top John got the chance to ring a Buddhist bell. The bell makes a wonderful deep sound that echos through the mountain. We heard it serveral times during our hike.
click to hear bell
 

John rings the bell



One of the stranger things we encountered on the hike was an exercise area. There were various things set up for situps and the usual kinds of exercise, but included in the equipment were three heavy duty hula hoops. What a great idea!

On the hike was an exercise area including a hula hoop.

John Becomes a Monk

Why have I not been blogging your ask?  Well I have become a monk (temporarily). For the purpose of this blog I will compress two days (an afternoon and a morning) into one.  So here goes. 

We awoke to the sounds of wooden bells (not really a bell, more of a clopping thingy) at 4 o'clock.  After groggily slipping on the incredibly baggy pants they supplied us and a tee shirt we began our ascent to the top of the mountain.  After reaching the top we entered a temple and Chanting began.  They distributed chanting books so even we foreigners could participate.   My inability to quickly read the Korean alphabet severly limited my participation in this activity, which appear to upset the monk standing next to me.  After Chanting for a while, we went outside to do meditation.  We began with sitting meditation which is basically your stereotypical meditation.  The sun was justing beginning to rise over the mountains as we began.  It was a lovely scene which I was unfortunately unable to enjoy.  During meditation you are suppose to close your eyes which of course limits your ability to enjoy the beauty around you.  I just didn't have the guts to keep them open and risk the monks wrath.  The second issue I experienced with meditation, at least outdoors, is that apparently the flys also enjoy the zen activity and crawl all over your arms and face, which certainly detracted from the experience.  I wonder if killing flys isn't allowed during meditation, because I certainly broke that rule.  We then began breakfast which was a lovely Korean standard.  We had rice (what a surprise!), kimchi, and other greens.  If I haven't written about kimchi (mispelled?) then I think I am obligated to do so now.  Kimchi is basically pickled cabbage flavored with many exotic spices.  Awful.  I keep forcing myself to eat it because it is the MAIN traditional dish of Korea but it is absoluely horrid.  Anyway, onward.  We sat at the inofficial foreigners table with our two german pals and the Ohio sisters (I never did learn any of their real names) and began our meal as we talked of the upcoming day.  After our pleasent breakfast we were allowed an hour of free time.  After wasting away this precious hour we all went to Sunmodo class.  I learned some kicks and many flexibility exercises.  We meditated briefly and then continued.  After class we got to do our 108 bows.  A bow consists of clasping one's hands, lowering yourself to your knees, placing your forehead between your hands, gesturing, and rising back up.  The whole process was timed to a recording of a chant which took about 45 boring minutes.  We witnessed a demonstration of Sunmodo which honestly wasn't that terrific.  It was neat to see what we were learning being done by professionals, but other than that it wasn't terribly entertaining.  We had a few hours of free time afterwards which I used to get some much needed rest.  Our second Sunmodo session began and we learned much of the same as the first, although we did learn a type of dance which was pretty interesting.  Afterwards we returned to bed, and that is a day of a monk in training.

John and I Become Monks

We couldn't post a blog yesterday because John and I were communing with the universe at a Buddhist temple in the mountains. The temple is unusual because it uses the practice of martial arts as a way to meditate.We arrived in the afternoon and were given our baggy monk pants and a vest to wear. Our room was quite nice considering it was a temple. There was no furniture just blankets to sleep on.

We had our first meal and it was....well... monk food. The rule was that you had to eat everything you took on your plate or there would be consequences. It was all vegan food so we figured how bad could it be.



Martial arts room before class



We went to our first martial arts (called Sunmodo) I got nervous when the master picked up a big stick and started hitting his palm with it. I had no idea how hard it would be. It was about 80 degrees with 100% humidity. I didn't know a person could sweat that much and still survive. It was like hot yoga but in extremes. I was the only one over 30 in the class. We collapsed into bed at 9:45.



Demonstration of how it should be done



The next morning we were woken up by a wooden bell at 4 am. We walked up to the temple on the top of the mountain and did chanting (in Korean) for half an hour. Then we went outside and meditated as the sun rose over the mountains. The meditation ended with a walking meditation where we followed the master in a line for a slow half hour walk.

The morning class was a little easier than the night class. It was a kind of warrior yoga. Not at all like my yoga classes with little old ladies in Foster.

We left in the afternoon to return to civilization--exhausted but spiritually renewed. (or maybe just exhausted).

Last day in the mountains

You can see how steep it was. Sorry I couldn't turn picture.

We spent the 4th of July crossing raging mountain streams and clammering up the mountainside. (I'm beginning to sound like John.) We started around 7:30am and it was a perfect day. We hiked along a river and then up a cliff to a cave high in the mountain.  It was incredibly steep but there were ladders. It was worth the pain because from the top we could see waterfalls, mountain peaks, and the river. 

We went to the beach briefly. John went into the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Korean beaches are a little strange because few people wear bathing suits. No, they aren't naked; they were shorts and T-shirts. No one sunbathes and they hid under umbrellas. I think most people can't swim because they rent floats and stay on them.

We had a nice bus trip. I sprang for the first class bus even though it was a dollar more. It has only three seats across, a TV, and double the leg room. It stopped at one rest area. The rest area was much better than in the old days. It used to be that the food choice was soy hamburger or soy hotdog. Now there are many choices. And the toilets are sit down toilets not squat ones!

Three other things I noticed that are different. No one carries their babies on their backs any more; no one squats while waiting for the bus; no one spits on the streets any more. Can you believe it?

And then it rained

It poured today. The Korean word for rain is pee. It's one of those words you remember.  We decided to go hiking anyway. It was go hiking in the rain or sit on the beach in the rain. The hike was not bad. I have never hiked carrying an umbrella before but it works.

We climbed up to Ulsan rock. It's a rock that rocks. John got help from a Korean gentleman in the art of rock rocking. The rock was carved with Chinese characters giving instructions as to how to rock it.

Next to the rock ws a cave that belonged to a hermit. As you can see from the picture, he was kind of a flashy hermit.

Hiking in Korea is very civilized. There are outdoor restaurants along the trails, and most people dress like an ad for EMS. Tomorrow will be our last day at the park and it's supposed to be sunny.

John Goes to Soraksan National Park

After a long bus trip through the mountains of Northern South Korea we finally arrived at the spectacular Soraksan National Park.  The mountains were stunning.  We first visited Biryong Falls .  The hike consisted

of trekking through a valley until you reached a series of gushing waterfalls and eventually Biryong Falls.



One of the waterfalls leading up to Biyong.



Biyong Falls in all its glory



Two of the minor waterfalls



Mom standing under a tree.

The mountains in all their glory.

After the falls we decided to take the cable car up to the top of  .  The ride up was crowded and we had to wait, but it was well worth it.  The view was pretty spectacular immediately exiting the cable car, but the higher you climbed, the more astonishing it became.  Upon finally arriving at the top, I could hardly believe my eyes.  It was the most fantastic landscape I had ever seen.  I couldn't possibly explain it in words, and the pictures do it absolutely no justice.  Look it up on google for more photos.

Soraksan National Park

We managed to navigate through the Seoul subway to the bus station. We actually got on the right bus to Sokcho but it meant having an anxious bus driver directing us through ten parked bus to the one we want. Then, we even managed to take the city bus in Sokcho and get off at the right place. It was nothing less than miraculous.

The bus ride to Sokcho was spectacular. The mountains aren't that high but they are fantastically shaped like something from a movie. It's a surprise for me because when I was here before, the mountains looked like the opening scene in M.A.S.H. beautiful but bare of trees.  The government had started a reforestation program and the results are wonderful. The mountains are covered with 20- to 30-year-old trees.A beautiful landscape is even more lovely.

After checking in at the youth hostel, we headed to the park to hike. The first hike was to a series of waterfalls. John took some great pictures.  Then we took the wimpy way to the top of one of the mountains--a cable car. We could see all the way to the Pacific Ocean. I'm not a good enough writer to describe it but the photos will give you some idea. I can't believe I never made it here when I lived in Korea.

The only down side to the day was the humidity. I didn't know it was possible to sweat like this. At the end of the hike I looked like I had been swimming. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more comfortable for hiking.