#jikjisa

#throwback #southkorea #jikjisa #hikingmonk on the way to #myeongjeokam #hermitage #10may2017 #gimcheon #azygohJapan2017 #azygohexplorations (at 김천 직지사)

#outside of my #hanokroom #jikjisa #templestay #gimcheon #southkorea #08may2017 #azygohexplorations #azygohJapan2017 (at 김천 직지사)

South Korea was a treat. The country is so westernized and practically everyone drives Hyundai’s. The only strange thing is that hardly anyone speaks English. Of all the countries we went to, Korea was the most difficult to communicate in. We started in Seoul, the capital has ocer 26 million but you would never know it because it is so spread out and has no formal downtown like North American cities. We first visited the Korean war memorial. It showed all the wars that have happened since 100 AD including the Korean war. Outside they had awesome airplanes including a B52 Bomber. That thing was huge. Then we went to Gyeongbokgung palace. It was built in 1395 by the Joseung dynasty. It has been rebuilt twice. Once due to a fire and once after Japan’s occupation during WW2 because they destroyed most of it. It doesn’t look too exciting but the paint job on it is so intricate. After we went to the Korean Folk Museum and saw a show put on by the folk society. It had traditional singing and dancing and was really well done. Then we went to Gimcheon by train and did a temple stay. We stayed in Jikjisa temple. It’s 1600 years old and holds many national treasures. The inside of the main temple has over 1000 Buddha statues all with different faces. They traditionally don’t sleep on beds in Korea, they have an ondal system with is basically a small mat on a heated floor. All the beds in Korea were super firm. We had to wear temple clothing, which was super comfy and ate vegetarian food. We got to have tea with a Buddhist nun who also taught us about meditation and how to pray properly in the temple. She also took us on a nature hike and showed us some stretches. She was quite enamoured with Tyler’s beard. I don’t think she had ever seen one in real life before. There was another small group on the temple stay with us and they were all engineer’s for Hyundai. Tyler thanked them for their well made vehicles. After the temple stay, we took our first bullet train ans went to the town of Gyeongju. The town is famous for the tombs of old kings. Most of the tombs just looked like large perfect small hills in the ground. It also had remnants of an old palace that had since been destroyed right next to a lovely lili pond. After, we went to Busan, which is the second largest city in Korea. It has over 13 million in the metropolitan area. We were hoping to get some beach time in but the weather was cold and rainy. We visited the UN's Korean war memorial. We saw the graves of Canadians who lost their lices during the war, along with a memorial the Canadians donated. The cemetery was immaculate and you could not step on the grass. We also went to Haedong Yonggungsa temple. It is situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean. He main attraction is a large smiling golden Buddha. The grounds around the temple are also beautiful. Eaten in Korea prooved to be somewhat difficult because of the language barrier. I didn't know what things were half the time so I think I ate spicy spork and rice for most of my meals. It was good but no matter what we ate it all tasted like kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage). Koreans eat it with every meal including breakfast. Korea was a nice end to out Asian adventure. We are both ready to come back to North America.

직지사, 김천, 대한민국, Jikjisa, Kimcheon, South Korea #Koreasouth#Jikjisa#temple