A Beautiful Temple, Mountain Makoeli, Awkward Ramyon and Jell-0 Legs.

Saturday March 21st 2009

A group of fellow EPIK teachers and I went to find a beautiful temple in the mountains. The temple, Chongyeong Sa, is about a 2 hour drive south of Taebaek in North Gyeongboksang Province. The day started out at 8:45 when the bus left for a small town by the name of Bongwha. At Bongwha the bus driver dropped us off in an alley, which after some confusion, we realized was the back entrance to the bus terminal. There was not another bus leaving for the mountain for another 3 hours, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and grab some snacks for a picnic later on. We decided to take a taxi to the mountain, which was a lot faster and cost us around 30,000 won (or ~$30 Canadian).

I had been to this temple before, last summer, on a group outing with some teachers. The first time we took a beautiful path that had you walking on the edge of the mountain face. It was really beautiful and gave teasing glimpses of the temple as you walked up the shaded path. This time we were dropped off at a different entrance which was just a very steep road - not nearly as beautiful. No matter, we climbed the road to the temple. Along the way I caught a little brown lizard. Now is the time that these tiny brown lizards come out and only for a few weeks it seems.

After a hot walk we finally made it to the temple. This temple is in one of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen. This temple has a wonderful meditation platform that has an unobstructed view of the valley. I bet that if you were allowed to go onto the platform, the end of it would be at the edge of a cliff.

After looking at the temple we decided to continue climbing up the mountain. It was a very steep climb but reasonably short, about 45 minutes. At the top of the steep steps a woman was handing out kumquats (tiny little oranges). From there, after a short snack/beer break, we continued on to the Sky Bridge. I thought that I'd be scared to cross it, but happily I felt no fear. I think that I am slowly conquering my fear of heights. After crossing the Sky Bridge we took a group picture. A Korean man was nice enough to take a picture for us, and a few other Koreans took their own picture of us too. We then decided to have our picnic and as we were doing that a couple of Japanese tourists took our picture as they went by. It's the celebrity life of Wayguks, I'm used to it now.

Finally it was time to descend. This is where things started going downhill, literally and figuratively. It was painfully steep going down. A combination of rickety stairs (completely too small for human feet) and no stairs (with dangers of slipping on loose rocks or tripping on tree roots) was our steep path going down. Halfway down, with legs already like jello jigglers we came across a traditional Korean house on the side of the mountain. There was a woman that lives inside this house. We heard her call to a group of Koreans that she was selling Makoeli, my favourite fermented drink. It was a unanimous decision among us Wayguks to sit down and partake in a drink. So, she sat us down in this makeshift tent and brought us some young garlic shoots and weird root thing in hot pepper paste. A vile concoction. Then she brought us her home-brew makoeli. It was terrible. I'm pretty sure she gave us a bad batch of makoeli. The root garlic dish was helpful in masking the bitter taste of the murderous Makoeli. When the horror finally ended we continued to make out way down the steep slopes.

At the bottom of the mountain, we wasted some time playing around in a river. There was supposed to be a waterfall there, but God hadn't turned it on yet. It was more of a water trickle. In the river we found some frogs' eggs, which is always cool to see.

After awhile we decided that it was probably time to head home. The only problem was, which way was home? After consulting a very crude map we agreed that home was "that way". So, we went that way. As we were walking in the general direction towards home, we decided to try catching a ride to Bongwha. Now mothers and overprotective brothers, don't freak out. I know that hitchhiking can be dangerous, and it is dangerous in Korea, but not in the way that you think. The dangerous part of hitchhiking in Korea is that you will probably be taken to someone's home where they will feed you before sending you on your way. Yes, there is a distinct danger of awkward conversations.

We were successfully picked up on our first try by a happy bubbly gnomish kind of man. He drove us the rest of the way down the mountain (about a five minute drive) and stopped at the main gate. He turned off the car and said something about coffee... Oh sure, let's go have some coffee with the man. No harm right? It's good to be polite. So, he led us to the little office by the gate and brought us inside. We were asked to sit down. Some fast Korean talking was going on with some definite comments about how handsome Andrew was. (Korean men really like Andrew). Anyway, without asking us if we wanted any, they proceeded to make us some ramyon. While we waited Soju was brought out. After we finished the awkward ramyon we were told that the bus would pick us up across the road in 20 minutes. We said our Kamsamnidas and left. As we were walking towards the bus the gnomish man drove past in his truck, swerving on the road as he waved goodbye.

The rest of the trip was pleasantly uneventful because I slept the whole way. Strangely enough I managed to wake up when we were entering Taebaek. I must be developing a public transit sixth sense.

This weekend was uneventful. I'm trying to fight off a cold. Next week Rob and I are going to go to a snow crab festival in Uljin... Depending on how it looks I may just try a crab. Once in my life I should try it, and this is probably the place to do it. But if they are all crammed in a cage I won't.

Click HERE to see the photos of Seongyeong Sa