Gyeryongsan National Park - part 2 of 3

After reaching the top of the mountain, we took a little side trek up to a scenic peak and back.  This path went alongside a fence topped with barbed wire.  On the other side of the fence was a temple and we could see quite a few people there enjoying a meal.  It was about noon at this point, time for lunch, so the Korean friend we were with convinced us to go to this temple and see if they would feed us.  If she wasn't with us, there is no way we would've even considered doing this!

The area around this pagoda was under construction.

The inside of the pagoda pictured above.

The people at the temple were extremely friendly and actually more than willing to share their food with us!  They were having Bibimbap, which is the same thing I ate at the last temple I went to but without the egg on top this time.  The food tasted so good after hiking up the mountain!

A bowl of warm rice topped with sprouts, vegetables, and red pepper paste...

..mixed all together before eating!

Dessert was oranges and rice cake coated with crushed black beans.

After eating, a monk there was gracious enough to have a tea ceremony with us. He explained that this temple was over 700 years old.  The name of it roughly translated into "hiking through the clouds to the small temple" which is fitting since the only way to get to this temple on top of the mountain is on foot or by helicopter.

This part of the hike was completely serendipitous!  We were told this single day of the year was a special tree planting day and that's why so many people were there and all the food was provided.  The one day that all of this was happening was the day we decided to hike the mountain - how amazing :)

Related Posts:

Gyeryongsan National Park - Part 1 of 3

Gyeryongsan National Park - Part 3 of 3

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"Take a chance!  All life is a chance.  The one who goes

farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."

~Dale Carnegie

Pagodas and Tea - part 4 of 4

Finally, the tea part of Pagodas and Tea!  After spending some quiet time visiting the pagodas and the graves, we spent some time talking to the monk that I'm pictured with below and then we had a tea ceremony with another monk.  The tea ceremony was a great experience.  We sat on cushions on the floor around a very small low table.  The monk was on one side of the table preparing the tea and we were on the other.  The monk spoke fairly good English and seemed to enjoy having the opportunity to practice speaking it.  We sat for a long time, drinking a lot of tea, and talking about a range of subjects.

One thing the monk went into depth about was meditation.  He suggested that I learn about meditation and practice it for at least 5 minutes a day.  He said that life is like driving a car and you often come to crossroads on the journey.  Without meditation, you can't steer and you must go straight through the crossroads, leaving things up to karma.  However with meditation, you have control and you can choose to turn the wheel at any crossroad you come to.  He said the most important things to remember about meditation are to trust your inner self, to let things go, and realize that everything is connected.  It was a very thought provoking afternoon.

It was explained to me that certain colors of ceramic pots are better for certain teas.  If you brew tea in the wrong pot, it will affect the flavor.  We had two teas during our ceremony; one brewed in the little brown pot and one brewed in the white pot.  Both pots of tea were made with loose tea leaves.  The tea in the white pot honestly tasted like chocolate - I have to find out what it is and where to buy it :)

The cups are so little - they only hold about 2 oz (1/4 cup) of liquid.

After the tea ceremony, the monk and I exchanged website information via our iPhones.  That's right, he has an iPhone :)  During tea, he showed us hundreds of pictures he has taken during his travels.  He's been to some amazing places and he's a great photographer.  You can visit his website here.

We were at the temple for so long that it was dinner time when we were about to leave.  The women in the kitchen there were nice enough to give us some traditional Korean food to eat.  Sprouts, noodles, vegetables, kimchi, rice, red pepper sauce, and an egg - everything put in one bowl and mixed together before eating.

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"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change

that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

~Miriam Beard

Pagodas and Tea - part 3 of 4

A while ago I did a post on Korean grave mounds.  Bodies are buried under a circular mound of dirt.  A single grave here, a group of graves there, but no official cemeteries.  At this temple there was an actual cemetery, at least in the sense that there was row upon row of stone monuments.  People who worshiped at this temple and died could have a monument erected in their memory.  The monuments are over five feet tall and very expensive so they are not affordable to many people.  The monument is more of a memorial than an actual final resting place for the body.  Bodies are cremated and some of the ashes are placed at the monument while the rest of the ashes are spread around elsewhere.  I was told that some of these monuments don't even contain ashes, but only the soul or spirit of the person.

There was a funeral in progress during our visit.

We stepped in, did some bows of reverence, and then quietly left.

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"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely."

~Buddha

Pagodas and Tea - part 2 of 4

After lunch at the rustic cabin restaurant, we continued on to the Korean Buddhist Temple.  The temple is an area that consists of multiple pagodas, buildings, statues, and a cemetery.  A pagoda, by definition, is a religious building of the Far East, especially a multistory Buddhist tower, erected as a memorial or a shine. There was a peaceful energy flowing through this beautiful place that I feel privileged to have gotten to experience.

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

~Buddha

A new pagoda under construction - note the two men sitting

on the rock under the tree in the front left for size comparison.

"The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows."

~Buddha

"The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness."

~Buddha

"The whole secret of existence is to have no fear."

~Buddha

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"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of that candle

will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

~Buddha

Mounds of Dirt

Walking up the hillside towards our hilltop park, we pass by some odd circular mounds of dirt.  There are no markings and no monuments, just the grass-covered domes.  They are grave sites.  Traditional Korean graves are mounds of dirt usually on rural hillsides in scenic locations.  There aren't many designated cemeteries in Korea so these random groupings of graves can be seen in many places throughout the city and countryside.

On another side of the hill, we found a lone grave site.  I assume this was either someone important or someone wealthy due to the cement wall encasing the mound and the monuments surrounding it.

While trying to find some information about Korean graves, I came across a great story written by an American who taught English in Korea.  She was invited by the family of one of her students to visit the grave site of the student's grandparents.  The author describes the etiquette of visiting Korean graves, most of which she learned by doing the wrong things.

http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/wander-tales/asia/korean-grave-etiquette/

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"He spoke well who said that graves are the footprints of angels."

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow