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