On My Way To Korea

Check out day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 of my trip with my parents!

In the morning we headed out to the Korean Folk Village located out in Suwon.  We went through some old houses and various village locations before heading to the performance area.  We got to see a traditional farmers dance, tightrope walker, horse riders, and a marriage ceremony.  We had to book it out of there after all that though in order to go back to Seoul.  I brought my parents to a PC Bang where I was able to show them the episode of Misuda (new Saturday night version, #14) I appeared on.

We woke up early the next day and took a limousine bus to the airport where my parents ended the trip.  It was a really great trip which I will always cherish~

Check out day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 of my trip with my parents!

After waking up at 4 AM we headed over to the temple where we would meditate and perform the 108 bows. We also did a lighter Seonmudo session which is meant more to wake up and get the body ready for the day. One of the things that struck me the most during this whole experience was just how much Buddhism doesn’t seem like a religion at all. Yes, you have Buddha, the chants, etc., but really everything is extremely obviously 100% geared towards improving oneself. As an Atheist who used to be a Christian, I gained a much bigger respect for Buddhism through doing this templestay experience and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a little more about Buddhism and live like a monk for a day. On our way out we stopped by the tea house and got some delicious ginseng tea and green tea.

On our way to Gyeongju, we decided to go to Bulguksa Temple which turned out to be a nice detour. We stuck around for an hour or so to enjoy the sights. After taking the train back to Seoul we found a little motel next to Seoul Station (not easy, a nice Korean man helped me find a good and cheap place. Thanks random awesome dude!).

Check out day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 of my trip with my parents!

After waking up we checked out of our hotel and headed towards the tombs. Our whole tour of Gwangju was done on foot. It’s not a huge city so it’s very doable. Bikes would also be a great help. There was one which you could go in and see how they were built. Since it was way freakin’ hot we got some drinks and tried the local specialties of Gyeongju and Chobbori bread. I personally liked Chobbori bread the best and would love to buy more if I can get my hands on it. Anyways, we headed south towards a famous observatory which has some beautiful scenery around it. Continuing on we visited by favorite place in Gyeongju, Anapji pond. It’s a site where a palace was built a long time ago, with only three re-built buildings next to a pond. Before heading to the Gyeongju museum we passed some beautiful locus flowers which I had to get pictures of.

After running through the museum very quickly we took a taxi back to the express bus terminal where we picked up our luggage and took the 150 bus to Golguksa temple where we would live like a monk for 24 hours. They gave us some clothes and showed us to the room we would be sleeping in. It was very different compared to what I was expecting. The facilities were very modern, with air conditioning, outlets, nice bathroom, and a refrigerator. We had some dinner and headed up for some martial arts practice. Seonmudo, the type of martial arts taught at this temple, has been around for a long time and definitely kicked my pants. It was a pretty hard workout. I haven’t been that exhausted when I went to sleep in a long time. Meditation and bows the next morning started at 4:30 so I knew I wouldn’t get getting very much sleep …

Check out day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 of my trip with my parents!

For our fifth day we checked out of the hotel we had been staying at for the past four days and ventured out of Seoul. Since my father’s a pharmacist I decided to bring us to Daegu’s large herbal medicine market. We also took a stroll down the Deok street to get some of my mother’s favorite Korean snacks. I was surprised when we rode on Daegu’s subway to see that it has a coin-like token system separate from T-money. Individual fare tickets are coin-looking things which you put over a sensor like T-money and then drop in a hole at your destination.

After we were done with Daegu we headed on an express bus to Gyeongju where we would sleep and head out early to get in as much sightseeing the next day before starting our templestay experience. After leaving the Gyeongju express bus terminal a taxi driver tried to get me to go to the location where all the best hotels are but I told him no. He kept insisting there weren’t any close hotels, but I knew better. After walking no more than two blocks we found a decent hotel for a very good price. Good try taxi driver man. Good try.