Buddhist Temple

We went to the Gapsa temple in Gongjuu yesterday. It was very beautiful, and the humidity was lower than that in Jochiwon. We also had a lovely breeze flow in with some regularity.


About 75 miles south of Seoul

You have to walk up a slight incline for about ten minutes just to get to the temple(s). Once our massive group of Westerners made the ascent, were greeted by 15th-century style brightly colored buildings amplified with beautiful grounds and lotus flowers, old stone statuary, and old style drinking fountains (with dipping cups!)


Probably my favorite "captured memory" of the trip was this, a video of the morning prayers at the temple. Very lovely.


From the monks at the temple, we learned prayers, temple etiquette, made prayer beads, created a stamped rice paper image, and enjoyed a bi-bim-bap lunch at the temple. Fun touristy stuff, this program really has opened up some amazing opportunities. =)

We also walked up a mountain to see the waterfall at the top. I slipped several times, and fell on my ass toward the end. I blamed the traction of my Chuck Taylors but many other TaLKers were wearing Chucks and had no problems..

The trail was breathtaking. Visitors could be seen enjoying picnics and lounging on mats on the rocks next to the stream created by the waterfall. I really would like to come back and enjoy lunch here, the fast pace of being on a toured trip tends to interfere.

I didn't get very good pictures, as seems to be my tendency. But it was a powerful trip.