Day 5:
Our first stop was the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant which is currently under construction. I assumed that pictures were not allowed, and I was wrong. Iron mill: no pictures. Nuclear power station: no problem. They even took us up to a higher vantage point where they said they usually don't allow visitors.
The next stop was the Seokguram Grotto, a Buddhist hermitage. It's actually built around a natural cave in the side of a mountain. This is a practice which originated in India and eventually made its way to Korea.
Four kilometers away we visited Gyeonju Bulguksa, a Buddhist temple which is classified as "Historic and Scenic Site No. 1" by the South Korean government. The picture below on the upper right is the view that the Buddha statue gets every day. Not the most peaceful setting when you add in tourists.
Day 6:
The next day it was raining so we headed to the Gyeongju National Museum. Lots more really neat pottery, jewelry, armor, etc.
Next we headed to the Golgulsa Temple, another Buddhist temple. Except this time we stayed the night for what they call a temple stay. Basically we lived at the temple for about a day. We were trained in Sunmudo, a Buddhist martial art, ate with the monks, and performed many many bows while reflecting on our inner-selves. But this should be its own post so I'll save it for later.
Day 7:
After lunch the next day, we left the temple and drove back to Seoul, a 4 hour drive. We stopped at a rest stop that had some great food stands. I had some fried dough patties filled with brown sugar. Mmm.
By the time we got back to Seoul, it was nighttime. So Sunny, Mike and I decided to go up to the N Seoul Tower for a nighttime view of the Seoul Skyline. It was about $6.50 to go up, which is dirt cheap compared to similar observation decks in the US. However, it was hard to take any good pictures because of glare from the indoor lights on the glass. We did manage to get several good ones though. There was also a fortune teller at the top. It seems like there's fortune tellers all over the place in Seoul.
And now we get to the real 'Seoul's Best Toilet'. It's in the N Seoul Tower, at 777ft above ground, and has a great view overlooking Seoul.
For the complete photo album of everything in this post go here:
Feel free to ask questions if there's anything you want to know more about.
No comments:
Post a Comment