Jirisan National Park

Accompanied by Mark, a fellow ECC teacher, we fired up the motorcycles and headed 150 kilometers north to Jirisan National Park. The trip there was half of the adventure, exploring new routes, we stopped frequently to consult our Korean map and ask directions.

A we neared the park, for several kilometers the cherry trees stretched their dark branches over the roads. The fall leaves blew off of the road as we buzzed through the countryside. It would be a fantastic ride in the spring. We followed a river valley into the park. Our progress slowed a bit when we neared the green tea plantations. We stopped to take pictures and explore the area.

Mark, on Silver Sally, and I on the Mighty Magma.

Mark harvested the wild persimmons....

and and Chelsie gathered chestnuts. We were blown away by the quantities of these two products this time of year. There is an over abundance of both domestic and wild.

We arrived at the entrance of the park and like many of the parks in Korea, there is always a temple tucked away in the trees.

I thought it interesting to see the elephants on the hinges. It is a reflection of the Indian influence in Buddhism.

Unfortunately not the sharpest photo in the shed, but I thought it to be majestic anyway.
Here is our crew. We met Andrew and Leise at the park. They are friends of ours from South Africa who rode the bus from Geoje and met up with us.

We went for a few kilometer hike up into the park in search of a waterfall. Unfortunately I didn't bring my spare battery with me. So you all will have to miss out on Bureil waterfall, but once we made it back to the bikes, I was locked and loaded once again. The falls were not very strong this time of year, as it has not been very rainy. Our ride back out of the mountains was most excellent.
In a nearby village, which I still don't know the name of, we found a number of meinbaks; guest house type accommodations. We found having a nice appearance, inquired to the price, and looked at the room. The warm hearted Korean lady which ran the guest house was very welcoming, and a great cook.

We enjoyed our dinner in a grilling shed. Ordering is always an interesting experience. Even though we can read Korean and therefore can read the menu, we don't always know the names of the dishes. Through bits and pieces of broken Korean we are able to convey what we like. It is always a surprise though when the food comes. It comprised of grilled, marinated chicken with a large assortment of traditional sides, such as pickled garlic, kimchi in many forms, onion salads, peppered squid, and acorn jelly to name a few. For dessert we roasted some of the chestnuts that Chelsie had gathered earlier, and sipped on traditional rice wine, Maggulli. It was a fantastic day.

That evening we settled into our cozy room with ondol heating. Ondol is the traditional heated floor and can be very toasty if you don't know how to turn it down. On Monday, at school, we learned from our Korean teachers how to politely ask to turn off the underfloor heat.

Back on the road the next day. Life is always an adventure. Our trusty road map took us from a two lane black highway with hefty shoulders to a narrow poured concrete road with steep grades meandering through the mountains. After running across, and talking with a few locals we were able to confirm we were on the right track. Later on we learned that this section of the map was a bit out of date. Nice. It was a memorable highway 1014.As we rode, rice was being harvested everywhere.

We stopped in a very interesting temple/museum/art area. The rock creations were wild.

It was a strange and unique type of creativity.

As we travel more in Korea we have become more comfortable with being in the culture. It is very motivating to learn more phrases and try more foods. Good times with good friends.

Seoraksan National Park

In October there is a Korean holiday called Chu-seok which is the equivalent of the American Thanksgiving combined with the gift giving of Christmas. We were given a very nice five day vacation and a bonus from our school. (Amazing school, I must say.) Chelsie and I originally had plans and flights for the Philippines, but the typhoon became a huge disaster down there and our flights were canceled. It was alright because there is plenty to do around here.

We made a trip to the northern part of South Korea, Sokcho to be exact, and took in the sights of their second most visited national park, Seoraksan.

As you may have already noticed, you cannot go too far in Korea without running across a temple or two. There are many, but this must be one of the biggest Buddhas that we have seen yet.

We met a really fun Korean man by the name of Mr.Quo. He was a bundle of energy, and with fairly good English skills, he voluntarily came our tour guide for the afternoon. He had been to the park a number of times and was very eager to be our host, which included insistence to pay for meals, bus tickets, park fees, snacks, water, and anything else he thought we needed. We have been overwhelmed with generosity, and hospitality on a number of occasions as we tour throughout Korea. It has given us a some quality insight to the culture. Mr.Quo, took us in the direction of Ulsanbowie, a fantastic climb with which included hundreds of steel stairways meandering their way up the unsurpassable rock face.

The summit was a delight in one direction we could see deep into the park and in the other we could see the vast ocean.

I hope you don't grow tired of the pictures of the traditional temples, because as long as we are in Korea, I am guessing that they will keep coming.

The lanterns are all hung from the ceiling inside the temple. I believe that the tags, which flutter in the breeze, are prayers.

The great bell found at all temples.

Old roof tiles in a pile. You can "purchase" new ones at a nearby counter and write on them. They are then stored for replacements or new construction.

Taking a break to refer to the Lonely Planet, our trusty guide.

There is a cable car in the park. We have come to realize that it is a very popular fixture in many places around here.

We couldn't pass...... up and up we went. At the top there was a coffee shop. Once again....couldn't pass.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch at the top. Homemade peanut butter and bread. Chels is quite the chief even in the outdoors.

A peek in the direction of the ocean.

Another hike took us to some nice falls.

The next day we took a bus to "Inner Seoraksan". Another portion of the park with phenomenal rock cairans.

We contributed to the multitude and built one of our own.

More hiking, more beauty. The trip was a great escape from the norm. Who can pass up an invitation to the great outdoors.

A hermitage as the map called it. It was a monk village tucked away.

Being here in Korea for a while has given us the opportunity to explore more that we could ever have in a month of vacation.

Haeinsa Temple

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

Saturday Jesse and I set out on what would be our longest trip on our motorbike so far. It was a last minute, spur of the moment sort of trip, with no exact destination and only a desire to explore the unexplored. We chose the tentative destination of Haeinsa Temple, I say tentative because we didn't know just how far it was or if we could make it on our bike. Bright and early, with a few apples in our pockets and some fuel money, we set out. God blessed us with good roads and safe passage. After four hours of riding we found ourselves among the magnificent mountains of Hapcheon.

We were struck with just how beautiful this small park was and stopped to take a few photographs.

Many of the rocks in this stream had verses carved into them.

These days they change the prayer light bulbs instead of the prayer candles I guess.

This is a borrowed picture from Google, that shows the layout of the Temple.

Grand entrance ways with the colors changing was great.

A quite Monk in meditation.

Rennovation/construction taking place was fun to watch.

Despite the hysteria that H1N1 has caused among the Koreans (nearly all of them canceled their summer vacation plans this year) they still share and drink out of the same water dippers.

The smallest pair of converse tennis shoes we have come across.

This was the first time for us to observe a ceremony led by a Monk and it was very interesting.

Haeinsa Temple is famous for the Tripitaka Koreana, the world's oldest intact version of the Buddhist canon in Chinese script, with no known errors or errata. It is a collection of 81,258 wooden printed blocks with a total of 52,382,960 characters which are organized in over 1496 titles and 6568 volumes. The blocks date back to the 13th century. The following two pictures are also borrowed as we were not allowed to take photographs in the area.

There were many school groups about. All the students diligently took notes.

We made it back safely to our island, with no more harm than two very sore bums. It turned out to be a wonderful trip and at the end of the day we were very glad we had gone.