...and went to see the fall colors at Guinsa Temple. This motley group drove the bus driver mad by belting out "Bohemian Rapsody" and had to tone it down so he would drive the bus the rest of the way. Yes, half the bus was drunk by 12 noon (not me, I'm not drinking alcohol at the moment, and I thought that the people who were drunk at the temple were disrespectful and rude). Welcome to Korea. Playground for drunk waygooks.It took us three and a half hours to get from Seoul to the temple, but it was worth the drive--though I would have liked to have left earlier than we did so we could have had more time in the National Park. The Engrish used for the lyrics to "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd were gold, pure gold.
I couldn't capture it all, but Allison (my amazing and nerdy friend out here) was in tears because of the stereotypical errors popping up on the screen.The temple is huge! The colors blended perfectly with the landscape and the changing colors.
I hope to be able to go back and do a temple stay there, they have an awesome guide there who speaks English fluently and says things like, "Buddhism is a philosophy, and it can be used with any religion or no religion. It's an upgrade for your mind. Like you need to upgrade your computer, Buddhism will upgrade your mind. When was your last upgrade? How old are you? How many lifetimes since you updated your computer?" She's pretty cool, big smile teacher glasses and a warm demeanor.
(That's all soy sauce, soy paste and chili paste, there were several vats like this)I think a temple stay there would be more what I was looking for in the temple stay I did down at the Golgusa Temple (though that one was cool because of the Sunmudo martial art practiced there). I'll blog about that next.
We wondered around and oo-ed and awe-ed at the colors, then walked down to a restaurant to get lunch/dinner before trying to make it to a river ferry through part of the forest. We didn't make the ferry, but it's all good. I had a wonderful day and met some cool people.
Very pretty! Its nice being at a place with fall colors isn't it? I finally understand why people love fall so much! That guide at the temple sounds totally awesome!
ReplyDeleteSweet. Karaoke bus sounds like an adventure all by itself. We need those in America. Also, looking forward to next post for more info on "Sunmudo martial art." :D
ReplyDeleteSavannah- I had forgotten, but it is breath-taking.
ReplyDeleteJeremy- I thought of you while they were demonstrating. I think you'd really dig it. I'm going to check for something like a DVD or book for you, there's a studio in Seoul that teaches Sunmudo.