This was, by far, one of my best experiences in South Korea. Once I was done with the green tea plantation, I took 4 forms of transportation to go 10 miles (hitchike, city bus, county bus, taxi, camel...just kidding) to get to the base of a mountain I climbed the following morning. Well, I had to find a place to stay that night (I had my sleeping bag with me). The three options were sleeping under the stars, the $30/night hotel, or Dogapsa Temple a the base of the mountain (you actually have to pass through the temple to get to the trailhead).
Well, the option of staying at Dogapsa Temple would involve convincing the Bhuddist monks to let me stay with them. I knocked on the temple gate. When a monk came to the door, I made a hand gesture indicating sleep. He motioned me in right away. Apparently once entering a temple gate, it's a purifying process. You are to be stripped of all earthly positions for a cleansing process. They take your bag, and hand you a monk's robe to change into. Once in the robe, you are to give your clothes to the monks and are then able to experience the monastic lifestyle. They all went to sleep at about 7 pm. I found out why when I was woken up to this drum at 3 AM:
Not wanting to get up, I was "encouraged" by much prodding from the monks to get up and join them in their 1-1/2 hour long prayer time. I sat in the back and enjoyed a dull, droning chanting. It was absolutely amazing. Being a person that doesn't normally get up at 3 AM, I found it was totally worth it. After prayer time, we ate our breakfast. Like all Koreans, the monk's breakfast consisted of rice and vegetables, however, the monks vegetables were all raw (including slimy okra-like veggies). Every item in the bowl was to be eaten. It's exactly like being a kid again and having your parents tell you you can't get up from the table until you eat all of your vegetables. After that, we observed an hour of silence. From then on, I was allowed to be on my way. So I gathered my backpack and clothes and went on my hike.
Mt. Wolchul, literally meaning “Moonrise Mountain“, is located in the southwest corner of the Korean Peninsula. Wolchulsan is Korea‘s smallest national park and has three national treasures.
Look...it Smokey, the Korean bear. What has the american culture done to the world? Tsk, tsk, tsk....
Spring was just coming around the corner so all of the trees and flowers were just beginning to explode into bloom.
This Bhudda was awesome. It was high up on the mountain and I had to scale a small peak off the beaten path to get to it. How somebody carved it that high up is beyond me. I saw a man on the way to the carving. He bowed to me, so I returned the gesture. When I got to the statue, there were many offerings at its base.
At the top of the highest peak was a suspension bridge leading to the next peak over, and down the mountain to another temple at the other entrance to the park. I was in the middle of the bridge staring a few hundred feet down when a big wind came up. I about crapped my pants right there and hugged the floor of the bridge. That thing was really rockin'!
All in all, it was an incredible experience. It took me about 4 hours each way. I was huffin' and puffin' it the whole way and Korean men and women were kickin' my but the whole way. They take their mountain hiking really seriously....knee socks, walking sticks, boots, and all. They look like they've stepped down from the swiss alps in some Heidi-induced scene you can only see in a Disney movie.
Well, the option of staying at Dogapsa Temple would involve convincing the Bhuddist monks to let me stay with them. I knocked on the temple gate. When a monk came to the door, I made a hand gesture indicating sleep. He motioned me in right away. Apparently once entering a temple gate, it's a purifying process. You are to be stripped of all earthly positions for a cleansing process. They take your bag, and hand you a monk's robe to change into. Once in the robe, you are to give your clothes to the monks and are then able to experience the monastic lifestyle. They all went to sleep at about 7 pm. I found out why when I was woken up to this drum at 3 AM:
Not wanting to get up, I was "encouraged" by much prodding from the monks to get up and join them in their 1-1/2 hour long prayer time. I sat in the back and enjoyed a dull, droning chanting. It was absolutely amazing. Being a person that doesn't normally get up at 3 AM, I found it was totally worth it. After prayer time, we ate our breakfast. Like all Koreans, the monk's breakfast consisted of rice and vegetables, however, the monks vegetables were all raw (including slimy okra-like veggies). Every item in the bowl was to be eaten. It's exactly like being a kid again and having your parents tell you you can't get up from the table until you eat all of your vegetables. After that, we observed an hour of silence. From then on, I was allowed to be on my way. So I gathered my backpack and clothes and went on my hike.
Mt. Wolchul, literally meaning “Moonrise Mountain“, is located in the southwest corner of the Korean Peninsula. Wolchulsan is Korea‘s smallest national park and has three national treasures.
Look...it Smokey, the Korean bear. What has the american culture done to the world? Tsk, tsk, tsk....
Spring was just coming around the corner so all of the trees and flowers were just beginning to explode into bloom.
This Bhudda was awesome. It was high up on the mountain and I had to scale a small peak off the beaten path to get to it. How somebody carved it that high up is beyond me. I saw a man on the way to the carving. He bowed to me, so I returned the gesture. When I got to the statue, there were many offerings at its base.
At the top of the highest peak was a suspension bridge leading to the next peak over, and down the mountain to another temple at the other entrance to the park. I was in the middle of the bridge staring a few hundred feet down when a big wind came up. I about crapped my pants right there and hugged the floor of the bridge. That thing was really rockin'!
All in all, it was an incredible experience. It took me about 4 hours each way. I was huffin' and puffin' it the whole way and Korean men and women were kickin' my but the whole way. They take their mountain hiking really seriously....knee socks, walking sticks, boots, and all. They look like they've stepped down from the swiss alps in some Heidi-induced scene you can only see in a Disney movie.
posted by What's the Point in Living If You Can't Feel Alive at 6:38 PM
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