Haeinsa on Fire

Ok, so yea, we got to take a "break" this weekend and travel a few hours down the road toHaeinsa, a Buddhist temple complex in central Korea. In all honesty it was a ton of fun, they put us up in the Gayasan Tourist Hotel just outside the park and fed us like Korean royalty for the weekend--well maybe not that good, but I'm not complaining. The rooms were pretty sparse--no beds, no couch, just six guys with on the floor with the traditional yo, a pillow and a blanket--but at least no one pissed in my backpack....no more comment there.

I took the bus over to the temple complex both Friday and Saturday. On Friday I managed to get (only) half my body completely soaked sharing an umbrella, but it was still great to wander around the temple and check out the monks and ancient architecture--check out some of the pics either here or on flickr (http://www.flickr.com /photos/51620136@N02/), I finally got to put my camera to good use and I think I've really picked up a new hobby with the DSLR now that I know what I'm doing with it. Haeinsa is a pretty cool place; they've got the the typical food stalls and gift shops on the way up to the temples, but it's not the same commercialization I'm used to in the States: most of it just hermitages for the monks, a few stalls with random fried korean food, and a big complex near the top of the mountain that houses the Tripitaka--a collection of scriptures dating back to the 14th century.

The first day walking around was pretty rushed, and wet for that matter. But I came back for a few hours on Saturday and had some time to wonder around and get some great shots of the place. I also had a pretty cool moment with a monk later in the day. Just the two of us in the middle of the road, he was staring off into space as I walk passed. All of a sudden he grabbed my attention and pointed off into a mossy outgrowth in the middle of the woods. Disguised by the moss was a little tree pushing its way up through a massive boulder on the side of a hill. I wouldn't have even noticed it, but he went on to say, in his broken English, how the smallest forms of life carve away and push aside even the largest of stones--then he smiled, and walked away. I'll leave it to you for your own interpretation, but I guess the monkdom (word?) does come with it's privileges, the time for introspection and deep thought about ones place in the world; hopefully I can find that same clarity of thought some day.

On Saturday I also got to check out the traditional drum ceremony (see the pictures), which was pretty cool, but a bit showy or presentational to be honest. The rest of the day on Saturday I just lounged around the hotel and ate some great food. This probably sound boring, but a two hour nap and a full course dinner goes a long way to recharge after two weeks of orientation.

Of course, I hit up the local convenience store/noraebong until 2 each night--completely negating all the benefits of this "rest"--but it was still satisfying to know we bought out every last drop of mekju in the place. Now I'm headed back into the daily grind at Jungwon, only the place is swamped for the next couple weeks with a bunch of Korean students for "Camp Fulbright." I'll give you more details on this later, but this gist is that we get to teach English to students for the first time, a sort of trial by fire if you will.