After leaving Seoul I began a rapid fire visitation of three major sites in beautiful, mountainous Gyeongsangbuk Province, so I’m devoting a whole post to the lot as I was moving too quickly to post at every stop. That and there was no wifi at any of these remote stops.

Holy Crap… I’m at Jikji-sa Temple!!!

I left Seoul on an 8am train to the town of Gimcheon. Easy. From there I was able to sort through the Korean signs at the bus stop just well enough to catch a bus to Jikji-sa Temple. Easy. Then, I had to make my way through the small tourist village by the bus stop and find a place to stay. I had tried to reserve a temple stay, but it was all booked and making any other kind of reservations online for this area is apparently impossible. I had read that people rent out rooms called minbak all over the country, like a Korean version of Airbnb, but I couldn’t find any and the only two hotels within sight were full. Uh-oh! I decided to head up the hill towards the temple figuring that I could at least do what I came here to do and then go back to Gimcheon or on to my next stop if I had to. I even entertained The idea that I may have to spend the night in the train station. But, on the way up the hill I spotted those wonderful Korean words I had been looking for, “민박” (minbak) and an arrow pointing to a narrow street filled with them. Whew! A minbak, by the way, is very much no frills. It’s a room in a house with a private bathroom, but no furniture. There’s a giant pile of blankets and pillows to make a bed on the floor with. I came to find out it had a heated floor and once I got my bed all set up I was actually more comfortable there then I was at the hostel in Seoul. (below, more cherry blossoms)

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After settling in, I headed over to the beautiful 5th century temple in the hills amongst the pines and blooming cherry blossoms. Of The 40 original buildings, only 20 survive, but the place is very peaceful, beautiful, and the ancient Buddhist paintings inside and out are really spectacular. After exploring the grounds and marveling at all the flowers, I started up the mountain intending to hike to the summit, but mother nature had other plans. The temperature dropped significantly and it started pouring rain. I made it about a mile or so and then decided to turn back and go to the cafe for coffee and a snack before walking back to my comfy bed on the floor.

The woman that ran the cafe was super nice. In addition to my coffee, she brought me some pink tea concoction that was DELICIOUS, some green tea, some strange but yummy Korean popcorn, eggs (random, I know), then we chatted for about an hour using the translators on our phones (I was the only customer). As I was leaving she brought me a to go cup of the mysterious pink tea to keep me warm on the walk back. Made my day! Luckily I had the foresight to bring my umbrella for all of this because when I left the cafe it was raining even harder!

A quick note on those lanterns… It sounded really cool when I read about them and they are pretty and festive in their own right, but they significantly block the views of the temples themselves. Oh well, Happy Birthday Buddha!

Holy Crap… I’m at Haein-sa Temple!!!

Early the next morning I got up off of my heated floor and walked to the bus station. Luckily, it had stopped raining. I took the bus back to Gimcheon and hopped on a train bound for Daegu. Once in Daegu I had to take the subway across town to the south bus station and get on another bus for beautiful Haein-sa temple in the mountains. All those steps sound very confusing and in any other country they would be, but in Korea it’s not that complicated. When it comes to public transport they really, I mean REALLY have their shit together.

This time I was able to book a temple stay, which means another heated floor and just a mat for a bed. It was surprisingly comfortable though. I got to eat with the monks and experience walking around an ancient temple complex in the mountains surrounded by running streams at night. I even had time for a hike up the mountain behind the temple complex. The scenery around Haein-sa is just stunning!

Haein-sa, originally founded in the 9th century, is one of the most important Buddhist temples in all of Asia, not just Korea, because it houses the Tripitaka Koreana, the largest and oldest collection of Buddhist canon in the world. The text was carved onto 81,258 birch wood blocks after being soaked in brine and boiled in salt, then stored in four buildings with specially designed windows to get the perfect ventilation and a layering of charcoal and salt underneath the floor to get the perfect humidity control, and all this was done in the year 1087. Yowza! In the 1970’s they tried building a state of the art, temperature, light, and humidity controlled facility to store their national treasure, but when they tested it the blocks began to deteriorate and mildew, so they ended up just leaving them in their ancient open air facility in the mountains. Modern technology fail!

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Also of special note are the twin Vairocana Buddha statues at the temple. A small wooden block was found in one of them just recently, verifying that they were commissioned by a high ranking member of the Silla court in 883CE, making these the oldest wooden statues in Korea.

Holy Crap… I’m in Juwangsan National Park!!!

Another crazy travel day, another opportunity for Korea to shine in the transport department, and they passed with flying colors… again. I walked down the hill from Haein-sa, caught the bus back to Daegu, then the subway across town again from the southern bus station to the northern bus station, then another bus all the way to very remote Juwangsan National Park. I stepped of the bus and right across the street was the biggest minbak 민박 sign yet. Done and done. Same heated floor, still no furniture just a bunch of blankets on the floor, but this time I did get a TV giving me a chance to see some Korean TV for the first time, always a comical experience in foreign countries.

Nothing is really that remote in Korea, but by Korean standards, this little gem of a national park is pretty off the beaten track. There’s a dirt road leading from the bus stop to the official entrance lined with restaurants and shops. They’re all open, but appear abandoned. Apparently this is a summer destination for Korean hikers, but now, it’s a ghost town. I decided to do a monster loop hike around the park starting with a climb straight up to the main peak, Jubong at a whopping 720 meters (2362ft). (below, me all sweaty at the summit and a view of Jubong peak from behind as I was descending)

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After the summit I continued along the ridge for a bit and then started descending into a beautiful, quiet valley at the back end of the park. The main feature of the park is the big valley that runs along the river up the middle of the park complete with boardwalks, unusual rock formations and loads of waterfalls. My hike brought me around to the end of that valley and then I walked back down it backwards. It was unbelievably beautiful and a really good, long day of hiking!

There are so many national parks in Korea, I had to choose which ones to visit as visiting them all would have been unrealistic. Juwangsan was a good choice and I’m glad I got to see it before the supposed summer hoards show up. Koreans LOVE to hike by the way. Not only the actual hike, but they’re very conscious about looking the part. They wear the absolute best, latest, and most high tech trekking gear from head to toe that Korean money can buy. Even on the subways in Seoul you can spot them on their way to some trailhead somewhere, like they just walked out of the latest REI catalog. It’s awesome!

All the pics from Gyeongsangbuk Province are here

On to the next stop. Stay tuned…