Buddha-licious

Cultural immersion was the tale of today's travels. HHI took us by bus to Gyeongju City to explore some of South Korea's religious delicacies. Gyeongju is known for its Buddhist temples built in the mid 8th century. This was the first opportunity we had to see another part of South Korea since we were first picked up from the Ulsan airport on Monday. Living in a city is a great experience and the chronic light pollution lends itself to the benefit of visually stimulating pictures, but it is nice to finally see what the Korean country side has to offer in beauty. The Korean rainy season finally caught up to us blanketing the mountains in a gentle fog that was mesmerizing at our final destination for the day.

When we got to Gyeongju City, we walked up to the main entrance of the temple, passing street vendors selling touristy items and peculiar food options. A few carts seemed to be selling a relative to the corn dog (we'll say cousin twice removed) but the juxtaposition of those carts to ones selling insect larvae made me less willing to accept these battered meats as a proper substitute so I held off until our lunch.

This was also my first experience haggling in a foreign language. I was in the gift shop purchasing some tea cups and I needed the guidance of my experienced Korean counterparts in the art of negotiation... in a language I don't speak. Before approaching the counter, I retired all of my American and most of my Korean money into the untouchable confines of my pocket. Kim, one of the University of Ulsan students and my personal haggling machine, and I went up to the lady running the shop and he just began talking. We started at 21,000 Won (don't worry, $1 is worth magnitudes more than 1 Won) and although I showed that I physically only had 21k on me, Kim offered to 'spot' me an extra 10k. Just like buying a car or shopping at Kohls, you don't deserve to weild a wallet if you pay sticker price. The humorous part was that Kim admired how believable I was (worst acting job of my life) and even better, upon leaving the shop I said "kam-sa-ham-nida" to the proprietor whereas my Korean translator just said "thank you." Then we walked out of the store and I settled the 10k tab with him.

After a morning spent touring a temple which also included the opportunity to pay my respects in the traditional Buddhist praying fashion of bowing down on the ground three times with arms facing upward in front of me, as well as a Korean rendition of DIY stir fry for lunch, we headed back to the bus. We all figured that we were just heading back to Ulsan for a free afternoon until the bus began its several kilometer ascent up a mountain mesmerizingly engulfed in fog. We were whipping through the moutainous corners as if part of a rally stage which is disconcerting considering the size of the bus we were on. After 7 kilometers or so of driving, we expected to reach a precipice for a photo opportunity. Instead, we found ourselves in a large parking lot in front of yet another temple.

This temple in the clouds led to far more photographs than I have patience to upload and was well worth the mild hike across soaked sandy pathways to see one of the most beautiful displays of Buddhist sculpture in the world. We also understandably weren't allowed to take photographs of some of the most beautiful religious works such as the enormous golden statues but just take my word for it that it was worth every penny that HHI spent for us to get there.

Until next time,

-David Rood