Monday, May 30, 2011

Gwangju, South Korea - Part One

 We rode the train to Gwangju and it took about 3 hours 20 minutes from Suwon.  JG, our host, was waiting for us as we exited the train.  First on the agenda was lunch and he took us to a restaurant famous for it's beef.
 It wasn't too crowded since it was well after one in the afternoon.
                                                                 Here come the side dishes!
                                                                Love my kimchi!
                                            Here's the beef.  Very tender and delicious!

 We dropped our luggage off at the Holiday Inn and saw this Mini Cooper inside the hotel.
 First stop on our sightseeing tour was the Unjusa Buddhist Temple.  It is known for it's many stone Buddhist statues and stone pogadas.















 


                                                         This buddha lost his head.


 
                                              This Buddha is on the list of Intangible Assets.





 JG warned us not to drink this water.  It didn't look very clean anyway.
 The temple was filled with Buddhas.  I had never seen so many in one place.




                                                              Paintings outside of the temple.
                                                        This one was particularly creepy!





 We saw a lot of rock piles.  It is said that if you place a rock on the pile and make a wish, it will come try.  But if you knock the any of the rocks over, their wishes will not come true so you must be very careful where you place your rock.

                                                                 Lots of rock wishes!

 We did a lot of hiking up a mountain and the view was spectacular.


                                      JG tried to get us to climb onto the top of this rock.
 I climbed up a little bit but it was scary.  Rocketman stayed on the ground.

                                        Rocketman planted himself next to the huge rock.


 It was a tricky climb down and I slipped once and almost fell.
                                           Rocketman navigating the narrow stairs.
 Did I really walk up this way?  How the heck was I going to get down?  I did and very carefully.
 
 This ajumma decided to take a pass on the climb we had just finished.  I don't blame her.
 





 We also saw a huge pile of tiles.  We were told that people pay for a tile and it will help build a new roof for the temple.
 They were made of clay and very heavy.

 

 





Here is a video I made of the scenery to Gwangju.  It was so beautiful!

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