Chuseok part 2

So, I think I had just finished talking about dodgy Russians in "Texas St". Having made it through the night, we decided that we would continue on the tourist trail and visit a Buddhist temple. We chose Beomosa as it was quite close to where we were staying and is described by Lonely Planet (cheers Stewartie) as being "magnificent". So, we took a taxi up a long and winding road (overtaking EVERYTHING) and arrived at said temple. It was certainly impressive, but maybe the LP writers had had a few too many iced coffees when they visited. We walked around, took lots of photos whilst at the same time wondering if we should be, and absorbed the peace of our surroundings. I think that was the thing that I noticed more than the buildings, was a feeling of peace and calm. It was amazing, so quiet and peaceful. We saw a monk praying, and also went for a walk into the nearby forest and played about at a stream, as all 23 year olds should do. Here are some piccies:

One of the main temple buildings (there were lots) and a stone statue. Very aptmospheric I think.

One of the "guards" at the main temple entrance.

Some of the designs painted onto one of the buildings. It is so intricate. There were some guys re-painting a part of one the buildings when we were there. It makes our idea of decorating seem pretty easy!

Boys on a bridge!

After exploring the temple we headed back down the hill and caught the subway back into town to visit Asia's largest jjimjilbang (bath house) called "Hurshimchung". Now, I had been told about bath houses in Korea by Gordie who is a regular up in Incheon, but I dont think any of us were really prepared for this one. It was Chuseok, so the place was mobbed. We paid, put our shoes in wee lockers and headed in (it was segregated I should point out at this point). You are immediately confronted by lots of naked men in the changing rooms. Fine, you see that a bit in swimming pools in the UK and getting changed for football etc. Only difference here was that you stay naked. Clothes off, and out into a massive domed area ( when you looked up it looked like the main staircase area from "Titanic".) And everyone is naked. And you are the only Westerners in the whole place. You can picture the scene....maybe.

We tried out a few of the different pools (hot ones, cold ones, red ones (cherry), green ones (citrus) and an outdoor one.) but because we were all suffering from sunburn due to over-exposure on the beach 2 days previously we were really confined to the warm/tepid pools only. We also went for a sauna which was good, I jumped into a cold pool right after I came out.....ahhhhh!

All in all it was a surreal, but enjoyable experience. Obviously I didnt take any photos inside but here is one of the sign that greets you when you go in.

In case you can't make it out, it says: "Welcome to Hurshimchung - the best spa in the world" Enough said.

That night we planned to go out again but ended up falling asleep in our room. We woke at about 2am, went out for dinner then went back to sleep. Classic Korea.

The train back up to Seoul was at 10am, it followed the same route and was very similar to the journey down, only we were all feeling much better and, funnily enough, we were going in the opposite direction.

Upon our arrival in Seoul we spent some time looking for somewhere to stay. We tried lots of nice hotels, but a combination of very casual dress and not phoning ahead meant we were not being offered good deals. So, we checked into a love motel. Now, horrendous as it may sound, for £15 each we got two rooms with double beds, massive TV's and the usual hotel stuff, plus some other things I won't go into. If you block out their main purpose they are actually ok to stay in.

We then headed over the river to the "63 Building", the 3rd highest building in Seoul, which unbeliveably has 63 floors. it houses a Imax cinema, aquariam and a observation deck on the 60th floor. We bought tickets for that and the aquariam, which was Ok, they had a turtle, some penguins, seals, otters, snakes and lots of fish but we all agreed that we had enjoyed the fish in the markets more than the ones in the 63 building. Maybe we were just fished out, I don't know. Here is a photo of me with a plastic polar bear (?) and a video of some penguins. (for you mum)

Some of the penguins had been confined to little cages. I think they were the naughty ones. Maybe they had been out drinking too late the night before and were caught, or I think they were maybe taunting the turtle in the tank opposite.

After the aquarium we headed up in the lift (I was all up for the stairs....... :) to the 60th floor. The views were amazing. You could see the Han river (the big river that flows through Seoul) and a good amount of Seoul itself too. Over towards Incheon was a bit hazy but I most enjoyed getting an idea of the sheer scale of Seoul itself. It really is huge. Here are a couple of photos though it is difficuilt to gauge from them just how big it really is.

The view down......not great for someone like me who doesnt like heights!

Looking up the Han river.

We had a beer, then headed down and back to the motel. It was at this point that my camera died, so I have no more photos, though to be honest that was the sightseeing over anyway. We headed out that night in Seoul, and then back to Incheon the next day.

I am now back teaching, although tomorrow is Friday, and then it's the weekend! We have another day off next week (wednesday) so I think I will head into Incheon proper and have a look around. For now though, I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've been up to over Chuseok and i'll keep blogging in future. Let me know if you think there's too much writing or photos or whatever, i've never done this before so I need to know how i'm doing!

Neilx