Time to go back

The airplane is getting ready to leave and in a few hours I'll be back in Ho Chi Minh... Seoul will leave a big hole in my heart and I'm going home promising myself to return soon.

Good friends

I was told that Korean boys and men, when they are really good friends like to be physical, like hugging and. I saw these three friends on their way to school, I thought they looked really sweet and probably very good friends.^^

Temple Stay at Jeondeungsa

Jeondeungsa Temple is located on Ganghwado Island, about 2 hours from Central Seoul and if the tales are true this temple might have the oldest history in all Korea. It hosted the Goryeo Royal family, protecting them from the Mongol invasion and up until 1910 the Jeondeungsa's senior monk held the highest position of all monks in the Joseon Dynasty.

I heard about Temple stay while watching KBS World one day, and I thought it sounded like a very interest experience. Many Temples around Korea offer temple stays, but this was the first time they tried it out in English.

It's a 2 days and 1 night stay, and the program includes morning and evening chanting, meditation, calligraphy, monastic formal meals, tea ceremony and a short hike in the hills surrounding the temple.

They ask you to be at the Temple at 3pm, and even though I started out my journey at 12pm I wasn't able to get there before 5pm!

I started out getting myself to the wrong metro station (it said shincheon in the directions I had received) but there are two stations on the same line; shincheon and shinchon and apparently the way of writing out Korean signs into our alphabet was wrongly used so I ended up on the South East side of Seoul instead of North West (about 1 hour apart).

With great help from some young Seoulers and their very smart Samsung phones (I can't get 3G for my iPhone) they helped me realize I was at the wrong Shincheon.

Finally arrived at the right one, it was time to find the bus stop... it took me 1 hour, although the bus stop was located 200m from the Metro Station (they had managed to hide in a way that I just kept walking passed it). This time I received a tip from a pretty girl who spoke a tiny bit of English, she told me to call 02 120 and have them help me out. 

I thought this was only public transportations information centre but later on I've figured out that this is a general information phone service provided in several foreign languages (they speak close to perfect English) and you can ask them for ANY information what so ever!^^ Ever in Seoul, keep that number in mind, you'll definitely find it useful.

Back to the temple stay, once on the bus (it was now about 3pm, this bus only departures once every hour), I couldn't quite figure out when I had the get off, I knew it would take me about 2 hours (thanks to the information center^^) but I just never had the time to read out the names of the bus stops we were passing by so I ended up asking an old little lady next to me where we were, in a very basic Korean (and not very grammatically correct). She was more than helpful, and I ended up talking to her and another older man for the rest of the trip in a great mix of Korean, English and Japanese.^^

I managed to arrive just in time to get changed and run over to dinner. After bell ringing, evening chanting and meditation we all went to bed and the lights were out at 9pm.

We were accommodated in traditional Korean houses, sleeping on the floor, and at 4am the morning bell woke us up, time for morning chanting followed by more meditation and calligraphy before breakfast. 

Breakfast was served in the formal monastical way which takes about 1 hour to finish a meal (and way longer if you chant all the ceremonial sutras that should go along with this meal). The main idea with this meal is to avoid wasting both food and water, therefore you are obliged to finish up everything you served yourself. The meal is taken in silence and no words should be exchanged, you should also be careful not to make too much noise.

Water, rice, side dishes and soup are never mixed but put into different bowls, and once you've finished eating, you use your water and a pickled piece of radish to wash your different bowls finishing by drinking the water used to wash with. 

Only once are you allowed to throw this water, and that's the last time you wash your bowls, this time you use your right hand, and you can through out all clear water (no particles are allowed to be thrown out, you need to drink these up). This way of eating is very complex and completely takes away the joy of eating!^^

After breakfast, we hiked up the hills surrounding the temple, the air was still full of morning fog which gave a beautiful and mystic feeling to the place. Once back at the temple the first visitors had arrived at the temple. We finished off the stay with a tea ceremony where we were allowed to ask questions to the monks and after lunch we all headed back to Seoul.

Korean custom is to take off the shoes when you enter someones house. In old traditional houses the shoes should be taken off before stepping onto the wooded part in front of the door.

Sleeping arrangement on the floor (it's really convenient and comfortable)^^

The sleeping quarters in the 4am fog.

Barrels with fermenting foods (bean pastes, kimchi etc).

The 4 bowls used for the monastic formal meals unfolded.

Our temple stay group (most of the participants were foreign scholarship students from all over the world and who all spoke fluent Korean).

Our Russian monk preparing for the tea ceremony.

Somewhere close to the DMZ border

On the very same day as the North Korea was launching missiles, my hosts invited me to join them on their workshop north of Seoul... right by the DMZ border!^^
Like always, since I get motion sickness I slept all my way there, and the nightly discovery of Hongdae didn't help me out at all.^^

The five of us (their former intern Jenna also joined in), were to stay in an apartment resort, and no program was set up, so upon arrival we all sat down and decided we'd go visit the museum of Traditional Korean spirits (Makgeolli among others).
The museum also offered a tryout of traditional Korean games and we could also enjoy the sight of some beautiful reconstructed Korean houses in traditional style... and of course to finish it all off there was a tasting of all the houses different spirits accompanied by snacks made from the leftovers from the wine producing.

We then continued the evening with more Makgeolli and a delicious Korean Kalbi BBQ starting out the evenings discussion topic; dating seen from men and women's perspective. I got to know a lot about the Korean dating and gender views.

When it got late, I slept together on the floor (Korean fashion) together with Lina and Jenna, felling like being amongst long time friends. I'm really happy I met these wonderful persons.^^

Gigantic barrels containing the fermenting alcohol out in the back yard.

The tournament was on, loser got to get a taste of the small pond.^^

Fooling around in the back yard of the liquor museum.

Makgeolli tasting

After the museum we went on a small hike around the lake where Kim Il Sung (former President of North Korea) used to have a cottage.

A day with Jee

Yesterday and the day before have been hectic, almost no sleep and definitely no time for connecting to internet.

I started out spending the day with another Couch Surfer, Jee, who was kind enough to show me around Seoul. She brought me tourist information, maps and explained the city better than the tourist office could have done!^^

Lunch by the Lotte World, strolling by the lake in the cherry blossom, we continued into a market on the north river bank looking at Hanboks (traditional Korean dresses) and had Korean styled pancakes (Nokdu Jeon). You can stroll around for ever in this city, it just never ends. 

At one point we ended up in a small park, crowded by older men playing Korean chess (Jangki) out in the spring cold.

A girl in Hanbok being photographed by her parents.

Cherry blossom by the Lotte World

At the market

A couple of the many Korean chess players

After a full day walking around town, I ended the evening with dinner and partying in Hongdae (the party area around one of the universities in Seoul).

안녕하새요 Seoul

After all the back and forth with my lost passport, visa issuing etc, I ended up having to quit Vietnam in order to obtain a 3 months tourist visa again, and so here I am, completely new and (not so) fresh in SEOUL!^^
Got off the plane at 7.40am local time (that means 5.40am HCM time), spending more than 4 hours to get into central Seoul (don't ask me what took me so long, I have no idea^^), met my hosts Jonghyun, Lina and Min, had lunch, went off for some sightseeing along the Cheonggyecheon River, had a Chai Tea Latte, went for dinner at Jonghyun's house and right now I'm finishing off some work before literally crashing into bed (having troubles keeping my eyes open!^^)

Love this city, it's the first time I've seen a mountain raising in the middle of sky scrapes and ancient royal temples. There are so many colors, old and ridiculously new mixed wherever you go. Boulevards with 8 lanes in the city center, right next to a tiny winding street that takes you up to nowhere. The traffic is heaving, the commuters on the subway are more than many, you smell spring and freshness in the air, and the subways is so clean you could almost lay down on the floor to take a nap!^^

I'm up for a pretty busy week, I'm telling you people, this city just has too much to offer, I won't even see a fraction in a week no matter how hard I try, so I've decided not to try. I have Lonely Planet in my bag (unread), a subway map in Korean, cash in my wallet and for once I'll just follow the flow, trying to feel the Seoul pulse to its fullest.

Good night!

The Cheonggyecheon River was decorated in honor of todays election.

Heavy traffic, the Gyeongbokgung Palace in front of the Blue House Hill..

... and on the side this gigantic book store.

Too tired and fully enjoying my meal I completely forgot to take photos at Jonghyun's in the Mullae neighborhood.