Seokbulsa ( 석불사 ), the unknown temple

The most memorable place from my visit to South Korea must be this trip to Seokbulsa (석불사) Temple in Busan. I found out about this temple from Lonely Planet and had to searched through people's blogs to find out how to get there. And yes it wasn't easy to find out about this place.

I have a back problem and after my last major surgery in 2009 I must say that my stamina had decreased a lot. So when I read that I'd have to do 'a little hiking' to get here, I thought I was prepared enough with a little excercises here and there before I left. But boy I was wrong!!

When Koreans asked us: 'Where you wanna go?" We always replied firmly: "Seokbulsa!" But then we received this funny look and another question: "Beomeosa?" And we replied again: "No, Seokbulsa!" And that kept happening even until we got into Geumgang Park. Only when looked at the map inside the Park did we find Seokbulsa, printed smaller than any other places of interests in that area.

So first we took a train from our Hotel at Haeundae to Oncheonjang Station. From there we walked about 2kms to Geumgang Park. When we got to the park we didn't waste anytime and headed directly to the Cable Car, since every info that we got said that we should take this to save about 45 mins of hiking from the bottom of the mountain. And we didn't regret our decision. The 5 mins or so ride gave a spectacular view of Busan City though a bit scarry because the wind blew quite hard that it was shaking.

 

Entrance to Geumgang Park

Once we got to the top we started our 'little hike' to find Namun Village (남문 마을) where we could have lunch and rest. We were walking leisurely to enjoy the scenery around us at first, but after almost an hour trying to find the sign of Namun Village we were beginning to get worried cause the sky suddenly got dark and we had to kept walking under the drizzle. It might not be so hard if only we were wearing hiking shoes. But since all of us were wearing sneakers we had to be careful with our step, it's slippery in some places that one of us almost fell on a stream. Since we're all city girls, we were really having a hard time while all the Koreans that we met were walking like they're in a mall with their complete hiking gear. On our way we passed Geumjeongsanseong Fortress, quite a sight in the middle of the mountain.

 Geumjeongsanseong Fortress

When we finally reached Namun Village it was started raining already, we looked at the watched and realized that it's been a little to 2 hours since we took the Cable Car! We were starving and our clothes were damp from the rain but the houses / restaurants that we passed didn't look so convincing that we almost thought we might have to eat Ramen there in the end. Just before we reached the end of the village we found a place that looked comfy and we saw from outside that it's full with people. Finally, a nice restaurant. But when the 5 of us got inside we found another problem. The restaurant owner didn't speak English and we none of us spoke Koreans though there's one that could read Hangeul. But what's the use of being able to read if we didn't understand the meaning? LOL

When we looked at the menu hanging on the wall we're kind of shocked with the price, the cheapest one showed KRW 35.000 but we had no idea what that was. When we asked the restaurant lady just said "Oli Bulgogi."  Fortunately, in the table next to ours there's a couple that we met at the entrance of Geumgang Park. They both were cooking something that looked (and smelled) delicious. So we called the lady, pointed at the next table, then pointed at the menu. In real languange: "That looks good, which one is it in the menu?" LOL The lady smiled and pointed back at Oli Bulgogi and we shouted in relief, "Yes, that's the cheapest!"

But actually that's the price for 1 portion for 2 or 3 people. So we had to order 2 portions + rice. And looked like we're the only ones in the restaurant who drank the free water instead of alcohol hahaha The other tables were all ordering soju, my guess was to warm up themselves. After 10 mins of going back and forth to the kitchen, voila! Here's our Oli Bulgogi, which is actually DUCK bulgogi :)

 Pre-cooked Duck Bulgogi

So first we cooked the meat + the seasonings. After it's half cooked then we added enoki mushroom and other vegetables. Once it's cooked we ate it like the barbeque, put it inside your chosen vegetables (such as lettuce, sesame leaf, etc), add pepper, garlic and rice, wrapped it. It tasted great! We finished everything in 20 mins and felt like we couldn't walk anymore with our stomach full. We stretched for another 15 mins before we decided to continue our walk.

From Namun Village, the real hiking began. We relied on people's description on how to get there and after 10 mins of walking down the stream we began to suspect that we weren't in the right path. The stream was slippery since the drizzle didn't stop and we kept slipping our feet that made us very tired. We met 2 elderly men around their 50's who were kind enough to let us know that we were in the right path and they kindly told us one way or another that they were going to take us to the path that would lead us to Seokbulsa. They walked very fast and we had to held on the ropes on the some path not to fall. The drizzle didn't stop so we felt so cold and our jacket got damper.

 The elders were walking very fast that in 20 mins we could only saw their heads below the stream hahaha But once they realized that we weren't as sporty as they were they slowed down and waited on us. I think our biggest mistake was our shoes. None of us wore hiking shoes so we kept slipping & tumbling while the Koreans were walking steadily along the rocks and wet grounds. Another lesson: Make sure you wear the proper ensemble before doing anything. :)

After another 30 mins and we finally found a paved road and much to our dismay we found out that people could actually drive up from another route up there!! What's done is done, there was nothing else we could do but to continue walking up the mountain. The paved road was very steep and winding I almost gave up (again) after 15). And just when we could see the Temple we arrived at the parking lot (car couldn't drive up to the temple) and saw 2 vending machines for cold coffee LOL The irony... All we saw when we got up there was fog... we couldn't see what's below from the entrance.

 Can't see anything below, too foggy.

 

Entrance to Seokbulsa Temple

The beautiful view made us forget about our exhaustion but we started to take pictures right away. It was so quiet and serene up there that we even spoke in whisper, didn't really wanted to disturb the peace.

 

 One of the prayer room in the temple.

Right after between the two prayer rooms on the left & right, we could see the very reason why we chose to visit this place, the mountain stone carvings.

In between the two prayer rooms.

We spent like half an hour more to take pictures of the stone carvings and just sat down to rest, enjoyed the quietness and took shelter from the rain.

We walked down through the paved road instead of the same route that we took through the mountain, we had enough hike already to last a year LOL

Leaving Seokbulsa ( 석불사 )

 

View of city on the way down.

 

Only when we were down there and ready to pass out did we realize: We didn't take any picture of ourselves at the temple! We were so tired and too busy photographing the temple and its surroundings that we completely forgot to have any of our own.

I doubt that I'll go there again in the future hahaha but this journey was one that I won't ever forget for the rest of my life. Looking at the pictures I'll always the remember those times when I almost give up but I got there anyway with my friends help & encouragement.

As I go through the ups and downs of life, there will be moments when I want to give up as well. But I'll look back and look at the pictures again and I'll say to myself: I'll get to the top! I'll be up there looking down! And I will forget the hard road to get there.

So next time you're in Busan, make sure to visit this magnificent place and conquer yourself ;)

Uncle In Chul Kim of Seoul

While planning for my trip to South Korea last October I was a bit overwhelmed because my group grew from 5 people to 10. The Guest House that we booked previously couldn't accommodate the increasing number so I had to find another place. I had no problem to find a decent but affordable hotel in Busan, but in Seoul it's not that easy.

Someone suggested me to check airbnb.com and finally I came across this very nice 3 bedroom apartment called Apartment in Insadong. Even though we found out later that it's not located at Insadong at all, staying at that place was definitely the best experience of my whole trip. Not only did I get to experience the Korean hospitality (that sadly, I didn't find many during my trip), but I also gained a new extended family in Mr. Kim In Chul.

The place actually only accommodate 8 but after our exchanging email he agreed to added some mattress so we all could fit in 1 place. The reviews from previous guests were nothing but 5 stars and it's what a relieved to find that (except for the location) everything was true according to the description. And these are the 3 rooms in the house, I stayed at the bunk-bedded room :) 

From Incheon International Airport, we had to take a bus to Daerim Station for KRW 9.000, it took a little more than 1 hour. Before we got to Daerim Station, the owner of the apartment, Mr. In Chul asked us to call him to pick us up. When we got off, he's already waiting and greeted us warmly and drove us to the apartment, a couple of hundred meters from the station.

When we got to the apartment, his wife had been waiting with a smile to welcome us! We were tired from flying a red eye flight, but we felt a lot better after meeting the kind couple. Although Mrs. Kim didn't speak English at all, she's still tried to communicate with us, helped by Mr. Kim. They showed us around the small apartment and I fell in love with kitchen instantly! LOL It was neat and the cutlery was cute. The living room had a big LCD and he also provided a PC and wifi connection.

What really surprised us was that the couple also provided us with dozens of bottled water, lots of instant noodles, cooking oil, detergent for the washing machine and a hair dryer at the bathroom, also train and Seoul maps to get around! Basically everything that will make your trip easy.

After we rested and freshened up, we were ready for our first exploration in Seoul. How nice it was to find that Namguro Train Station was only 20 meters away from the apartment! Considering there were lots and lots of stairs in every station, and everytime we returned home most likely we were exhausted, having a nearby train station was totally convenient.Although it took around 30 - 40 mins from Namguro to get to Downtown, it didn't matter much for me cause I'm an early riser and we were not in a hurry to get around.

During our stay, Mr. & Mrs. Kim often dropped by our place just to say hello or asked where we had been, whether we enjoyed our stay or not. He's living in the 5th floor of the apartment while we're in the 1st floor, right by the entrance of the building. In the middle of our staying we went to Busan and other people stayed there. The night before was raining so our laundry wasn't dry enough. Mrs. Kim kindly asked us to move the laundry to be hung at the rooftop and let us left all our luggage at her home. 4 days later when we returned, our luggage was all  ready with our laundry neatly folded in the living room!!

Even though Mr. & Mrs. Kim kindly invited us for a barbeque at the rooftop with their family, we sadly didn't get the chance to do it since we always got home late LOL And here are the kind Mr. & Mrs. Kim :)

  

On the day of our departure, we took a morning flight so we had to leave the apartment by 5am to catch the airport bus from Daerim Station. Mr. Kim kindly took 3 trips back and forth to get us all to the station. It was raining but he still waited with us until the the bus arrived. He hugged us all tightly in turn (until the bus driver had to honk us to hurry) and decided to call him Uncle In Chul. I sent him a Christmas card and a framed picture of us together.

About a week ago I installed KakaoTalk in my phone and suddenly he sent me pictures of Spring Flowers in Seoul with a message: I missed you and your friends so much. We exchanged texts and he asked me call him anytime when I have free time just to talk. Surely, we missed him and Aunty Kim as well and I hope that we will meet again in the near future.

So when you're traveling to Seoul, you might want to stay at his place, and more than just a memorable trip, you'll find other people to call family. Till we meet again, Uncle In Chul!