Easter Sunday at a Buddhist Temple

well, darn it if i didn't go to church this easter! they may not have been celebrating easter but it was holy ground nonetheless! i was supposed to hike up the mountain with kiwi Dave (these are the dave's i know, i know, these are the dave's i know ;) ...) but i just wasn't up to the task. we were already up there when i realized i wouldn't make it to the top, so we went to Dongrim Temple instead. there are actually three or four temples on Sineo Mountain (the one next to my house that i'm always going up). i went to dongrim once before but my batteries died when i got there so i didn't actually look around, but i had the opportunity to get a good look yesterday.

125 steps to the landing, another thirty or so after that... gotta work to get to the temple!

me and the giant bell. they have these at all temples.

detail at the top of the bell. isn't the painting gorgeous?

the giant Buddha at dongrimsa. (sa is korean for temple)

part of a chandelier that i found in the back of the main building at dongrim - i guess they got new ones!

one of many "little" buddha's. (well, they were about my height...)

at dongrim we could hear chanting coming from the forest so we followed the sound. what we came upon was a sort of rest area with parking and a map of the mountain. there was a guy offering help and suggested we go to the next temple up - Eunhasa - which is where i thought we had just been... so we headed further up the mountain. there were tons of koreans out in their hiking garb - which is hilarious because half of them just drive up then walk a half a kilometer on the road... this is hiking in korea!!!

anyway it only took about five minutes to get to Eunhasa. i found out that it's one of, if not the, oldest temple in the area, hailing from the time of king suro. the chanting that we heard was coming from there. they had loud speakers set in the trees broadcasting the ceremony that was going on indoors. we didn't go in as we were unsure of the procedure or etiquette of it all, but the chanting was quite beautiful.

the steps up to eunhasa.

offerings left at the temple.

the bell (in the background) at eunhasa.

some of the "hiking" koreans at eunhasa - they were posing for their friends, so i took advantage...

i took 130 photos yesterday... i could've taken more, but dave was giving me funny looks the whole time! (thanks dave!) he doesn't even OWN a camera!!! some people just don't understand... see the name of my blog? anyway... it was a nice day - a three hour hike/walk in the mountain and seeing another bit of korea... i only have four and half months to get it all in.

stay tuned for the story of my trip to the hospital last week for stitches... like i said, not a trip that anyone wants to make. the hand, btw, is healing nicely, i think it is anyway... i can type a lot easier now... but it still looks a little gross. wanna see? WARNING: the following pictures might be kind of gross for some of you! (but i know you'll look anyway!)
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the day after it happened.

today - the swelling has gone down considerably.

ciao!