Bald men and bows

This was my first weekend in Korea without Jacob. I wanted to do a Temple Stay but he had little to no interest in such an activity. Lucky for me, two other awesome people decided they had an interest and we all went together. Frances and Scott were my companions. A limey and a kiwi. It was a fruitastic weekend!
We arrived in Gyeongju, rented our bicycles, and proceeded to have our group ride to the restaurant for lunch. There were about 20 foreigners all riding together - I'm sure the Koreans thought this was quite the funny site. I thoroughly enjoyed riding a bicycle as a form of actual transportation. We ate our lunch of not-so-appetizing Korean "tapas" and were off to explore the tombs.

We spent a lot of time looking at maps ^_^

The tombs were a bit of a let down to be honest. See the tombs aren't really tombs - not like the huge monument/statue ones that you see in the old Louisiana cemeteries. These tombs were literally just mounds of dirt with a tomb on the inside somewhere that we couldn't see. So all we could see was the mound of dirt. Although this would have been awesome had we a sled and snow, it lacked awesomeness in the sunny cool weather of Fall.

After the tombs, we headed to the Gulgulsa temple. As soon as we walked in, we were handed MC Hammer pants  and a mustard yellow vest. We awkwardly donned the clothing and began our climb up to the temple. After some lame video presentations we practiced meditation and bowing. Then the real fun began. The yoga mats were rolled out and we started to do the strangest yoga I've ever experienced. We rolled around, stretched, and did things that made my stomach hurt for two days. After yoga, we practiced our Sunmudo. A bunch of karate moves and flying kicks - it was pretty fun. We did some more meditation then it was off to bed.

The 4am sun rise meditation was pretty neat. We bowed and were given loads of time to think about our lives. It was relaxing and refreshing. The entire temple grounds were beautiful. It was great to be in so much nature.

For breakfast, we were able to eat with the monks and junior monks. It was a long process of eating out of four different bowls, eating every grain of rice and every speck of spice, then cleaning our own bowls.  We were served by the junior monks and only took as much as we could eat. While we ate, there was no talking. This was a time of reflection and thanks for the food we were eating and the fact that it was providing our bodies with what we needed to continue.

Practicing for breakfast

Monk performing Sunmudo

Koreans usually work 6 days a week. On Sundays, they don't do what westerns typically do - stay at home, have BBQs, watch telly, and relax. They go out and hike, walk, spend time in nature. I understand this. After 6 days of being locked in a city...I'm ready to get into some nature. This Temple Stay was just what I needed.