random collection

The schedule has been set for the next semester at my uni and shockingly it's not horrible, it's actually fantastic, thanks to my stressed out intervention. Which apparently was immediately obvious to my students (who like to comment on my face on a regular basis) because I was told "your face look happy" at the start of class the next day. Which is a whole lot better to hear than, "your face look tired" or "your face look better today" or any other random observations my students usually like to give me.

Some random shots:

 Kimbap, pumpkin salad and some tomatoes that a student made me for lunch one day. Which was all pretty fantastic, except I had to pop out the imitation crab and ham from the kimbap. I'm going to miss my summer students a whole lot. First semester was incredibly stressful and summer was the complete opposite.

 석종 temple, my favourite temple in Chungju and a place I like to go to think and just relax. I don't 

know what it is, but I always feel a little bit happier visiting a temple than I did before going.

 Abby boss catting it out on some pillows.

 The guy to the left is totally wearing hospital clothes and sporting an iv, which is normal practice in Korea. Even after two years, it's still weird to see hospital patients roaming the streets.

 A trip to the beach that was mostly rained out. Someone got a little ocd with everyone's bags and shoes and decided to line them all up. Whatever makes you happy.

The bus lighting, always ready for a spontaneous norae (singing) bus party. The microphone even comes with an automatic echo, just to balance out the various singing levels. An essential Korean experience.

As for me, I have one class left of my summer semester and then I'm officially on vacation and off to China! So more non posting in the immediate future!

bits of places

 Chungju Dam water museum. I for some reason always thought that they left the buildings when they created Chungju lake by flooding a village. As I learned, they actually spent three years and a whole lot of money moving buildings and artifacts.

 Inside the water museum. One of the few museums I've been to in the last while that was using air conditioning and already had the lights on, they must get a decent amount of visitors.

 Martial Arts Museum. I've been to Tangeumdae park more times than I can remember, but this was my first visit to the museum. Three floors of info and an observation deck looking out on the park, it's a pretty big building and admission is free.

 Goesan Gochu centre, with the gochu man on top. I've seen his likeness spread out all over Chungbuk.

 Bridge exiting Chungminsa shrine, Chungbuk monument no12, dedicated to two generals from the late 1500s who were both posthumously made prime ministers.

The shrine, behind it was a tomb and around the shrine were some trails along the river. If it hadn't been sweltering out and I didn't already have a sun burn on the go, I would've spent more time here as it was a really beautiful area.

미타사 mita temple

I found the other 성충문구 big stationary store downtown. It was closed, forever. And then minutes later my bike chain broke and fell off. Luckily there was a bike store close by and 5 minutes and 15,000 won later, I had a new bike chain. First time that's ever happened.
Then I stopped for bibimbap. And it came with beef, which doesn't happen often. So I got to scoop that out before enjoying. It wasn't looking like a good day.

I decided to take a trip west of Chungju, since I always seem to go north, east, or south. I went Eumseong way on 36 and noticed a sign for a temple. My first thought was to just keep going, until I saw the giant gold Buddha peeking out from the hills.

 Then I knew I had to stop.

 He was surrounded by tons of little Buddhas.

And big markers were out front. It was a Buddhist cemetery.

The view down from the big gold Buddha. It's impossible not to see from the highway and definitely worth stopping by for a visit and it wasn't very busy, I think there were a total of four other people there when I visited. But then this area generally never seems busy.

미륵리사지 mireukrisaji and hiking failure

I decided to take another trip out Suanbo way, to visit mireukrisaji, a historic Buddhist temple site promising a very old stone Buddha. It's about 8 km from Suanbo. And I figured I'd give Woraksan another go on the way home.

 I had lunch before I went, bibimbap of my own making because bibimbap just isn't bibimbap without gosari (the brown branchy looking parts) and for some reason Chungju restaurants often seem to omit it. If you don't know gosari (and I didn't before Korea) then you might know it from fiddle heads. It's part of that plant. If you don't know fiddle heads, then I got nothing.

I drove my motorcycle out there. I live in the country side, so there's very little traffic and lots of winding mountain roads, perfect for summertime rides. And it's definitely a lot nicer driving along without having to contend with many cars. I do get a whole lot more attention though...

 The weather was perfect, and I passed by many restaurants and dongdongju (rice wine) stops before getting there. If I hadn't already filled up on bibimbap I would've stopped for lunch. The place wasn't very busy at all, so I don't know how so many shops and restaurants stay open (especially in Suanbo). There were only two other people (아저씨) at the temple and they seemed more interested in following me around than anything. So it was a bit uncomfortable.

The Buddha statue was pretty fantastic though. And there were the typical Buddhist chants being played. There was also a little shop selling bracelets and the like, with another lady selling temple tiles.
I headed further along the road and there were a couple more stops, for a head statue and a field of ruins, nothing really picture worthy. And then I kept going to see what was up the hill.

There was another small, new temple, and they offered bathrooms. Essentially a little shed built of leftover materials with some planks over a shallow hole that you can squat over. No door for privacy, but there weren't many people around so I guess it wouldn't matter. There was absolutely no way I was using it though, this had to be the worst "bathroom" I've ever seen.

And then I hopped back on my motorcycle and headed back to Woraksan for round two. A 2.3 km hike to the peak on the "Samunri Nature Interpretive Trail." Things weren't so bad, until I hit these stairs.

 And then after that, the trail got quite a bit sketchier and a whole lot harder.

It started involving climbing up steep rocks and holding onto chain railings. With 0.8 km to go, my legs were really starting to feel it and the sketchiness of the trail wasn't helping, so I decided to call it a day. I didn't see a single person on the trail the whole time and I was starting to understand why, it's one serious hike and it was sketchier going down than up. I'm definitely not hardcore enough to finish it. Woraksan got me again.

석가탄신일 buddha's birthday

Today I decided to just ride around and visit temples. It's Buddha's birthday, so temples offer food to everyone that visits for free, and sometimes there's also entertainment as well.

 I was tipped off to two nearby temples by a random, friendly Korean that I met on the street. She kindly sent me a map showing how to get there and I was on my way. They both are slightly outside of Chungju, up in the mountains. The first one was 창룡사 Chang-ryong temple and it was a 1 km hike from the main road (unless you drove up, or took a shuttle that was available for Buddha's birthday). I opted to hike it, it seemed like the most appropriate way to visit a temple.

 There were some people singing and everyone was sitting around eating fruit and rice cakes handed out from the temple.

 The view was absolutely beautiful.

 Colourful lanterns everywhere.

Next I visited 석종사 Seokjong temple. Right before the temple there were three Buddhas carved into stone surrounded by place markers. I'm not really sure what they are...

 It was also a bit of a hike up the mountain, but not as long as the last one. It was a whole lot more beautiful though... The best temple I've visited in Chungju for sure.

 It came complete with its own cemetery.

And vegetable gardens. It seemed more like a Buddhist complex than anything.

Pots for fermenting all kinds of things. I'll have to visit again, especially since it's so close.

And what I learned today from the intermittent thunder and lightning storms, is that Abby has developed a fear of thunder. Maybe because it's pretty rare for Korea? When the first thunder crackled, she jumped from the couch onto the bed with me. Second blast of thunder and she was off the bed, pawing the closet door open and crawling inside.

Be kind to trees

One of the things I like about Korea is their approach to trees, putting up guard rails and giving them support beams. It's always nice to see.

This weekend was spent biking around Chungju, finding new art and stationary stores, visiting temples and just unwinding from the past week.
Some of the sights:

Guards at the entrance gate to a Buddhist temple.

Pagoda and Buddha at the temple, it's always nice to stumble upon a temple in the middle of the city and be able to escape all the cars, ads and noise. Some people think once you've seen one temple, you've seen them all. But I feel like I always experience something new with each temple I visit.

Some of the eats:

Jjin bbang (sweet red beans inside a steamed bun) at the market.

Kalguksu (noodles in anchovy broth) at the market.

More sweet potato pizza! So much pizza, in such a short amount of time.

And some of the randomness:

S-club (!!!!!) diet dance ad on a van!

 My amazing new sketch book that says:
Do yourself. Nobody is invited on your life. Fill out your own style. Only your own sketch is available on and valued. This book is the reason to exist.

...and the mural from art night!

tangeumdae park 탄금대공원

Looking at a map of Chungju, I decided one of the first places I'd like to visit was tangeumdae park, which meant a bike across the city. I arrived at the martial arts park and museum first, which looked pretty barren aside from two guys shooting around the waterless pond area for MBC.

I opted to cross the park towards the bike path, where there seemed to be some people. Finding a map, I checked out my prospects. The waterfall seemed the most interesting, but too far away... so instead I decided to lock up my bike, take the stairs and check out the views from the hill.

Upon reaching the top, I came across a lot of sculptures, my favourite being the Korean soldiers. A battle was fought, and lost, here against the Japanese. In the end, instead of surrendering and being captured, the Korean leader threw himself in the river to honorably die.

Following the paths, I came across some pretty nice views, of the city, mountains and bridges. It's definitely pretty spacious out here...

Mountains and bridges.

A nice place to rest and check out the views, before continuing along the path. Next, after going down a steep hill, I arrived at a temple.

















And of course, you can't forget Buddha. All in all, a nice little trip, I'll definitely have to go back once spring sets in. But before making a return trip, I'll have to check out Jungangtap after seeing pictures of the pagoda all over Chungju.