On Christmas Eve I went to an awesome Christmas gathering and saw a hole bunch of friends. We ate, drank and gabbed until 6 in the morning at this pension with a conference room that felt like a old basement. Now that I'm talking about it, that night feels so far away.
The following day we packed up, ate the remaining bits turkey, potatoes salad. Then I hung out with some other people for Christmas day and went to the water temple which is a little off the grid because you can't take a subway there. Here are the photos.
This marks the entrance down to the temple.
The Korean writing says GwanEum Daebul which is the Goddess of Mercy. Apparently this goddess is a tree. Mercy doesn't look like its going to be around for much longer unless somebody waters her.
I don't know if you can tell but these people are standing on the bridge throwing coins into either the bowl on the turtle's back or the bowl in the man's hand. If you get it in the bowl you'll have good luck. The two times I've been here I've never seen one person make it and, more importantly, I'm out at least two thousand Won in coins.
A friend I met on the plane here is Jewish and was really spooked about what he thought were Swastikas all over Korea. These fan out in the other direction and are one of the many symbols in Buddhism. On maps, these mark historic temples.
This is a lookout point from one side of the temple. On a bright day in spring it's really quite something.
If you happen to bring any iron or pets that you don't need anymore please dump them in the appropriate bin.
Two of the creepiest statues I've ever seen.
That's all until the new year, me thinks. 100 blogs with 3 days left in the year. Have a great holiday readers and best wishes in the new year!
Shraham Garp ~~
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