We kicked the day off with a morning hike. I had no idea what to anticipate because hiking trails can vary so much. The goal of the hike was to reach a Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain. The entire hike was along a river and the sound of it was very calming. However, the hike was pretty intense. It had long stretches of completely vertical hills. There were a few separate sections where we had to navigate across a stream with very little places to put your feet. I believe the hike took around two to three hours. It was exhausting. Despite this, it was well worth it. 

Once we reached the Buddhist temple I was extremely excited. The entrance had a brief history of the temple and a beautiful gate. There was even more walking up stairs but at least there was massive statues to look at. There was a stone structure that had a lot of stories. There were intricate engravings on each level. Up another set of steps was an entire village of temples. A monk even gave me a plain rice cake. He was very kind. The rice cake was extremely plain. It had no seasoning because Buddhists believe in stripping down material items and pleasures in order to achieve enlightenment. 

It was very special to be in such a religious space, with such an amazing view as well. When we got back to the hotel I crashed until our cooking class. I barely cook but I had such a cool experience making my own bibimbap with my friend Max. I was very surprised with how good it tasted. For desert, they served these puffs and cinnamon punch. The teacher even gave us a certificate with our Korean name on it and the bibimbap recipe.