Finally going to bed early, tonight!

We started our day off by packing the rest of our stuff really quickly, getting breakfast, and then checking out. We’ll be back in Seoul on Wednesday, and our current location is the Golgulsa Temple in Gyeongju.

We went to Seoul Station to take a train to Gyeongju; the station was really nice and fancy, and I snagged a coffee, a couple of bread pastries for the road (green bean flavored, one of my favorites—apparently also Dr. Yun’s favorites, so I gave him one as well!), and then I called my family members to give a quick update about our trip so far. Apparently, my data kind of sucked, so they couldn’t really hear, but I did my best before finally boarding the train.

It was a 2 hour ride to Gyeongju, and we stopped for lunch where I had bibimbap, before going up to the temple. Gorgeous views throughout the entirety of the travel up!

When we finally go to the temple, it was a bit hectic—we were given vests and pants and then had to haul our luggage ALL the way up the hill. I could hear my parents laughing in my ear during the ordeal (they had warned me I might regret bringing a large, heavy checked bag and a carry on on top of a personal item; they were right). We were being accommodated in a building a bit further up, but when we finally put our stuff down and changed a bit we went to a sunmudo training session (a form of Buddhist martial arts). It was really neat!

A couple of us then participated in the 108 prostrations. My feet were hurting from so much activity, so I didn’t do all 108, but I did a majority of them. We then went to dinner (potluck style), which was pretty good! And then we watched a special performance. There was traditional dances and music performed and it was gorgeous. I also participated in a yoga demonstration (I sucked)!

A group of us then tried to go up and see a statue of Buddha on the top of the mountain, but unfortunately it was off limits due to the mountain being more dangerous at night.

Overall, we had a good first day at the temple! Tomorrow we have an early morning rise before leaving at around 10:40 for checkout to get to Pohang.

No song title, as there’s not a song I can easily find to tie back to this experience!