Gakwonsa Temple

Last Saturday, we decided to take a day trip to Gakwonsa Temple. It is about a 30 minute drive from Camp Humphreys. With it being the first official weekend that we were able to travel the peninsula since February, we knew we wanted to go somewhere exciting. This temple did not disappoint. It is a buddhist temple in Cheonan. Just like the temple and palace we visited in Seoul, I fell in love with the architecture and colors that are used.

There are about 6 different temple buildings at this location. Some are for worship, while other buildings are for the monks to use who live at the site. We only went up the one main worship temple that has the 3 Buddhas inside it, but we did not go inside. Unlike the temple we went to in Seoul where you could not see inside from the outside, this one had it’s windows open and everything was in plain view. I learned in Seoul that you are not supposed to take pictures inside the temple, so even though we were outside, I still did not feel comfortable to take pictures of the inside. I wanted to respect their religion and culture.

It is home to the largest Buddha statue in all of Korea, it is 15 meters high (about 50 feet) and is 60 tons of bronze. This particular Buddha is Amita-bul, the Buddha of Western Paradise. There is an area in front of the Buddha for people to light candles and place mats down to pray.

Behind the temple, we went up a small incline and found some nature trails. For those that know me, there is a reason my middle name is not Grace. I inherited my mother’s gracefulness which means I have none. The amount of times I have fallen and sprained or twisted my knees or ankles is unreal, probably close to about two or three times a year, and that is only since being with Buddy. Short side story to explain more, I was wearing tennis shoes on flat ground inside the gym senior year at Union in badminton class. I was literally just walking to the net, tripped over air, and fell twisting my ankle in the process. When I went to get up, my ankle wouldn’t let me put pressure on it. The second time I tried to get up, someone grabbed my left hand to help me up, and I yelled out in pain. A couple of hours later and several x-rays later, not only had I twisted my ankle when I fell, I broke my elbow in 3 places (which included having a small bone flip 180 degrees) and tore a ligament and tendon. That was on a Thursday morning, and the very next Monday I had surgery to put screws in my elbow. So, naturally, I am apprehensive at doing certain activities where I feel like I might fall.

We had started going up one of the nature trails behind the temple, but at a certain point, it started going straight up and I was losing my balance. I knew Buddy wanted to keep going, so I gave him a deadline of 10 minutes to go see more and then come back to me. So there’s me, an American, just standing in the middle of the trail with all of these Koreans who keep passing me. They’re all very nice and we say hello to each other and they continue. Well, 10 minutes came and went. Then 15 minutes. Then by the time 20 minutes came and passed, which made Buddy 10 minutes late, I started getting nervous. I was in the middle of these Korean woods with no idea where my husband is and a very large language barrier, plus he had the car keys. Finally, there was a Korean couple who was coming towards me, which meant that they had hopefully passed Buddy at some point. I quickly got my phone out of my pocket and opened up google translate. I typed in “Did you see an American on trail?” and I showed it them as they passed by me. They both shook their head no. Welp, I had no idea what to do. Then 30 minutes passed by. So I started to walk back down the mountain by myself, which was scary in itself, when I started hearing my name yelled. I walked back up a little ways to find Buddy with his hands full of mochi ice cream and watermelon. Apparently, he had made it to the top of the mountain, where he found a really nice older Korean couple who told him they had never seen an American finish the hike up. They had kept giving him water and treats, and Buddy has a soft side for old couples, so he couldn’t say no to them. Then he had to come back down the steep mountain with his hands full, which was difficult, so he took it super slow, hence him coming back way after his deadline to me.

Overall, we loved our little trip to Gakwonsa. We had not ventured to Cheonan yet, but there were several restaurants and shops we passed that we want to go back to, so sometime soon, we will be going back to the area.