Cheongpyeongsa
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2006
1
5
57
Trip End
Jun 15, 2007
ChunCheon, Korea Rep.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
"Are you typing an entry?" - Bryan
"Everyone thinks you do them all by yourself!" - Lyn
"Hmm, make sure you use spell check." - Bryan
Well about a month ago we went on a really cool excursion to Cheongpyeongsa. A temple way up on a mountain in the outskirts of Chuncheon. We haven't done an entry about it before now because the camera batteries were low and ran out the moment we got to the top of the stair case and saw this wonderfully breathtaking thousand year old temple rise out of the mountain before us perfectly framed between two beautiful pines and with picturesque mountains in the background. It would have been the most wonderful picture. We were crushed, decided we would have to trek back with a full battery at a later date and have spoken no more about it since.
I'm sorry to tell you that we still don't have pictures of Cheongpyeongsa. We do have great pictures of the way to the temple which, upon reflection, is what makes this place so special. You see, you can't drive to this temple.
We started by taking a taxi to Soyang Dam, which in itself is surprisingly picture worthy. It was unexpected to see the hordes of people walking up the road to the dam from the public parking area far below. As we were in a taxi we were spared the long march and dropped off at the top. The view was breathtaking but I couldn't look. I was sure our speeding taxi was going to clobber any one of the teetering toddlers walking up the road with their families. I actually wonder how we didn't get into an accident. I usually wonder that when I'm in a taxi in Korea.
There is a breeze at the top of the dam and beautiful views. To one side, Soyang lake with densely forested mountains all around, floating rice paddy rafts and families on motor boat outings. On the other side is the Soyang river valley and you can see very far into the distance. There are so many people here on weekends that there is a row of vendors inexplicably selling identical wares. I'm not kidding, there are maybe 30 of them with all the same snacks.
Just an aside I can't resist. Soyang Dam is one of Korea's largest and the largest in our city. This past rainy season was unusually heavy and so much water poured into Soyang lake that the dam overflowed, consequently flooding the expressway in Seoul.
Back to my story, we took the ferry from Soyang Dam to the little dock at Cheongpyeongsa. The mountains are so steep that there is nothing on them but trees the whole way. It was a wonderful ride and after we stopped worrying about the floatability of the apparently ancient life jackets we really enjoyed it.
From the ferry's landing point we walked up a mountain trail to the temple. About a half hour hike with more beautiful scenery. We were disappointed to see that the path is very touristy. There are food and souvenir stalls almost the whole way up, though, many with dinning tables directly in the stream, which is kind of neat. I suppose that if it wasn't all touristy we wouldn't have known to go there.
We passed the Gueseong Waterfall. It is said that if you meditate there you can hear nine distinct sounds emanating from the cascade. We have no picture of this but we took seven in front of the preceding waterfall. (It was a tragically poor camera day.)
We passed a rare pond built even before the temple. It was one of Korea's oldest gardens. (No picture.)
The path was lined with Korean Enookshooks (take that spell checker) called Sari Budo. (No picture - I'm as frustrated as you.)
We do have pictures of some cool statues and a grave monument built in 1125.
We have no pictures yet of Cheongpyeongsa but I can leave you with a few details. It was founded as a private academy in 973. It has been destroyed and rebuild many times, lastly because of the Korean war. There is so much painting on the buildings that they are constantly being painted over. Like Gyongbokgung, the painting is the Korean base 5 colours scheme so it looks a lot like the palaces.
Don't be disappointed, we'll be back to take pictures so you can see this place too.
Bye for now,
We miss you all,
Lyndsay and Bryan
Comments
speleng
You have a multitude of people who look forward to your entries, especially me! They are very well done. I laughed at Brian's comment about your spelling. Sweety, when we remember that you were schooled in french and can also do this in french, well I don't think you need to worry. You do great! We appreciate the work you put into them.
Lots of love to the both of you from Charlie & me.
XOXOXOXO
MomE