More Bongeunsa Photos

Cherry blossoms

Bongeunsa is a Buddhist temple in Gangnam. It was built in 794, but few of the original building remain.

Skyscrapers

It's hard to completely leave the city behind, but it's still peaceful and quiet, particularly if you just came from the COEX building.

Flowers

It's worth visiting in the spring, to see all the flowers. They also grow grapes, so if you go in the right season, you can pick them yourself. Unless I imagined that. I definitely had grapes once when I was there, but I'm not completely certain they grew them there. I find Korean grapes to be a bit too grape-y flavored. That probably says more about the quality of grapes in the US though. I've had some fantastic strawberries though. 

Buddha

The state of Buddha is actually much larger than it looks in this picture, but I don't really like the other photos I took, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Temple Buildings

It took awhile to get used to all the reverse swastikas. You see it a lot on maps, it's a symbol for a Buddhist temple. It means the same thing in Japan, but I think it's more common to see it painted on the temple itself in South Korea.

Lanterns

I believe these lanterns are for Buddha's birthday. They put out lanterns for a lot of the festivals. I've seen lotus-shaped ones and all-white ones. I posted more photos of them here: Lanterns in South Korea

Man reading a newspaper

Not everyone was there to pray or sight-see. I think some people were locals trying to stay out of the heat. There are a lot of volunteers and monks walking around too. Quite a few people spoke English and were willing to talk about Buddhism - they have day programs where you can follow the monks around. Everyone I talked to were super-calm and peaceful. It's very different from the rest of Seoul. I imagine most temples are like that.

Side of temple building

To get there: Take Line 2 to Samseong. Take exit 6 and walk north (away from the big intersection). Take a left at the next intersection, and look for the trees (it's on the other side of the road, so cross over). I think you could also take Line 7 and get off at Cheongdam, but it's a longer walk. It's been a few years since I've been there, so it's probably a good idea to double-check before you go.

Bongeunsa Official Website

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Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

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Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul

I took these pictures a few years ago when I was living about an hour south of Seoul. Usually when I went to Seoul, I was looking for English language books or good foreign food, but did visit a few interesting places. I'd love to go back to see the things I missed.

Hyangwongeong Pavilion with the museum in the background

Gyeongbokgung Palace was originally built in 1394. It's been nearly demolished and rebuilt twice. They are still rebuilding it now. It was only about a third done when I went. There were originally over 300 buildings. It must have been a huge complex.

One of the inner buildings

 

A small gate

Gwanghwamun - the main gate into the Palace

The city is built up right to the palace walls on the south, so you can see the skyscrapers. I think the other three directions are greener. Apparently since I've taken this picture, they moved the entire gate 14 meters south. I had wanted to go back right before I left, but it was blocked off, so I was lucky I went when I did.

Corner of one of the buildings

I like how every bit of wood was painted, even the parts most people wouldn't be looking at. 

My feeling is this was taken somewhere on the western side of the complex, but unfortunately I don't remember where.

View Larger Map

To get there: Take Line 3 and get off at Gyeongbokgung station. You could also get off at Gwanghwamun station on Line 5. It's only a few blocks away, and depending on where you are coming from, it might save you from transferring and going another 3 stops. I think the Kyobo bookstore (which had a decent English section) is right by Gwanghwamun station.

Gyeongbokgung - Korean Tourism Org 

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Lanterns in South Korea

Bongeunsa Temple, Seoul, South Korea, near the COEX building.
This was for a holiday. I'm not sure which one, but I believe the lanterns are lotus blossoms.

Also at Bongeunsa Temple.

Gunpo, South Korea. This town is between Anyang and Suwon, south of Seoul. Admittedly the lanterns are pretty small, but I thought the flowers looked beautiful so I'm including it anyway.

This is in the art mall off of Insadong, a street in Seoul. There are a lot of art galleries and tea shops in the area. It's pretty crowded and touristy, but I think it's worth a visit (and I'm not a big fan of galleries).

At the top of the mall in the last picture, looking towards the street. I believe this was the day of Lotus Lantern Festival. If you are in May, definitely try to see the parade. The date varies because it's based on the lunar calendar, but it's on or near Buddha's Birthday.

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Hong Kong

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Nova Scotia coast

Just outside of Chester

The ocean was incredibly still.

Aspotogan

This is in Northwest Cove, just up the road from Aspotogan.

I liked the colorful buildings and boats.

This was near Peggy's Cove

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Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

 

Lunenburg Harbor 

Lunenburg Academy.

This is a public elementary school. I would be pretty intimidated going to school here, I think. Certainly a lot more impressive than my elementary school.

 

I wish I had gotten another picture of this church during the day. It looks much smaller in the picture for some reason, it's pretty large in real life.

The downtown area. There are cuter streets, but I didn't get any photos of them.

A lot of the buildings are very colorful.

By the harbor

Old warehouse

Lunenburg is one of the big tourist destinations in Nova Scotia, but on a rainy day in September, it wasn't crowded at all. Unfortuntely I wasn't feeling that well, so I didn't get a chance to explore. There are some beautiful areas nearby, of which I'll post photos later.

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