April 30 & May 1
We celebrated Buddha’s birthday April 30 and Labor Day on May 1. On Buddha’s birthday, we hiked up our nearby hill where we had discovered a small Buddhist temple. The temple was colorfully decorated with lanterns which had wishes/hopes attached. Since the temple was open, we were able to go inside the temple and look around the grounds.
entry way 
lanterns for Buddha’s birthday 
temple drum 
lanterns with hopes/wishes 
murals on temple walls 
inside temple 
temple ceiling 
worshipers 
altar 
kimchi pots 
in courtyard 
area building
On May 1 SeongHan (MCC staff) took us to Seoraksan Mountain National Park and the coast.
location of park and coast
Seoraksan is the highest mountain in our province in eastern South Korea. It is the third highest mountain in South Korea. We hiked about 4.5 miles round trip – down and then up. The scenery was stunning. Our local meal in the middle of the hike was delicious.
starting on hike 
hiking 
following a stream 
nature 
waterfalls 
many bridges 
swinging bridge! 
stream 
bridge 
trail 
nature 
another bridge 
path 
cherry blossoms 
berdua 
buddhist temple 
temple grounds 
azalea 
lunch 
nature 
clear water 
nature 
afternoon coffee 
Seoraksan Mountain
From there we went to Yangyang, located on the coast and visited Naksansa Temple which is a Korean Buddhist temple complex. It also had the lanterns strung for Buddha’s birthday. Naksansa was founded in 671. The temple mount is crowned by the Buddhist statue of Haesugwaneumsang ( Bodhisattva of Mercy), standing 49 feet high on a 9.2 ft high pedestal and was dedicated in 1977. It is the largest Buddhist statue of its kind in the Asia
beach in Yangyang 
climbing to temple 
lighthouse 
temple grounds 
temple grounds 
pavilion looking out to ocean 
along coast 
lighthouse 
grounds 
pond 
🙂 
temple 
Naksansa 
Haesugwaneumsang 
looking down coast 
more lanterns 
temple bell 
grounds 
temple 
grounds
