Hongbeop-sa Temple Stay, Busan temple and fish market.

I had the chance to do a Buddhist Temple Stay at Hongbeop-sa Temple in Seondugu-dong (near Busan). This temple stay was one of the coolest, neatest, tiring, strangest, hardest things I've ever done! But so so so worth it. It was so special for me to participate in a temple stay because at my old school of Kam Mul, I taught kids who were living with Monks and training to be Monks one day. They would get up everyday at 4 AM! And I wondered why they were tired or grumpy in my afternoon classes; I guess it makes sense! It really helped me understand them so much more and the life that they live. 

Every 6 month contract with TaLK we got 100,000 won (about $100) for a trip on our own and 100,000 won each for a trip with our Korean co-scholar - a Korean college student who would come to school to help us out once or twice a week! They were a blessing to have. Jinny, my Korean co-scholar, and I decided to head down on to the southern coast of Korea, to Busan, the 2nd largest city in Korea next to Seoul. We arrived rather late in to Busan on Friday night - as it is about 4 hours from Cheongju by bus. We stayed our first night in a hostel.

Haedong Yonggunsa Temple (해동 용궁사), Busan.

The next morning we headed to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (해동 용궁사) which is right on the ocean. A pretty scenic place that is a must if you are in Busan. I got to see some people worshipping and paying their respects as well as some tourists, well I guess there were some tourists - or maybe I was the only one! 

I'm the year of the snake!

We walked around the grounds for a couple hours until we had to head up to the northern part of Busan to go to our temple stay. We had a bit of a hard time getting there. Our taxi driver got us lost just trying to get to the bus stop from the Temple, then we couldn't figure out the bus system once we got up near our temple stay. But we finally made it, thanks to Jinny. I wasn't much help! 

Hangbeop-sa Temple Stay.

We got there by going to Nopo-dong Subway/Bus station at the very end of Line 1 (Orange). We took a shuttle bus to the temple that they provided after a bit of confusion!

Here's a VIDEO (click the word video) I made about my experience and to prove that I did indeed do the 108 bows!

We arrived, happily, until they began scolding us (in Korean, so not for sure what was being said) for being late as they handed us our temple clothes that we had to wear at all times. They were not super flattering but were actually pretty comfortable. 

The Rules.

We finally got into the kitchen/dining room area where everyone else (the other 8 or so people doing the temple stay were gathered) and say that we were very sorry that we were so late to the Monk and all the others. Jinny said some really nice sounding Korean words. I said, 'I'm sorry'. That seemed to work since EVERYONE there was Korean and I was the ONLY non-Korean. It was fine. I actually preferred it that way, it was more of a real experience. The only bad thing is I HAD NO IDEA what was going on. The WHOLE TIME I was pretty lost. Luckily a couple of the Koreans there on the stay and of course my friend Jinny helped translate a bit, but it's hard for them to translate all of it for me. I actually understood quite a bit - thanks hand gestures, body language and the few words (mostly food words) that I know! When in doubt, I just copied what everyone else was doing! 

We first had to learn about the rules. They were pretty strict rules. Pretty much be respectful and don't be dumb and be QUIET, all times be really quiet. No affection either and no shoes indoors. Not much make-up or bright clothes (which is why we all had on dull colored rob like gowns they gave us) no smoking, no drinking, no meat. 

Tour of the grounds.

Dinner.

Then we had to learn how to correctly unpack our dinner bowls and chopsticks and spoons. It was such a process and pretty complicated. We had to place each item in the correct location and then we had to put it all back, tie up the bow and wait. I was so hungry I just wanted food. Then we had to serve the food. I got chosen as a server - lucky me - the down side to being the only foreigner! I think it was because I was one of the youngest there, but who really knows. The monk really scared me, so I just did as I was told. And I served the soup by pouring it into everyone's bowls. 

We all had to eat very quietly, no clanking of the spoons and no slurping (which Korea had taught me how to do so well). I was so scared they were going to hurt me if I even made the slightest noise, so I took way longer to eat! They were all waiting for me at the end to finish my food, super awkward. I finally finished my bowl of rice and veggies (no meat of course, sadly). They are not very big on waste. So we had to eat everything, and whatever was left you added water to and drank it. Weird. Thankfully I ate all mine! Then we had to all go to the sink and clean the dishes out with water and later we had to pack up our dishes how they taught us.

Ceremony.

Next we made our way over to the temple for the ceremony. There were a lot of drums, a slide show presentation and the oh so cool and not so cool work-out of 108 bows. "Buddhist believe that mankind experiences 108 periods of anguish in their lifetime. One must bow 108 times to be freed of such anguish." (from this website). Now that doesn't sound like all that many but believe me by the end I could hardly walk and the next morning - oh let's just not talk about that pain! It was a pretty cool experience, really. I just honestly can't believe the monks do that every single day. Day in and day out. That is dedication right there!

I just wanted to photograph the temple, so in the evening when we were freed from our bowing duties I headed out with my tri-pod and camera to get some photos. I spent quite a while out there, freezing my face and hands off, but man was it worth it. I stayed out until one of the monks came and motioned for me to come in and I'm pretty sure he said a couple English words. I finished my last shot and headed in.

Some of the volunteer workers at the temple let us come into their room to get some fruit, since let's be real veggies aren't super filling. It was so sweet of them. They informed us how the monk leading this temple stay is quite the stickler. Um, yeah he totally is. I was just so glad to have a moment to not be doing something and to get to know some of the others in the group! Most spoke English which was such a relief. 

Meditation.

Then we had to go into another room where the monk talked forever and ever in Korea with the occasional English word. It really was rather cute the way he tried to accommodate me! He said he was bad at English, when really he was pretty good, so I know it was just an excuse to not speak it. At the end of the long long long lecture about what? .. I really have no clue. We had to do another ceremony of relaxation where we all sat in a circle around the room facing outward with our hands making a circle while we meditated and cleared our minds. I am pretty sure I almost feel asleep and almost fell over several times. But we had to sit up super straight and keep amazing posture or he would come over and straighten our backs. It was quite hard really, but somewhat relaxing I guess. By this time it was getting pretty late and I just kept thinking, man come on let us sleep we have to wake up at 4 AM (luckily in the winter it's a bit later - normally they wake up at 3 AM). I mean come on that's just mean. 

Bedtime.

We were finally sent to our rooms. They were really quite nice - a shower, toilet and lots and lots of floor space for us to lay our mats and pillows. I slept like a baby, well until 4 AM. Then it was up and into our super rad, burlap-y type garments with layers and layers under and over because we were headed out to 'wake-up' nature. We shuffled around the grounds of the temple for at least a half hour in the dark, one right after the other. A monk leading us, hitting an instrument, singing and chanting the whole time. We just shuffled along, freezing, tired and sore. 

Breakfast.

Then it was back inside the temple for more worship, but no more bowing, just watching them this time and singing and chanting. Finally breakfast. Thankfully.

Tea Time with the head Monk.

And then we got to meet and have tea with the head Monk, maybe there is an actual name for him, but I honestly don't remember. I just know it was kind of a big deal.

Ok, so picture this, I traveled down to Busan, then went to see a temple the next morning and then made my way to this current temple, had to serve food, bow 108 times, took pictures in the freezing cold, meditated, slept on a floor and woke up at 4 AM to walk around the grounds, and then you want me to sit and listen to a mono-toned monk speak in Korean (a language I hardly understand) WITHOUT FALLING ASLEEP! YOU'VE GOT TO BE JOKING! I mean when you wake up at 4AM, 9 AM is about nap time! I am not kidding you guys, I caught my self nodding off at least 3 times. I am praying no one else saw! He did try to include me at least twice by asking me something in Korean and then everyone looked at me and I sat there with a blank stare until they translated. Then I answered and they translated back. Oh dear. Well, at least we got a few pieces of fruit out of the deal, that was nice and delicious. 

Then we went to a room and hung out and filed out a questionnaire about our experience, which they had one in English so that was nice! I got to talk to the group members a little bit more and we actually became good friends with a few of them (and met up with them later).

The whole crew.

Jinny and I left early, which by this point I wasn't too sad about. What did I learn - being a monk is kind of a hard job! I mean it was a really neat experience, but wow it was hard. Maybe it would have been more meaningful if I would have understood what was happening, but hey - whatever. It was an amazing experience that I would love to do again one day, but in English this time!


But wait let me take a selfie.

So we found this super duper cool couch sitting next to the side of the road where the shuttle picked us up. I saw it on the way up to the Temple and told Jinny, we are going to take pictures there! When we got dropped off, that's what we did. We took pictures. Well mostly I took pictures. Seriously how cool? I just wish I had access to this ALL the time for my family photo shoots and kid shoots in America! 

  

     

Jagalchi Fish Market.

Here's more information and how to find it! 

WARNING -- DEAD FISH/WEIRD SEA ANIMAL PICTURES TO FOLLOW. SCROLL UP OR SCROLL QUICKLY DOWN A WAYS IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT! 

We headed back down south, near the ocean, to the Jagalchi Busan Fish Market. A super huge outdoor market full of nothing but raw fish. Of ALL kinds. Octopus, squid, shell fish, and even shark. It's crazy and stinky and crowded with Koreans.

So this little guy (octopus) just wanted to escape and make it back to the ocean - to freedom. We watched him take a tumble over the side a couple of times. But you better believe the adjumma (an older Korean lady) marched right over there and flopped him back in. Not even phased. You can tell she has done that a few times!

 So many many people, all wanting to buy stinky fish things.

Most of the things in this market didn't bother me. This next photo, however, did. For many reasons but the main one being that so many sharks are being killed in our oceans for fins (the rest isn't used, most times). They are losing population. You might say good. They are horrible and they are a killing machines. Well you're right, they are, and we need those killing machines in our oceans to balance out the Eco system. So there. That's my rant. Please don't support the killing of sharks. Thanks.

Dinner.

After experiencing that for a while, we met up with some of our friends from the temple stay. They live in Busan and wanting to eat dinner with us! We got some seafood (of course) of all kinds. Fish, raw things, and even things that were still moving a little. That's normal. 

Right next to the fish market was the ocean (well that makes sense). So after eating we took a little stroll and looked out over the water at Busan. What a beautiful ending to a lovely weekend vacation!

All in all it was a fun-filled very eventful weekend full of things that you just simply can't experience that easily in America. It was the perfect last trip in Korea!