Hiking
During our travels in Asia, hiking and seeing temples have been a huge part of our experience and enjoyment. The geography of Korea is hilly and green which leads to a great time on the weekends.
View overlooking Ulsan on one of our weekend hikes.
Hiking in Korea is part exercise and part fashion show. Since Korea is so mountainous trails are everywhere, easily accessible, and not too difficult. Residents will purchase expensive new outfits just to wear them hiking. Jennifer and Kevin took a hike to the top of the mountain only wearing shorts and t-shirts and when we reached the summit we met a group of people that took the cable car up. Everyone was wearing full hiking gear, like the women in the picture, so they could look good when they took their selfies over the beautiful view!
Most family's will take a hike on Sunday afternoons on the mountain near their house (the one behind our house is Yeompo). Since the trails are well established it's hard to get lost as all the trails, regardless of which one you take, will lead you to the same location.
A trail in the woods near Osaka during our trip to Japan.
Korean wearing full hiking gear to take a walk in the woods!
Coming from Houston the mountains and forests are the best parts about hiking in Korea. We even found some waterfalls and streams - a place call Paraeso Falls - that has a great view - which Miles doesn't seem to care too much about. Here's a gallery of some of the places we've hiked.
Temples
Officially most South Koreans have no formal religion, though the culture as a whole is largely influenced by it. As with most other Asian countries, family respect and reverence is ingrained in the culture - it's a derivation of Chinese Confucianism. Respect for your elders goes so far that students will not correct another student a grade level above them - instead they would just express their own opinion on the problem.
Although Christianity is the largest of the recognized formal religions (27%), Buddhism (15%) plays a larger role in the history of the country. It's also worth noting that, from our opinion, there is no strict observance of one religion over another; for example you could be Christian and still celebrate Buddha's Birthday.
A temple lighted up celebrating Buddha's Birthday
Statues depicting Buddhist Characters guarding the temple.
Buddhist temples are very colorful and each color represents a different religious trait (White - Purity, Blue - Loving Kindness, etc.) and also the different elements (Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, etc.). They also fly the colorful flags with the idea that the wind will spread each of these ideas to the people surrounding the temple. From a religious standpoint each countries Buddhist practice is slightly different, with the main over-arching concept being the same. Jennifer, who is Buddhist, studied mainly in Nepal so the specific Korean Buddhist practices are a little different.
A temple building with a large bell and drum
Since most temples are located up in the mountains - this was from ancient times for religious and strategic reasons - both Jennifer and Kevin enjoyed the hike up and looking at the beautiful buildings.
A mural depicting the story of Gutei's Finger.
The murals in the temples are also used to give life lessons and teachings. Kevin's favorite is the story of Gutei's Finger: Gutei, a Buddhist Zen master, taught hist students by raising his finger. One day one of the students started to imitate him (or mock, the translation's unclear) so Master Gutei cut off the students finger. When the boy started to run away Gutei called after him and raised his finger, in that instant the boy became enlightened. The point of the story, from Kevin's poor understanding, is that simple imitation does not equate to belief, you have to find true belief for yourself.
For more pictures from our Hiking and Temple visits take a look at the full gallery here.