{Day 5} Buddhist Temples & Pottery Class

Today was another beautiful day and a very, very busy one! I feel like I have said that every day, but today this was especially true. After a good night of sleep and a delicious breakfast buffet (I am eating way too much on this trip but they are feeding us so well!), we ventured out to our first stop, a Buddhist temple. I can't say that I was particularly thrilled about this because I really have no desire to visit any temples. They always giving me a funny feeling. But since I am co-leading this tour and it was on the schedule, of course I had to go. I will admit, it was rather interesting.

Entering into the temple, we had to pass these guys. They are apparently hear to "remove the evil spirits from you." Ok then... I thought they were kind of funny looking. I mean, one of them was playing a guitar of some sort after all!

After passing the "evil remover men," we were in the temple. We could observe them bowing and worshiping their Buddha. They were chanting and bowing, and chanting some more. And the smell of incense was a bit intense. One thing I do find interesting is the different Buddha's in the different countries. For example, China's Buddha looks different from Thailand's Buddha and different from Korea's Buddha. I always like to pray over these places when I am there and so I did just that this morning.

The painting is just beautiful as well as the architecture. 

This little pig will apparently allow you to get a lot of money if you rub his back three times. It's just asking for MERS if you ask me. Everyone washed their hands afterwards.

From there we moved onto another temple area. This one didn't have monks though. This was a youth well. If you drink the water, you will look young. So they say.

All these lanterns were up in honor of Buddha's birthday which was in May. I thought they were beautiful!

Since we were on top of a mountain, the view was gorgeous!

From the temples, we had a delicious lunch and then were off to our pottery class. We

He has made some gorgeous pieces! I would love to bring one of these home but they are expensive and would be so hard to travel with. 

Then we got to attempt making some pottery! Needless to say, I did NOT miss my calling...

After our pottery class, we headed back to the hotel for much needed naps. Downtown for dinner where we all had McDonald's. I think everyone is starting to get a little tired of Korean food. We walked around downtown and then went to a beautiful park with a pond.

Finally back to our hotel and we are all exhausted. It was a fun day but we are all going to sleep well after all the walking and fresh air we got today. Tomorrow morning we check out and then drive about an hour to Busan which is where the beach is! Needless to say, I cannot wait!

{Day 4} Palace, Korean Folk Village & Geongju

Bright and early we met in the lobby with all of our luggage because today is the day that we are leaving Seoul and heading south to Gyungju. We are storing most of our luggage at our hotel here in Seoul because we will be back on Thursday for our last two nights in Korea. We then loaded the bus and headed to Gyeongbok Palace. This was conveniently located across the street from our hotel but since we were heading out of town afterwards, we road the bus there. 

Each family had a student tour guide who showed us around the palace. It was very fascinating but to me, it reminded me a lot of Forbidden City in Beijing. I could show you all pictures of Forbidden City and you probably wouldn't know the difference!

This was our student guide, Jessica. Clearly I look very thrilled by the tour!

After the palace, we hopped on the bus and drove about an hour to see a Traditional Korean Folk Village. At the entrance they had this huge stone monument with rope around it. You would take a piece of paper, write a wish on it, and then attach it to the rope.

What do you think of these guys?

We spent about an hour walking around the Folk Village.  

What do you think of this squatty potty?

Herb garden.

After a delicious lunch, it was on to the bus again for a four hour drive to Gyeonju. The bus ride went pretty fast because most of us were tired and napped for half of it, stopped for a short break, and then we did karaoke because after all, we are on the "party bus." It sure made the time go fast!

In the city of Gyeonju, there is a rule that you need to have this type of roof. Even the gas stations had it!

Gyeongju is very peaceful and relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Seoul. This is the view from my balcony, I'm definitely not in Oklahoma anymore!

Our hotel is also located on this beautiful lake with walk paths around it. After a very big dinner, I went for a little walk. It was lovely!

Busy, busy day and I am tired. Tomorrow we are going to visit some Buddhist temples. That should be interesting!