Such a shame

Monday, myself, Eun-Joung, Paula, Jen and James went into the hills to see a Buddhist temple. We got a coach to the next city, Jun-Ju, the biggest city in the district. From there we took a rust bucket of a local bus into the country. The ride was fast and bumpy and we could not help but make references to Speed, the driver making a good Sandra Bullock. When we got there, the temple was perfectly situated in a backdrop of rivers and forest covered hills. The view was magnificent. The temple had four gates, various prayer and meditation rooms, and a bell thing that you swing a log against to dispell the evil spirits from the world (does that include soju?!). I took a few pictures with my new digital camera:



Aforementioned bell thingy.



A beautiful backdrop for a temple, with the kind of woods you would like to get lost in...



The ceiling of one of the prayer rooms. All of the buildings had this style of painting on the ceiling, the colours blocked and vibrant. Can you see the dragon? Looks deceptively friendly to me...



The temple had a raised garden behind this wall...ascending the stairs to the garden allowed me to take the last picture of the temple posted on this blog



Statue of Buddha inside on of the prayer rooms



Spotted this on the way to the temple. Not sure what it is, but it was looking kinda lonely, so I took a photo of it.







Monday and tuesday was rounded off with videos and booze as usual, though I spent the whole of Tuesday asleep. Today myself, James, Paula, Jeremy, and two americans (whom I really cannot remember the names of, but are a really sweet couple) went to a pizza restaurant, where I opted for pasta, as it had vegetables in it. It has been weeks since I have included vegetables in my diet due to being ill. Afterwards James took me to a park situated by the port, which holds various sculptures, some of them quite rude. (I have a photo of James posing suggestively with one of them).



Today was so hot the sweat was dripping off me, but I was grateful for the shade offered by the trees. The leaves have not yet started to turn here in Gunsan (or out by the temple); I am looking forward to when they do. On the way back James took me down the side of the hill through some rubble and dirt; I was not impressed. I swallowed my pride and allowed him to hold my hand to help me down, as my shoes were not suitable for the terrain. There was no way I was going to allow him to carry my rucksack though.

We took a taxi back into the city and I showed him were the dojan is; he will be starting Gumdo with me tomorrow. He already knows the martial art of the Japanese Samuris, so I will be extremely jealous if he progresses at a faster rate than me. We went back to his apartment where he introduced me to his rabbits (which he insists he is going to put in a stew when he leaves), and his his pellet gun. After a while I was able to work out the path of the pellet when fired, so was able to shoot with some level of accuracy.

So now I am sat here in this PC room, Chusok having drawn to a close. Tomorrow its Gumdo with James and screaming from the kids. Its such a shame that its over, but I am looking forward to starting Gumdo.