Busan: Seokbulsa Temple (서 크 볼 라)

Somewhere, nestled into the side of Geumjeongsan Mountain is Seokbulsa Temple (literally meaning "Rock Buddha Temple").  This is where I finally had my "Oh wow I'm in South Korea" moment.  The two girls I was with both had that moment of realization on the plane ride here, either calling a family member for the last time before taking off or using their visa to enter the country.  For me, all that was a blur of unfamiliar sounds and images.  It wasn't until I had spent the entire day hiking, looking for an elusive temple that most Koreans didn't even recognize, and finally exploring a Buddhist Temple looking down on the entire, sprawling city of Busan that zig-zagged in and out of the foot of various lush mountains that I thought, "I'm here." 

It seems like a lame set of directions, but I'm still not sure how to get to the actual park, so the best thing to do would be to take Line 1 to Oncheonjang Station and simply take a cab to Geumgang Park.  Me and my friends took the other, most reliable form of directions: get lost, and ask a random woman where to go, who will walk the twenty minutes with you up hill leading you directly to the entrance.  Another reason to love Korea.  From there you take the cable car one way.  Gretchen's eyes widened a little when I said that.

"Brianna," she said looking up at the giant mountain before us, "are you sure? One way?"

The only other option is to find the paved road that leads directly to the temple.  It's got vans passing every few minutes, it's very steep, and that way does not involve a cable car, which would truly be missing out on something. It was beautiful.  Seeing Busan sprawled out before you as you climb thousands of feet is worth the trip to Geumgang Park alone. 

Once at the top, my two friends looked at me expectantly.  "What's next?"  I fumbled with my directions, a conglomerate of various blogs that had super helpful tips like "make a left when it gets rocky".  I was nervous and suprised that these two women trusted me enough to follow me into these vast woods to find what was a fairly unknown temple, but excited by the sense of risk, responsibility, and adventure that it brung.

"It says to find the South Gate, turn around, and take the path that you didn't use to get there," I said.

"That sounds like a riddle."

"Well, from there we should find Namman Village, so once we get there we will re-evaluate."

Thankfully it was a holiday, so in typical Korean form, many people were out hiking and enjoying nature.  No one knew what Seokbulsa Temple was, but everyone knew South Gate and Namman Village, so we found our way eventually through a series of following pointed fingers.  The South Gate is definitely a wonderful place to stop to rest.  Like most everything else, the fortress was destroyed in the Japanese Occupation from 1910-1945, but it was originally built in 1701 as a defense against, ironically, the Chinese.  Just down the path a couple of minutes is the village.  Although we didn't, I wish we had stopped for lunch at Namman.  Every place greeted us with a friendly "anyang" and offered us a place to order traditional Korean food.  We knew we were getting close because the people there started recognizing the temple name. 

For about twenty minutes after the village we fell down the mountain.  It was so steep, "hiking" would be an innapproriate term.  There were ropes to hold on to and you could definitely stop if you had the willpower, but going too fast was not an option with so many boulders in the way.

"Didn't you say if it got rocky we were going the right way?" asked Rachel.

"We definitely have to be going the right way."

From there we found a paved road, made a right, and went uphill.  Very uphill.  To mistake the last climb as "not worth it" would be an gross misunderstanding.  Entering the area is nothing short of breath-taking.  Truly in-sync with nature, the temple is built within the side of the mountain.  Stone steps take you to various rooms to pray in, and an precarious crawl through small openings of stone will lead you to yet another place of prayer, reflection, and breath-taking views.  Huge statues are carved into the sides of the walls and in various corners of the cliff of both Buddha and protectors.  Because of the holiday, vibrant lanterns were hung and many of the images were decorated with other bright colors.  After wandering around in awe, we wandered back through the entrance for some free bimimbap and tea in honor of the holiday.

Rachel turned to me and said, "You realize we were at a Buddhist Temple in Korea on Buddha's Birthday right?"

The original entrance

I smiled. Having it said out loud I suddenly felt a sense of truly owning my life.  For so long I've wanted to travel the world but it seemed a fleeting, impossible whim.  Something that was too good to be true.  Now I found myself with new friends on the side of a mountain in a foreign country, sitting at a typical Korean table with traditional food honoring Buddha on a mountain in Busan.  It was one of those rare moment in life where you can actually see how your actions led you to exactly where you are.  It was a wonderful view.