Songnisan

Erika and Simeon have both been fighting colds. I have a bit of a sore throat, which is how their colds started. It was pretty inevitable that I would get it. Nevertheless we took off today for Songnisan, a place two hours away that Dan and Erika enjoyed on a previous visit. The scenery getting there was spectacular with hairpin turns and sevral tunnels. Erika was very proud of herself for finding it on GPS and following the instructions to get there.

'San' means 'mountain' as you may have noticed from our previous hike to Yeonginsan. 'Sa' means 'temple' and Beopju-sa, established in 553, was our destination at Songnisan. From the parking lot behind a street lined with restaurants and tea shops, we followed this river upstream.

The temple gates were guarded by a lot of mythical creatures. Simeon foudn them especially fascinating.

As soon as we passed through the gate, he made a bee line for this statue. I'm afraid it reminded me of Nebuchadnezzer's golden image we read about in the Bible story book the night before.

Erika had raved about the scenery, mountains surrounding the temple. We weren't disappointed.

Erika checked her email while I went around taking way too many photos.

Simeon walked the whole way there (maybe a mile or mile and a half). After running around to explore, he found some rocks that made perfect cars, and we just sat under the tree and admired the view.

The giant Buddha dominated the scene from every angle.

There is a wonderful network of trails to various temples and peaks. I'm sure the views would be awesome on a day like today. But without Dan we weren't prepared to attempt them with Simeon even if he is a good walker. Another time. We had to head back to Peongtaek.

The kids are loving this beautiful country, and we plan to be back to explore some more in 2016.