Yesterday Andrew, Hollye and I went to 보문사 [Bomun temple], which is on Seongmo Island which is off the coast of the larger Ganghwa Island which is basically straight west of Seoul at the mouth of Han River. We took a long, slow, local bus from Ilsan to Ganghwa County Seat, thence on a different bus (after some confusion as to where to catch it) to Oepo-ri on Ganghwa’s west side, then a short ferry ride across the channel to Seongmo, and finally, after lunch of clam noodle soup and spicy herring salad, a last bus around Seongmo Island to the location of the temple.
Here are some pictures from this trip.
Waiting to board the ferry at Oepo-ri.
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Looking back at Oepo-ri from aboard the ferry.
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Many hungry seagulls freeloading off the “do not feed the birds”-disregarding Koreans.
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Looking back while walking up the steep driveway to the temple.
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The temple gate.
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Looking up at the temple area.
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Andrew and Hollye walking behind me.
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A large collection of statues regarding a stupa. I’m not really sure what this represents.
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Looking up the mountain at our ultimate destination.
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Looking down a big old tree.
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The entrance to the grotto temple.
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Temple details.
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Small figurines hanging out on some mossy rocks.
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Going farther up the mountainside, there was a cast bronze statue of a many-headed, many-tailed dragon.
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Looking back down the mountainside.
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At the top of the many, many stairs we found the famous buddha relief carved in the cliff-side looking out to sea.
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Then we found a back-trail back down the mountainside. This sign says “danger.”
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Looking out while waiting for the return ferry.
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Another ferry parking beside ours.
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Some views of boats upon our return to Oepo-ri.
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Here is a collection of temple-wall paintings thrown in here at the end of this here blogpost.
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