April 22nd 2007 - Girimsa
April 22nd 2007
Temple-tour to the north
Another week gone and supposedly one week closer to delivering the first ship. Unfortunately, the yard has decided to tow the ship out to anchorage and due to some strong winds, very little work can be done on board. But that said, we are (a little) closer to delivery !
This past week we have had friends over a few nights. It's nice to have company, even though we are a little short of plates and cutlery. Saturday we went to the department store to find a cell phone for Paula. In the end the hassle got the better of us, and now Paula will try to get one of her korean friends to help her. The language barrier is still very much present !!
Y aqui va otra semana , el barco aun no esta listo y estos ultimos dias ha habido mucho viento para hacer las pruebas , pero bueno se supone que a fines de esta semana dejarian todo mas o menos listo.
El sabado fuimos a buscar un celular para mi, pero claro fue un poco dificil explicar a la gente que los vendia lo que queriamos ,asique tendre que pedir a alguna amiga coreana que me acompane en la semana.
Last week I promised you a view from our balcony; that is the front of the apartment. Well, this morning we got pulled out of bed by our Ozzie friends calling us at 7:15 to talk about sunken wrecks and newborn princesses ! Seeing that we had got an early start, I pulled out the camera and took above photo, even though it was a little cloudy this early. Anyway - you might just notice some ships in the background. They're probably either entering or leaving the river mouth at the right side of the photo.
Esta es la vista que tenemos del balcon .
The balcony is Peo's favorite spot for a morning snooze. We're on the 9th floor, so we make sure not to leave the windows open. Cats don't fly !
El balcon es el lugar favorito de Peo , se queda mirando afuera o se pone a mirar a los ninos jugando en el jardin. Estamos en el piso 9 asique nos aseguramos de dejar las ventanas cerradas....o seria "La gata voladora".
Sunday is sightseeing day, so we went up to the Gyeong-ju area again. We were touring the same area last weekend. The hills are littered with temples, tombs (looks like mini viking tombs .. or grassy hills) and pagodas. Here you see Paula in front of a 3-tier stone pagoda - one of the bigger ones in the area.
Hoy domingo fuimos a nuestro paseo dominical a Gyeong-ju. Los cerros estan llenos de templos , tumbas y pagodas. Aqui estoy yo en frente de una Pagoda de 3 pisos, una de las mas grandes del area.
We took the scenic route this time, cruising up the coastline, stopping at the smoke signal station and as here, the black pebble beach. There are plenty of small fishing harbors along the way, but 10 o'clock in the morning is too early for spicy Korean fish barbecue.
Fuimos manejando por el lado de la playas, paramos en una estacion de senales de humo y aqui la playa de piedras negras .
Here we are on our way up to the Girimsa Temple ground. The last few hundreds meters up to the temple were reserved for walkers. Koreans love walking in the hills !
Aqui vamos camino al templo de Girimsa. Se puede llegar en auto hasta unos 100 metros del templo. A los coreanos les encanta caminar y reservan los domingos para visitar los templos y lugares cercanos con la familia. Por supuesto eramos los unicos "occidentales".
Dating back to the 8th century, most of the buildings in Girimsa have been reconstructed. Here you see the bell and drum tower. The monasteries were used as recruiting camps during times of war, so there goes the image of Buddhism as a peaceful religion.
La mayoria de los templos y edificio de Girimsa han sido reconstruidops. Aqui pueden ver la campana en la torre.
Every temple (that we've seen so far) has a gate at the entrance. Normally 4 huge figures are guarding the temple from inside the gate. Here's a view of the gate from inside the temple grounds.
Todos los templos tienen una puerta de entrada. Normalmente 4 figuras enormes son los guardianes de la puerta.
Some of the temples are more colourful than others. This is one of the more unusual decorations.
Algunos templos son mas decorados que otros. Aqui pueden ver uno bien decorado.
The grounds include 14 buildings, ranging from temples of worship to buildings of "warship". Spring is now definitely on its way, and with a lot less people than at other sights in the area, the grounds looked fabulous!
El lugar del templo incluye 14 edificios. La primavera esta aqui y se nota en los caminos y patios. Se ve super lindo .
Close to Girimsa temple grounds, we stopped at Golgulsa Temple. These temple grounds follow a narrow valley and ends up at a big Buddha carved in a rock face. This site was NOT wheelchair friendly! The main shrine can also be seen on the photo. This temple is still habited by monks, and it is possible to join them for lunch or even for a two day stay, where you are introduced to sunmudo - a Buddhist martial arts (today was my day of enlightenment ... Buddhists are not necessarily peaceful !!!).
We managed to get in another temple (cave-temple) before heading home to Ulsan through the beautiful green mountains. On sundays we need to get home before 5pm, when the rush hour starts.
Para cerrar el paseo al templo de Girima, paramos en el templo de Golgulsa. Aqui se puede ver un Buda muy grande grabado en la roca, como una gruta. Este templo esta habitado por monjes y es posible ir por dos dias y tener una introduccion en Sunmudo , que es un arte marcial budista.