The 100 Foot Buddha

It was about 11 o'clock when I sat down to eat breakfast in the bus station. People were staring at me, something I've grown used to. But this staring was different. This was the staring of people who were genuinely surprised to see a foreigner, not the staring of people who want to check out the novelty. They were surprised because the bus station I was sitting in was in Boen. Boen is small (only about 10,000 people), and it's isolated. Foreigners are rare here, as they are all over Korea, but much more rare than in Daejon.

I woke up late that morning. I told Chris I would meet him in Boen at about 10. I didn't wake up until 8:30 because I forgot to set my alarm. With the 1 hour bus ride to Boen, I didn't have time to do much.

I grabbed some food for breakfast before I got a cab to the bus station. I showed up at the station 9:30, already well behind schedule. Luckily, there was a bus leaving just as I bought my ticket. Unfortunately, this didn't leave any time to call Chris to tell him I'd be late.

I called Chris when I got to Boen then sat down and ate breakfast: mandarin oranges (which are incredible here), an energy bar (that Granny lovingly sent from the US), and a bag of chips. I should have gotten more because I didn't eat again for another 8 hours. I didn't know that at the time, though.

The bus ride from Boen out to Songnisan national park is supposed to take 20 minutes. It took over an hour. People were all coming out to see the leaves change. This was, by far, the most people I had seen on a mountain since I've been here. Near the bottom, we actually had to kind of push our way through.

Before we began climbing, we stopped at the temple at the bottom of the mountain. This temple was over 1000 years old...and it sported a 100 foot tall golden Buddha. The Buddha is the biggest in Northern Asia, and it's incredible. I don't think I've ever seen a statue that big.

But what really impressed me was not the tall Buddha, but the Buddha statue that the tall Buddha housed in the temple beneath it. This Buddha was about 10 feet tall and solid cold. It was maticulously polished so it actually glowed. I've never seen a statue in my entire life that actually inspired awe in me. This one did. It was really a spiritual moment. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but there was no photography allowed in the temple. You'll have to live witht he picture of the picture (that doesn't do the statue justice at all) that I've posted below.

We hung out in the temple area for far too long. It was beautiful, but we had to get going up the mountain. By the time we left, it was after 2 and we had a long hike ahead of us.

As I've said before, mountain climbing stories are only interesting one time, so I'll keep it to a minimum and let the pictures do most of the talking. I'll just say it took us much longer to climb the mountain than we thought. I was doing fine, but a couple of the other guys need to do a lot of resting and slowed us down. Near the end, I just made a mad dash for the top and waited for them there.

The view from the top was incredible. In every direction, all you could see was mountains. I don't even know how to decribe the feeling of standing on the top of a mountain, looking as far as you can in any direction, and not being able to see any evidence that other people actually exist. It was great.

The trip down the mountain was much faster than the trip up, and much faster than I would have liked. By the time we got to the top of the mountain, it was after 5. By the time we came down, it was nearly 6...and the sun was starting to set. None of us wanted to be stuck on the mountain after dark, so we had to run down. I do mean literally run.

But we made it, just barely. The sky went completely dark as the mountain levelled off. We still had to talk back quite a ways in the dark to make it to civilization, but at least we weren't on the dangerous part anymore.

When we made it back to people again, we were starving. As I said, I hadn't eaten for 8 hours, and neither had anyone else. We blew a bunch of cash (by which I mean less than $28 for a meal for four. Expensive by Korean standards) having a big meal at a nice little restaurant. It was worth it.

We made it back to the bus stop just as the last bus of the day was leaving (luckily). The bus took us back to Boen, where I just barely caught the last bus back to Daejon (luckily again). But I made it home. It was a blast. I'm really loving living near so many mountains.

R