7D Korea Golden Rama Tour: Sinheungsa Temple, Seoraksan
Anyeong! We are back in our exploration of Seoraksan National Park. 10 minutes away from the entrance to Sogongwon (which is a section of the park), you will see Sinheungsa Temple. The temple is famous because of its close proximity to Sogongwon. No wonder, a guide map of Singheungsa Temple is provided at the entrance of Sogongwon.
The temple is located further in, after a row of cafe and restaurant which is situated next to this amazing mountain view of Seoraksan. Sometimes I kinda wish there is a mountain in Singapore where we can walk every morning to. Not that I will have the time to do that once I am back to my 9 - dunno when desk job.
At Seoraksan, you can also see the famous tree in South Korea, pinus densifora. Pinus densifora is a red pine which is highly valued for its medicinal benefit in the modern day. If you join any tour in South Korea, most likely the tour will bring you to visit red pine store (endorsed by government) in Seoul to introduce and sell their medicinal products.
In Korean dynasty, the red pine is used for timber and resin products and hence, the kingdom usually ban people from logging them. Ancient Korean people regard the tree representing Korean spirit. I suppose the tree has been regarded as previous commodity since long time ago.
Just beyond this small gate, you will be able to see a great bronze statue called Bronze Jwabul Statue, which is well over 10 meters high.
Turns out we are not going to go all the way to the temple because of the time limit. But we are allowed some time to check out the Bronze Jwabul Statue. Our fellow tour participants who are Buddhist can also pray here for a moment.
While waiting for the rest to take picture and pray to Buddha, I was kinda curious of the temple store and began to check out what do they sell. They seem to sell rice which I wonder how is the rice is used in the praying ritual or ceremony hmm.
Closer view of Bronze Jwabul Statue. After everyone is done, we walked back to the entrance and boarded our bus to continue our journey to the next destination at Gangwondo province, Nami Island.
However, since we reached Gangwondo area about noon, it's time to fill in our tummy again with Dak-Galbi (Korean spicy chicken stir fry). Woohoo. I was seriously so excited to see the chicken because I quite like dak-galbi. Side dishes are available as usual.
It's time to grill the dak-galbi and the ddeokbokki (rice cake). The spicy chicken has been cooked and marinated beforehand so it did not take long to grill/ re-heat them again. Taste so freaking good. Yumz!
Sinheungsa Temple's admission fees:
Adults: Individuals 3,500 KRW/ Group 3,200 KRW
Teenagers: Individuals 1,000 KRW
Children: 500 KRW
Adults: ages 20 - 65
Teenagers: ages 14 - 19
Children: ages 8 - 13