After going through the many temple-stay write-ups and information-overloading, TM and I chose Naesosa Temple for our first temple-stay.
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| Naesosa Temple : View from the Mountain |
Temple-stay selection and duration
The selection criteria : Not in a major city, free-and-easy program(free-style program), not too challenging to get to, and near the mountain. I was attracted to the Naesosa description of "a thousand year old temple", its write-up and the beautiful mountain and scenery photos. We arranged a 3Days2Night stay so that we could experience a whole full day in the temple and truly immerse ourselves in the program. ;)
Now, I know that the temple is situated within the Byeonsando-National Park. We walked along the main path, and soon it led to the temple complex.
We adorned our uniform vests and pants, and ventured outside the templestay compound. By then, the crowd has thinned.
At 5p.m, S introduced the temple-stay program and the Naesosa history to another five Korean guests and us. For the evening program, there is an optional 20 minutes praying ceremony in the main hall and a tea session at 7:30p.m in the tea room.
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| Naesosa Temple : Park Entrance |
Getting to Jeongup and Naesosa Temple
Arrived at Jeongup station after about 1.5 hr KTX ride from Seoul. Got the directions to the bus station from the tourist office, and after confirming the timing of the bus departing to Naesosa, we had a bean-based soup lunch after trying unsuccessfully to locate the secretive "Secret Garden" restaurant listed in a travel website.
TM had WhatsApped the coordinator about our arrival, and he responded by saying "We are waiting for your arrival." We felt reassured.
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| Jeongup : Direction to Bus Terminal and Lunch |
After about 45 minutes on the road, the bus arrived at Naesosa. The nibbling concern at the back of my mind of arriving in an isolated location and getting lost in the wilderness was deleted instantly by the rows of shops along the road.
There is only one road and it was also relatively crowded for a weekday afternoon. <There is no way to get lost...>
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| Arrival at Naesosa : Shops and Park Entrance |
We walked through the rows of shops, taking mental notes of the different food and products available. We arrived at the Temple entrance and the entrance fee(3000won) was waived when we mentioned temple stay.
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| Shops and Visitors outside the Park Entrance |
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| Temple is within Byeonsando National Park |
Arrival and Settling in the temple
The templestay coordinator, S was waiting and welcomed us to the templestay. He showed us to our room and quickly familiarized us with the place, showing us where the floor-heater switch was and providing us with the uniform, a pillow, bedding and the blanket. He briefly went through the main rules (punctual for meal-time, no loud noises and wear our uniform). A briefing will be held for the new templestay guest at 5p.m.
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| Temple Stay Compound and Lodging |
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| Naesosa's Daily Temple Schedule and Cleaning Guide |
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| Temple and Temple stay Compound |
We decided to join both sessions. At 5:40pm, we went to the dining room. The dinner was surprisingly tasty.
(1) The bus timing given by the tourist office was 3:10pm to Naesosa; the bus timing has been updated to 2:50pm at the bus terminal => to double confirm the timing at the station.
(2) According to TM, there are three gyms and five poke stops.
On the same trip
Naesosa Temple Stay Day 2
Naesosa Temple Stay Day3 and Final Note
Busan : One Day Trip
Seoul : Insadong's Michelin Eats
Seoul : Something New Amidst the Familiar
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| Dining Room and Breakfast |
After realizing that we did not know the steps to do a full bow (prostration), S brought us to the tearoom and demonstrated the steps, followed by us doing it. I was surprised that getting into the standing position from the kneeling position with both hands clasped is not easy and required a fair bit of effort <it seemed quite effortless in the Korean dramas>.
I asked S for the approximate number of prostrations required in the session. He said that it was about 20. At that instant, I was at a loss as to whether 20 was little or too many... <the lingering thought is "quite a lot?">
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| Temple at dusk |
Evening in the Temple
By 7pm, all was quiet. The bell was tolled and we gathered inside the main hall, where a monk led the praying session. Being thoughtful, S had arranged for us to stand behind him so that we could follow his steps. After about the third or fourth bow, I needed to "slant" and used one feet or alternatively my palm to push myself to a standing position. <I really need to exercise more when I go back home...> As we got out of the hall after the session, TM whispered that maybe we should opt out of the tea-session, and I nodded.
We were led into the tea-room and a nun was already brewing tea on a low tea-table. S got the seating mat for us, and gathered us around the tea-table <There was no chance to excuse ourselves>. As we sat down, I whispered to TM "Maybe we should return to Seoul tomorrow instead of the day after?". She nodded ok.
Nun DJ greeted us and chatted while brewing the tea. Although we could not understand her, her calm demeanor and radiant smile had me nodding my head. The local told her that we could not understand Korean, she then translated all our conversation between Korean and English! She poured the Chinese tea for us.
The conversations were casual everyday chatter; the locals talked about their other temple-stays, one of them mentioned that he did 3000 prostrations in one of his 3 days temple-stays! Another one reflected about doing the praying ceremony for her son's entrance exam.
My pair of legs became uncomfortable, and I discreetly shifted position. The nun asked us to extend our leg, and be comfortable. I politely declined as the others were sitting in similar cross-legged posture.
My pair of legs became uncomfortable, and I discreetly shifted position. The nun asked us to extend our leg, and be comfortable. I politely declined as the others were sitting in similar cross-legged posture.
She brewed another round of tea using Korean tea leaves. We continued our chat <by then, I had crossed, un-crossed, half-straightened the legs a few time>. The locals smiled and said we were not used to the position.
To put us at ease, The nun said that she heard if one is able to sit in lotus-position(tougher than cross-leg) and once and for all overcome the pain after prolonged sitting, then thereafter there will be no pain regardless. She laughed and said she herself could not go beyond that point.
By 8:45pm, the tea session ended. Somehow, the little uneasiness and apprehension about this whole temple-stay experience that lingered within seemed to have dissolved completely.
End of first day of temple stay
We returned to our room, washed up, had a nice hot shower, and to bed. I felt silly about the momentary thought of shortening the stay. We agreed that we would do the trekking to the small temple behind the complex and also to the waterfall. TM said that our core muscle is weak, thus the difficulty we encountered bowing during the praying ritual. We message S that we would not be doing the 4:20 am morning ceremony <just in case, he assumed that we would be going>. Lights off was at 10 p.m.
By early morning (~2am?), I also realized not only that my core muscle <Where exactly is the core muscle??> may be weak, but that my body as a whole was pretty weak as I slept against the thin bedding on wooden floor... ouchhhh. zzzzz.
"If it is not what you expected, then let the unexpected delight instead of intimidate" mytravelbooklet
Note:"If it is not what you expected, then let the unexpected delight instead of intimidate" mytravelbooklet
(1) The bus timing given by the tourist office was 3:10pm to Naesosa; the bus timing has been updated to 2:50pm at the bus terminal => to double confirm the timing at the station.
(2) According to TM, there are three gyms and five poke stops.
On the same trip
Naesosa Temple Stay Day 2
Naesosa Temple Stay Day3 and Final Note
Busan : One Day Trip
Seoul : Insadong's Michelin Eats
Seoul : Something New Amidst the Familiar