Monday and Tuesday hiking and getting into Cheongju

Monday started with morning chanting at 330.
After that Rope and I took off into the mountains at 430, in the dark. By 530 we could turn of the flashlights and had risen about 200 m from the camp. We continued upward and saw dawn around Gwaneuman Temple. The sun slowly rose to hit the various mountaintops and the shadows were long. There was still some snow on the ground.
At times the path was replaced by staircases.

We reached the rim at around 7, and slowly made our way to Mungdaljae, a separately standing rock, about 20 m above the rest of the ridge giving a great 360 degree panorama view.

The walk down was somewhat painful on our knees, but we made it down by about 1030.

After lunch we had a tea ceremony with the nun of Templestay and then we were taken for a guided tour of the Beopjusa. There was a special oven for burning the belongings of a dead person with an altar infront of it that is used to serve the bodyless spirit food.

After dinner and evening chants we still tried, some successfully others less so to get internet access (darma points dependent seemingly)...

In the morning I went for another hike up to the mountains above the temple. After many attempts I found a great rock with lookout over the temple area. Walking down I went to the return route of Monday, as I walked down the mountain it started to rain lightly. That continued to the evening.

The pickup was an hour later than planned. In Cheongju we had lunch at a vietnamese restaurant. We then went to Hyundai department store (local Stockmanns but more expensive).
Next was the Chungbuk National University and its prehistoric museum. We got an Excellent guided tour by the founder and by now retired emeritus professor Lee Jung Joo.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant Riccone. I managed to break an earlier fix to a tooth, so half the tooth fell out... My host took me to a fried dentist and we got it temporarily fixed. Fantastic to have local friends that can fix things even at short notice in the evening! More about my hosts of homestay in the next entry. Time to go the the pickup for today!