Autumn in Haeinsa

While my friend was visiting I wanted to show her some culture and experience something a little different so I thought about a few of the places I had been this year and decided to take a trip up to Haeinsa temple. I also brought along my Saffa friend Nini who hadn’t seen the temple yet.

Haeinsa is a place I’ve blogged about before (here) but this time we were lucky to be visiting during the changing colours of autumn. They were spectacular. I am lucky to come from a place that does have lovely autumns. When I was in university in Cardiff and working in London I saw lovely autumn leaves in many parks but nothing like here in Korea.

The reds are so vivid they look painted!

Unfortunately a lot of people had the same idea as us so we were stuck in traffic for a while but I had the lovely Nini and Jess to keep me company.

Once we arrived we started our mini hike. The hills at Haeinsa are a little steep but as long as you are in flat shoes and look where you are stepping you will be fine. There is the option of hiking the mountain to the peak but I’ll leave that for another visit.

A festival had just finished at the temple so there was more stands and shops set up as you walked up to the hill but it all added to the atmosphere of being in Korea. Many variations of Korean delicacies were available including a odd looking stuffed squid.

The steams and mini waterfalls were idyllic and made for a lovely backdrop to the temple grounds. We walked up to the main entrance of the temple and had a good wander around.

You can’t take photos from inside the temple but I love going in them. Taking your shoes off and stepping inside always feels like stepping back in time. The silence and smell of incense is extremely relaxing and makes me want to learn every thing there is to know about Buddhist culture.

The surroundings of the temple are breath taking. The trees and hills seem to go on forever, the air was crisp and it was impossible not to find simple joys like taking a real breath of fresh air, extremely rewarding.

There was a piece of modern art placed in the temple grounds that depicted the pain carried by different people of all ages from all around the world. People had been asked to place stones in a piece of red cloth to represent the pain they carried in their life. The bags were varied but it was very sad to see the cotton tearing at the seams of the biggest bags.

Unlike my last visit we were allowed to enter the complex that houses the ‘Tripataca Koreana’ (which you can read about here).

You still couldn’t get very close but you could see all the slate through the grates and it was impressive to know we were mere feet away from some of the world’s most sacred artifacts.

After a lot more staring and pondering on the view we were all calm, relaxed and ready to sign up that second to a temple stay. The temple stays at Haeinsa allow you to stay over night and experience a day in the life of a monk. It’s something that is very high on my to-do list but unfortunately we hadn’t planned ahead and the complex was looking very full.

We headed back down the mountain at closing time with the sun quickly setting on us. (of course we found time for a brief and very needed leaf fight as well as a some what peaceful moment with the divided Buddha)

I love this nutcase!

We headed home on the bus, which was a lot quicker on the way back.

Luckily we had bought our tickets when we had gotten off the bus. I’d advice getting your tickets once you arrive at Haeinsa as the booth was closed after 5:30 even though the buses ran after this.

It would also be wise to bring cash as there isn’t many card facilities here, expect in the gift shop.

The day was ended with a night of makgeolli and card games in downtown Daegu (As well as nora bang…of course) which was a perfect Jux-tu-position to our serene temple visit

I have heard people complain that after a few months in Korea you get ‘Templed out’ after seeing so many but I’d definitely advice an autum visit to re awake your love of Korean culture. It’s easy to let Korean life become normal but a visit to a place as beautiful as Haeinsa (even with the crowds of hiking Koreans) can make you appreciate where you are all over again.