Well it’s a good thing we are getting out of South Korea today. We just found out that apparently South Korea is canceling all flights in right now because North Korea has threatened to launch missiles their way. Between that and the pirates, I really do hope I make it home. South Korea today, pre missile threats, was great! We again, did a bus tour and our tour guide gave us a lot, maybe too much, information on South Korea. It was interesting but I think she just really liked hearing herself talk and after about the 3rd hour out of 7, I’m pretty sure I tuned her out. Buddhism is big in Korea and there are Buddhist statues everywhere. We visited the most well preserved Buddhist temple in all of Asia today. It was really interesting to see and learn about the religion and how different it is. It was set up in one area and had several different temple worship rooms that you could go into. Each one was beautifully carved and painted on the outside with so much detail and color. We were able to walk up and into the shrine and see what was inside, but were not allowed to take any pictures once inside the rooms. We also had to take our shoes off before we could go in. Inside was an open room with Buddha’s set up on one wall and some lit candles. They were very simple rooms with the main focus at the elaborate Buddha statues. The stairs to climb up to the temple were very steep. They were at a 45-degree angle and each one came up to about my knee. And, although hard to climb up, I will say that the smooth side ramps on the sides of the stairways came in use for us as a great slide down, keeping us entertained for a good 20 minutes as we climbed up the stairs and slid back down, smiling the whole way. I’m not sure that the Buddhists appreciated our use of their temple as a recreational activity, and they will probably curse us to come back as fleas or something in our after life, but we sure did enjoy ourselves. We also saw the tombs where once powerful Buddhist kings were buried. It is very similar to that of the pyramid burials only they didn’t intend for anyone to find them. They were buried with the intentions of having an afterlife and were buried with all of their most prized possessions. The way they did it in Korea was to be buried in what was made to look like a hill and then they would plant trees around it so that it would just look like any other piece of land. We learned a lot about Korea today and I was surprised to see that despite my prior inability to recognize the differences between Asian cultures, I am finally realizing that they are all very different.
In regards to my earlier reference about the Pirates. I was warned prior to coming on this trip to watch out for pirates, and I kind of thought of it as a joke. We talked to a couple the other day on our ship who were traveling a few months ago on another cruise through the Gulf of Aden and their cruise ship was chased by pirates. I really didn’t think much of it before but after hearing their stories it kind of made me think more into it. I’m sure my mom will love hearing this… All that said, be praying for our safety as we continue on our trip. I’m sure we will be fine, but it is a little scary to think about.
To my roommates: I wore the garage sale dress to dinner tonight in honor of all of you!
I’m off to China for 4 days so I will give you an update as soon as I return.
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