The morning was spent on more sightseeing and yet more historical monuments. The first place we visited was the Seokguram Grotto, an ancient Buddhist temple which was constructed in 742 A.D.. The story behind this temple is a very interesting one and not hard to understand if you are already familiar with Chinese culture. Basically, this was how the story went...


There was a farmer who was struggling to make ends meet. Because he was so poor, he hoped that he could reincarnate into a rich man's family once he died. So before he died, this farmer was a deout Buddhist and donated to the temple whenever he could.

On the day he died, a rich man's son was born with a clenched fist. When the clenched fist opened on the 7th day of his birth, the rich man spotted a name on his palm - Kim Daeseon, the same name belonging to the farmer who had died on the same day. Henceforth began Kim's 2nd life.

Kim was playful as a teenager and spent his days idling. One day he went bear-hunting, caught a bear and was prepared to make his way back to his residence happily. However, there was a thunderstorm and Kim had to spend the night in the mountain.


While he slept in the mountain, he had a dream of the bear who approached him and demanded to know why he had killed it, when it never did anything to harm Kim.

Kim was shaken, and started to believe in Buddhism. Hence, he built the Seokguram temple to honor his parents in his past life.

Photography wasn't allow in the temple for its delicate conditions. Apparently, after reconstruction was completed, they realized that the interior became was too himid which was slowly eroding the 1000-year old stone Buddha statue. Hence, the Buddha is now encased in a glass enclosure with special machines to remove the humidity. Nevertheless, you can see the picture here. When you see the statue in person, you can really feel its serenity and compassion. Very well crafted.



We also drank some of the holy water below the temple grounds, and took some back to keep.

Apart from Seokguram Grotto, Kim apparently built another temple known as the Bulguksa Temple. This was meant to honor Kim's parents in his present life. It's a huge temple compared to the Seokguram Grotto, with many different halls with different Buddhas inside. Also an ancient temple and a national monument.



Do see this to find out more about the temple. Both temples are considered national monuments.



Of course, there were some interesting sights along the way. The way into Seokguram was a long 1/2 hour walk but it was all worth it. It was a nice, leisurely walk in the midst of the forest so I didn't mind it. We also saw some roadside stalls selling local fruits and nuts such as tiny gingko nuts which they sold by the cup, roasted to perfection. There was also roasted chestnuts and some yellow-grained rice.

After visiting the temple we took a ride down to Daegu city, famous for its fashion and textile industry. However, along the way we stopped by at the apple plantation to pick some fresh apples :D

What was interesting was that we were taken deep into the farms by a tractor which trudged along a bumpy and narrow road along rice padi fields and chlli plantations.



We were greeted by an elderly couple who tends to the apple plantations. Apples are in season at this time so the tress around were filled with huge Fuji apples. I thought apple trees were quite tall and that you needed a ladder to get the apples, like in The Cider House Rules. Turned out the apple trees are really quite short! As you can see from the photo below.



Each of us were allowed to pick 3 apples. They didn't look too good actually, cos most of them were quite green but huge nevertheless. But when we finally ate them in the night... Mmmmm.... Juicy, sweet, crunchy, crisp!!!

We also stopped by at SpaValley which had something special called "Dr Fish". What is it? Hmmm... the pictures speak for themselves...



You gotta believe it... After the fish had their fill, our feet felt soft and supple. Go Dr Fish!!

To be continued... some more...