Daewonsa

On Monday, a friend and I went out to Daewonsa, one of my favorite places in Korea.

The trip to get out there is rather epic. We left Mokpo at little before 8:30, and made it to Boseong with enough time between buses to take a taxi to the green tea fields (Boseong produces at least 40% of the green tea consumed in Korea - that's a lot of green tea) and do a quick walk-around in the blistering heat.

Ever want to know how green tea is harvested?


Though there are machines that will do the harvesting for the cheaper tea, the expensive kind is all picked by hand.

We caught the 11:45 bus out to Daewonsa, and it took FOREVER. I mean, the ride is beautiful - Boseong is sort of at at the foot of the Jirisan range, so there are rivers and trees and rice fields, and some of the most entertaining old folks on the bus with you - but the bus is ancient and the roads twisty.

We decided to go eat lunch before wandering around the temple and went to what we call "the flower bibimbab restaurant." After you order, someone goes out to the green house to pick the vegetables for you lunch. To quote a friend from the first time we went, "This is what the angels eat!"


If you go to Daewonsa during the week, you realize how rural this area area really is. It felt like we were the only folks to come into the restaurant all day, and we only saw a couple of people anywhere at the temple. It was pretty amazing and incredibly peaceful.


Afterwards, we went to the temple, and it was almost completely deserted. One of the big reasons I wanted to go in summer was to see the lotus flowers, and while I think I was probably a little too late for their peak, it was still beautiful!


We wandered around for a while, finally finding this little bridge/pagoda area and we just sat their listening to the water and cooling off for a while before wandering the museum before beginning the trek back home. All in all, it took almost exactly 12 hours.


For people in Mokpo:
Bus to Boseong: 8:25
Boseong/Daewonsa bus: 11:45 (you CAN do a quick to to the tea fields, wander around, eat some green tea ice cream, and get back, but you should ask the driver to come back and pick you up. About 9,000w each way. They do the "rural, so we can" higher meter pricing.)
Daewonsa/Boseong bus: 5:20 (and some of the drivers are maybe a bit impatient, so you need to be on time)
Bus to Mokpo: 7:10.