Evening at Seoraksan National Park

 

10 November 2014

By the time we took the cable car down from the Gwongeumseong Fortress, it was already approaching 5 PM. The sun sets early behind the mountain and the sky would soon be turning dark. But there was still time for us to pay respect to the Great Unification Buddha and make use of whatever daylight left to take some photos.

The Great Unification Buddha is a 14.6-meter, 108 ton gilt-bronze Buddha statue, called "Tongil Daebul" . The giant structure represents one important wish of Korean people -- the reunification of the country divided for over half a century.

Despite being close to sundown, tour groups of Thais had just arrived and being staunch Buddhists, many were making donations and praying to the Buddha.  There were many ways to make donations. 10,000 KRW would buy a packet of rice as an offering. Alternatively, one could donate by buying a “wishes” candle or “wishes” roof tile and write your wishes on the candle and tile.

 Visitors paying respect to the Buddha. This guy is flat out on the floor!

Wishes candles, once written with one’s wishes, are placed in boxes located on both sides of the Buddha.

Packets of rice offerings.

 Wishes written on the roof tiles that I guess will be used to maintain or build a temple.

Visiting Buddhist monks in the bright coloured robes. One is taking a photo of the Great Buddha.

Colourful plastic scoops contrast with the stone and clay barrel.

Autumn is a good time to visit Seoraksan. We were glad to see some beautiful, colourful fall foliage still on the trees. Many trees had already shed their leaves in the past week.

This building is actually a cafe.

It soon became too dark to take photos and it was also getting chilly.  Time to walk back to our hotel, just outside the park. It was a good thing our hotel was just outside the Seoraksan National Park.