Mihwangsa Temple Stay

I wanted to take some time away from the usual grey life I am used to in Seoul. After looking in to my options I decided  visiting Mihwangsa Temple would be the best choice. It is close to the southern most tip of Korea.
After a 5.5 hour bus ride, we were picked up at the bus station and taken to the temple.
The temple was gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to come on a clear warm day .

After settling it, Jaja Haeng, the temple stay coordinator showed us to the nearest trail that lead to the highest peak. On our walk there she stopped and showed us the temples mushroom " garden" and she picked a few off and let us try them.They were sweet and chewy, although we did have mushroom breath for the rest of the day. 

We hiked up for about 40 minutes and were treated to a beautiful view. I don't remember the name of the Islands that we saw or the name of the ocean, but it was beautiful. We hurried down, to get our proper orientation about the program. 

After dinner and tea time, we went to bed and got ready for our 4 am wake up call. In the morning we chanted and then mediated. I found meditation a little hard that early in the morning, and kept resisting the urge to sleep. Breakfast was at 6:30 AM followed by volunteer work. We helped put together envelopes for the upcoming Buddha day.
We were given some snacks from Jaja Haeng and then we got a ride with one of the monks to the closest bus stop.
Although our trip was short, it was well worth the long trip. The people were all very kind to us and the scenery was beyond my expectations.