Pohang and Bogyeongsa Temple Adventures
Aurelia and I decided to get out of Busan for the weekend so we hopped on a bus to Ulsan (about 30 min north of here). We met the foreign community at a party at the Benchwarmers bar and realized at midnight that we had no place to sleep for the night. We wanted to stay in a jinjel-bong (Korean saunas and steam rooms) which is a common place for people to stay a night and only costs around 7 dollars. We ended up spending the night in a DVD bong with comfortable couches, a big screen TV, and the 2 movies we rented. It was 8 dollars each and we had lovely couches to sleep on with pillows and everything. Apparently they don't care if you use their facilities as a makeshift motel because they joyfully greeted us farewell as we departed the next morning for Pohang (45 min north of Ulsan) In Pohang we took a cab to Bogyeongsa Temple where the hikes to 12 waterfalls were awaiting us. There is a small tourist village before reaching the temple where Ajumas spend hours rolling out dough and cutting it into thin, flat noodles. We then explored the temple for a bit and made our way to the hiking trail. The trail was crowded with Korean hikers....all decked out in their latest northface hiking gear, walking sticks, and daypacks. They looked prepared for the Himalayas but I've learned this is typical for Koreans. The hike was beautiful as it took us through gorges, waterfalls and valleys with high limestone pinnacles reaching out of the forest. One of the waterfalls (as seen above) had caves behind it. We made it to the 6th waterfall and headed back to the tourist village for some tea and Pumpkin Pajeang (pumpkin pancake). I highly recommend this hike to anyone living here in Korea.
-Heather