I woke up Sunday with an itch to get outside and explore! The weather was lovely, the scooter was fixed and ready to be driven, and Aaron was up for a day out too! So, we jumped on Scoot and went where the wind took us... which happened to be an awesome temple on the mountainside, on Yeong-do island! I'm not sure what the name of it was, but it was WAY UP THERE and really beautiful!
Buddha's birthday lanterns! The best time to visit a temple in Korea is right before Buddha's birthday (end of May) because they're covered in these brightly colored lanterns, which are lit at night!
Last week, Aaron sold my Nikon D5000 camera and I inherited his Nikon D90. (The perks of marrying an avid photographer!) He, in turn, bought a Nikon D700! We brought our cameras to play around and learn all the new settings. I feel like my old camera took better pictures, but Aaron assured me it's the photographer, not the camera! So, apparently I just need more practice with my new toy! I'm not thrilled with how these pictures turned out, but I'm posting them anyway, because today was an adventurous day, and a memory I don't want to forget.
Aaron, being artsy!
There was a darling little Korean boy, playing between these baby Buddha statues, and I was trying so hard to get a good shot of him playing, but I couldn't find all the darn settings! UGH... I need lots and lots of practice!
After we had had our fill of the temple, we rode back down the mountain!
While we were heading back down, I caught a break in the buildings and houses and was able to see down to my school. The red arrow is actually pointing to my classroom! :)
We were starving by the time we got back down into the downtown area of Yeongdo Island, so we stopped in at Cham (참), our favorite restaurant on the island, and ordered some tuna kimbap. Yum, right?!
... and then treated ourselves to a Sunday afternoon coffee next door.
Around sunset, Aaron asked me to head out with him to be his muse for some photo practice. He's really passionate and excited about photography, so I was happy to help. We found a couple awesome alleyways within this neighborhood to get some shots, and then scooted up further on the hill to get a birds eye view of the city below.
Nampodong (where I spend a lot of time) is right below the tower sticking up in the sky, and Yeongdo Island (where I live) is to the right. You can just barely see the bridge connecting the mainland to the island, between the huge apartment complex in the foreground and the end of the picture.
The sun had fully set and we were still out, riding around, when we spotted this REALLY steep street, lined with lanterns. So we parked Scoot, and walked, walked, hiked, hiked, up to the top of the street.
This was the view looking back down! (Again, still learning my new camera settings!)
We knew the lanterns were for Buddhas birthday and that a temple was surely closeby, so we kept hiking to find it. We climbed, in the dark, up the lantern lit path on the mountain, to the top, where we were blessed with this stunning view of our side of the city! Aaahhhh, worth the hike!
We made it down in the dark, without falling... AMAZING and called it a night.
I love days like these!
