Day 9: Bongeunsa
I left the undergrounds of the COEX Mall and headed up to street level. Outside of the mall, a group of people were handing out what looked liked dwarf evergreen plants to passers by. Some people were walking away with a couple of bags of free plants and I wanted to pick a couple up for my aunt but they were large and the idea of carrying a large plant or two while sightseeing wasn’t exactly appealing. They were giving away free plants to mark an initiative to plant trees in the deserts of China where many of the dust storms that hit Korea originate from. Just north of the COEX Mall is the temple of Bongeunsa which was where I was headed. It’s actually just across the street. Right away on approach, I could tell that this temple was going to be quite different than Jogyesa, the temple I had visited last week. Jogyesa felt very urban where as Bongeunsa felt like it was doing it’s best to distance itself from the city to create a more quiet and seren...