Day trip to Mt. Palgongsan

After being in the city for almost three weeks now I thought that it was about time to do some exploring of the surrounding area. So, with a vague idea of where we were going and how to get there, a friend and I set out for a day trip to Mt. Palgongsan.

The day started out in an interesting way while I was waiting for my friend Keiran at the Dong-Daegu subway station. I was sitting on a bench, just people watching, when I looked over to see a man standing about 7 feet away from me with his pants down taking a pee. Now, after treeplanting I though that I was used to this sort of thing, but I just could not believe that the guy could do this in such a busy public place. He then poceeded to lay down on the bench beside mine for a morning nap. Napping on benches is something that you see on a daily basis in Korea.

Upon getting to the mountain and regaining the use of my hand and arm muscles (try standing for 40 min while holding on tight) we started off the hike with some pretty big goals. We had no idea what this hike would be like, but looking at the map we thought we could possibly make it 8km to one of the farther peaks. Little did we know that we would be hiking up stairs almost the entire way, while dodging thousands of hikers. They say that Koreans are very serious about hiking, but I had never imagined this trail would be so packed. After over an hour of hiking, and seeing a few small temples along the way, we were sweating buckets and had just made it to Gwanbong peak - only 2km, but 850 vertical meters from our starting point. This was a great place for a break and a gorgeous view. This peak is the site of the Gatbawi Buddha, the buddha of medicine, standing almost 4 meters tall. This was an amazing site. In front of the Buddha lay a platform of approx. 25 square meters covered in prayer mats. Koreans of all ages were worshipping while music played over a sound system. After a short break we continued down the other side of the mountain and out to a road where we found ourselves sort of lost but within walking distance to some good Korean eats. We eventually lucked out and found a bus back to Daegu.

Since I do not have too many photos I found these two short video clips (1) (2) of people worshipping at the Gatbawi Buddha. The videos are not the best, but it will give you an idea of what this truly amazing experience was like.