Good Ole Korean Hospitality - Sudeoksa Temple

 I always walk a slightly different path on my morning dog walks. One particular day I took a new friend and drove about 10 minutes away to a camp site just to see what was there. We parked at the Ucheon Natural Recreation Area.

We came upon 능화마을외관 Neunghwa Village, which houses about 30 families. It is not uncommon to see villages with murals painted throughout, like this one. This particular mural depicts a story that has been passed down for a thousand years, dating from the Goryeo Dynasty.

왕옥 Wang Ok, also called 안종 Anjong, was the 8th son of King 태조 Taejo. There was some hubub with Wang Ok and a widow, which resulted in the birth of his illegitimate son 손 Soon, also called 현종 Hyeonjong. Consequently Wang Ok was exiled to Neunghwa Village. He liked the area and later asked to be buried here because he felt the area was an 'auspicious place,'  and people would return to the dragon and live. It was believed that this river would never dry up. It's still flowing today, so they weren't entirely wrong.

Some murals are just whimsical.

For some reason when I see twigs bundled together like these, which you often do in the tiny villages, I always think of Hansel and Gretal. I have no idea why, but I think of that every time.

After walking a long loop that ended back at the car, we decided to check out an area on the map called 'water theme park.' No one has ever talked about this said park, so I knew it wasn't anything like Hurricane Harbor, but curiosity got the best of me. The map didn't show a road to get there. Through trial and error we found it. The idea was good in theory; there is a reservoir at the top of the hill, and it slowly drains into a swimming pool. The problem was that the pool was really dirty and gross and obviously had not been cleaned.

Laura and I walked up the hill to have a look at the reservoir. Once we were there, the map showed a temple not far. We decided to check it out since we were close.

The temple buildings were small, old, not impressive, and in need of a paint job.

We passed a couple dogs on chains who barked at us. We were not real sure how close we should get to the buildings, but then a lady came out to meet us. The conversation was sparse because none of us knew the others' language. It was plain that she loved dogs because she was patting Chuey and Waffles.

Laura and I must have looked like a hot mess (it was very humid and we were sweating profusely) because the lady went inside and reappeared with a tray and two cups. They were filled with cold rice water. Rice water is a sweet drink. The lady continued to pat the dogs as we drank our rice water. From what little we could understand each other, I think it was a women's-only temple. As Laura and I got to the bottom of our cup, there were lots of rice pieces. We decided we needed to drink it all in order not to be rude or offend her. She could tell our hesitation, so she ran off and came back with 숟가락 둘개 (two spoons) for us. 

She then showed us to the cold spring water, rinsed my cup and filled it with cold water.

 Once again, she sprinted off and showed up again with empty water bottles to fill up for our walk back down. Such a kind soul. Korean hospitality continues to amaze me.

[August 27]