130428 Sunrise, Naksan Temple and the Seokcho Market

we woke up soooooo early like 4.30am????
just to catch the sunrise. well, actually i've never seen a sunrise in my life so i guess it's a good experience. but we reached really early and even took a taxi when we could have just walked over.

but there were people who were earlier than us... and couples hugging each other in the cold.

i meant to spam all the 300 photos that xm took while we waited for an hour looking at the orange ball slowly rising. but i shall not bore you with the same pictures. or they are technically not the same, since the ball is in a different position.

was so cold i was in winter wear. hurhur.

and then the view of the market area while we were waiting... from dusk to dawn.

we then walked back to our hostel to have breakfast at the lovely cafe.

and we finally get to see the hostel dog! so big and white and flufffffy, but he bites if you try to touch him. ouch. not that i'll risk my hand.

since there's not a lot we can do, we got stuck with the option of visiting a temple. a great big temple in fact - uh, i'm not sure if that sounds more appealing. ok, a grand temple on top of a mountain with a sea view. (more climbing, great..........................................!)

we missed our bus stop and had to loop the bus back and paid a double fare. grah. so unfriendly! managed to reach the must-see temple in the end. of course. not that i wanted to reach.

so how about i spam some temple shots, since i went through great difficulties to get here?

and we have to climb a loooong winding path...

the rock says 'the way to realising your dream'. which is just about true, since i wanted to get over climbing the top quick.

and great goddess statue at the top with the sea view...

and what's a temple if you don't have those wishing wells, and stuff that you have to spend money on to grant the wishes that never come true??

still, i managed to throw a 10 won in the urn at the first try. awesome!

xm was wondering if the gods in korea understood english / mandarin. went ahead to write her wish and rang the bell anyway. if you're a god you must be fluent in universal language right.

and time to head down...

great big pond in the middle!

stopped at a museum with all kinds of rocks.

had tea for a while but it started to rain. thankfully it wasn't so heavy but we still ran out all the way. and we're out!

ooh fancy horse carriage with blasting music! this marks the end of our temple trip..

went over to the shopping district afterwards. bull looks familiar? heh. (no, not that it's my friend!)

this place is supposed to be a filming area for Autumn in my Heart. but i don't remember the scene anymore.

and it seems that this restaurant was featured in a variety show. too bad i don't watch it.

and on our way to buying our famous hoddog + famous chicken - which is the 2 MUST TRYs in seokcho, passed by some couple statues.

there's so many chicken imitations, but this is the best. it tastes awesome cold and hot!!! what a mystery!

we took like an hour+ to queue for the hoddog, but it was so worth it!!

YUM! felt like getting more pieces because we queued so much for it, but one piece really fills you up. it's drowned in oil though so it can get kinda queasy if you eat too much of it.

after that it was time to leave seokcho. we stayed the night at yongin while preparing to fly off the next day to jeju~