A couple of really cool sites today including Sung San Temple and General Kim Yoo Shin's tomb, the Hwarang Educational Institute and EMart!

We visited another temple that had a garden of thousands of human stupa (stacks of rocks). I turned the corner was absolutely SHOCKED at the array of stupa. They are all over the ground, they are all over the walls, every small bit of horizontal space they could find is covered. It's amazing.

Photo by Jenn

At this temple I managed to score a totally awesome hand painted scroll of the Korea Tiger. There is a common cultural image of a Tiger on a mountain and a Dragon in the clouds that is supposed to signify the Um and Yang (heaven and earth, soft and hard, balance). It was totally over-priced, but I was happy to get it. We didn't get enough stuff during our trip to Bali and it was already Day 3 and we hadn't purchased anything yet. So it was time.

After that, we travelled to General Kim Yoo Shin's tomb. Today's history lesson is about General Kim. He is the most widely known and respected military figure in all of Koreas history. 2000 years ago, the Korean penninsula was divided into 3 Kingdoms: Silla (pronounced Sheela), Paekche and Kogoryo. In Silla, the young men of the best families would be taken in their teens to be taught reading, writing, speaking, dance, poetry, archery, martial arts, healing, tactics, etc. These young men were groomed into being the leaders of the country, the generals of the armies, the educated men, etc. They were called the Hwa Rang and the legacy they left is what eventually was used as the basis for Hwa Rang Do. General Kim became a Hwa Rang at 15, the youngest Hwa Rang ever! By 18 he was the most amazing commander and warrior of the time and was promoted to General or Kuk Son. He led the armies of Silla across the Korean penninsula and "unified" all 3 Kingdoms. By that, of course, I mean that he conquered Paekche and Kogoryo, but the winner gets to write history, so we call it "unified." :) This unified Silla Kingdom lasted for 1000 years, the longest lasting dynasty in history!

General Kim was so respected that he was one of the few people in Korean history was allowed to approach the King without bowing (the King was believed to be God in human form). So, hopefully I'm able to convey the reverance that the Korean people have for this man.

We approached the tomb and all gathered around it, with DJN, Grandmaster Kim (from the US East Coast) and Master Lee in the center. The three of them said some words under their breath and bowed several times to the tomb. It was _very_ plain to see that DJN holds a great deal of respect for General Kim, more so than most. Then Master Lee calls everyone to attention and a formal bow to General Kim with "Kuk Son Nim Yoo Shin Kim ke kungyeh!" which is Korean for essentially "Bow to General Yoo Shin Kim!"

Here's Kyle and I in front of the tomb:

Photo by Jenn

There is one big difference to General Kim's tomb. All of the other tombs we've seen have been very simple grass mounds. The royal family all are barried in this way. Around the base of the mound of General Kim's tomb are stone carvings of each of the Zodiac animals, but in warrior atire. The picture below isn't of the actual carving, but it is a replica of it found around the area (I chose this one because it's easier to see).

Here's the warrior Dragon:

Photo by Jenn

Here's a statue of Yoo Shin Kim:

Photo by Jenn

The next place we stopped was the Hwarang Institute of Education. We barely got to spend ANY time here at all because we were running late and had to eventually get to the airport to catch a flight to Jeju. The school is not actually affiliated with Hwa Rang Do at all, but it's based on the same concept of the Hwa Rang. They bring young people in and teach them public speaking and poetry and archery and martial arts (Tae Kwon Do), etc. It's pretty cool. The school itself is beautiful too, it's on a very steep hill which is pretty well hidden in all of the pictures of it I've seen (ours and theirs), so don't be deceived, it is VERY STEEP!

Photo by Jenn

Photo by Jenn

The flight to Jeju was so short that I had just settled in when we landed. :) I did manage to do something useful on the plane though, this was the first time I was able to actually find some news about Google and I learned that the IPO had finally happened! Woo!

So, Jeju is an island born of a long dead volcano, which means that most of the rock on the island is that highly pourous volcanic kind. Normally, we get to the hotel so late in the evening that everything is closed and we just have no other option than to go to sleep. Not tonight baby! We could smell freedom of movement and we were going to take it! We didn't have to be in a group of 77 people being told "Quick, catch up! Faster! Group Picture!" Thus, we found E*Mart.

It's really like a Wal-Mart + a grocery store and we wandered through all 3 floors of it almost until it closed. :) We bought an extra memory card for Jenn's camera, we bought a big duffel bag to hold all the souvenirs we bought and even a bunch more souvenirs! Woo! It was an excellent evening. :)

The view from our Hotel:

Photo by Jenn