Back in October, I took a bike ride to nearby Wawoo Temple (just try saying that name without giggling). I had heard of Wawoo (pffft hahaha) from one of my coworkers, who recommended I check it out. Doing a Google search for Wawoo (no stop I can't take it anymore) returned sparse results in English, which lead me to falsely believe that the temple was small and wouldn't have much to see. Nevertheless, I thought the journey would be a pleasant excursion, so I hopped on my bike one fine Saturday morning and went on my way.
First mistake: The excursion was not pleasant. After passing through a few kilometers of farms and fields, I started ascending. Stubbornly I pushed up, until I got too winded to continue and I realized that the ascent was only getting steeper. It dawned on me then that of course I would have to bike up a mountain, nearly all Buddhist temples are built on the tops of mountains so as to be closer to Buddha. Feeling pretty stupid for forgetting this fact, as well as pretty darn tired from heaving myself up a mountain on two wheels, I reluctantly began to walk my bike the rest of the way up. Eventually I reached the summit, and since Wawoo Temple was still a bit further ahead I got on my bike and trusted in gravity take me the rest of the way. Although a thrill to be tearing down the mountain at the same speed as traffic, in the back of my mind I knew that it was going to be a pain later trying to get back up.
Second mistake: Wawoo Temple is not small, not in the least bit. Furthermore, of all the temples I've visited in Korea, Wawoo is the most atypical by far. While many of the Buddhist temples I've explored are fairly standard in their layout and construction, Wawoo struck me as a gallery of sorts, a hodgepodge collection of religious artifacts strewn across the temple grounds. Later, a friend told me that Wawoo is famous for that very reason: the head monk travels around the world, acquiring Buddhist icons and setting them up on display at his temple. Wawoo even has a partnership with Thailand, since the temple's biggest attraction (literally and figuratively) was brought from there. It's the first thing you notice when coming in through the front entrance: a massive Buddha head sitting by the pond next to the parking lot. Truthfully, it's almost surreal in it's presentation, and the initial shock upon seeing it is in of itself a good reason to visit Wawoo. From there, I spent a few hours wandering around, checking out everything Wawoo had to offer before getting on my bike and heading back home.
Knowing that I'd have to ascend once more before I could reach the other side of the mountain, I began lugging my bike up along side the road. Another biker passed me, a middle aged Korean man in full biking gear (his neon tights put my jeans and t-shirt to shame) and he stopped to chat for a bit: he spoke Korean, and I nodded my head. When he was ready to go, he hopped back on his bike and motioned for me to follow. I let him go and resumed pushing, when suddenly he turned around, saw what I was doing, and chided me until I got on my bike and followed him proper. Muttering under my breath that this old guy was going to kill me, I did my best to keep up, and to my surprise I didn't embarrass myself (somehow). In truth, having a biking partner gave me the motivation I needed to do what I thought I couldn't. We quickly reached the summit, where he continued along a different, more advanced route. I said goodbye, and gleefully rolled down the mountain, letting the momentum carry me all the way to my house.
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