Day 66: Taking back the Swastika...

Mood: A little bored of the guesswork required with Korean food
Music: Supergrass - Supergrass is 10

Today was a free day for me. Or at least one that wasn't guided. I had a number suggestions of things to see and do though. First up for the day (ignoring the sales phone call I received at 3am) was to sort my washing. I know it's not very glamerous and you probably don't want to hear about such dull things, but they are quite important to such a trip. Given I've been moving on regularly, it's quite difficult to find the time to wash everything required.

The large Bulguksa temple, located a mere stone's throw from my hotel, is a major local attraction and it is not difficult to see why. It is wonderfully set on the slopes of one of the mountains that looks down over the city that was,well over a thousand years ago, the capital of a unified Korea, . The temple originally date back from these times but has been destroyed and rebuilt many time in its history. In the early '70s the Korean government restored the site and in the 1995 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The site actually contains several temples, each with a differing golden bronze Buddha. The buildings are very ornate in themselves and the site is very relaxing to walk around. Not for the first time over the last week or so, I noticed several Swastika motifs on the lanterns of the complex and also in over one of the main temple buildings. I was perfectly aware that it was originally used in the Hindu religion but wasn't aware it featured heavily in Buddhism as well. Perhaps had I paid more attention to such religions I would know more about their roots. I have noted that it is used on maps here to denote Temples.

<Rant> I think in the Western world we have allowed to great a significance to be placed on the symbol and as such could not use it in this way. Or could we? Perhaps by encouraging its use by the Eastern religions we can reclaim their symbol from the hatred that it currently represents. That way the next generation would not make those connections and the symbol would be free again for any use...</Rant>

The photo of Rolf is next to such a symbol woven into the railings of the hotel I'm staying in.

The rest of the day I've pretty much wasted... Mostly by watching a film (Zeitgeist - Moving Forward) and playing Transport Tycoon on my netbook (both using the hotel TV as a screen).

This evening I went to the Korean restauant in the hotel.  I ordered a blue crab stew... I wasn't expecting it to arrive with most of the shell still intact though. Having nobody to copy on the meat recovery front I went at it with my spoon and chopsticks but wasn't overly successful. There were also a number of vegetable side dishes of various descriptions. A couple of which I recognised, may others I didn't. I'm almost looking forward to picking up food and knowing what it's going to taste like before I put it in my mouth!

I'm now sat in the hotel lobby listening to the same people as yesterday singing. A notible low was the piano playing guy singing The Macarena... really... he did.

I join back up with my guide in the morning and head for a day walking on Mount Namsan before one final night in this hotel.

Bye for now!