Happy Birthday Buddha

On Tuesday we celebrated Buddha's birthday. According to Wikipedia,  "In all east Asian countries, except Japan beginning in 1873, it is held on the 8th day of the 4th month in the Chinese lunar calendar, and the day is an official holiday."  Unlike in America where we're used to national holidays on Mondays, here if a holiday falls on a Tuesday, that's when it shall be celebrated.  So Tuesday was a school holiday and we went to Beomeosa temple to check out the action.

When we looked online before heading out to get directions from the subway if recommended either taking a taxi or a bus.  Fortunately I was able to convey to a nice looking man on the street where we wanted to go and he proceeded to show us the hiking trail to the temple.  Much better.  You'll notice the rest stops along the trail.

At the top we were greeted by free bibimbap.  Yes! 

While this art project may have been intended for children, I really enjoyed it!

Check out what I made.

On the way back to the subway we couldn't pass up a "twist potato." Yummy fried goodness.

As we came up from the subway, we were strangely greeted by a Mexican band.  What?  Dynamic Korea.