aborted temple journey
As you may have guessed from my silence on the subject, I did not qualify for the position at the University of Cambridge. Hardly surprising, since there were a lot of requirements that I couldn't meet. Looks like I will instead spend the immediate future deciding whether to get my graduate degree in anthropology - most likely cultural, although perhaps medical - or possibly in education, with an aim of eventually working at a university in East Asia or the Commonwealth of Independent States.
I spent much of the weekend dividing my time between watching the Olympics and walking around outdoors in the heat. More on my take of the Olympics later. Saturday evening I wanted to pay a visit to Hoeryongsa (회룡사), a Buddhist temple located in the mountains just outside Uijeongbu. The large map located near Uijeongbu Station made it look fairly accessible so I wasn't too worried about how long it would take. However, while walking from the nearest subway station to the temple I came across a sign for Hoamsa (호암사), located a bit closer than Hoeryongsa at 1.5km.
After walking 2km up a 25° mountain incline in sweltering heat and darkening skies without any sign of the temple I soon came to realize that the 1.5km sign was for the entrance to the national park within which the temple is located. It's a nice nature walk - if slightly steep - which would be better appreciated in the early morning or any other time when the temperature isn't quite so hot. However, I did stumble across a sign that suggests Smokey Bear has relatives working in Korea. They look cute and cuddly in the picture to the left (click to enlarge), but moon bears are much more aggressive in the wild than their American counterparts.