This weekends trip took me back to the southern coastal town of Tongyeong. I've been trying to come here for over a year due to its historic heritage of the major sea battle of Admiral Lee against a Japanese Invasion using distinctive Turtle ships.

I did get to come briefly in May for the Daegu Bloggers field trip but we didnt see the sights I wanted to see. I tried coming again on the May holiday weekend but had to cancel due to bad bus timings from Suncheon.

Tongyeong is a 2 hour bus ride from Daegu for 13,000w ($12). Upon arriving it was quite tourist friendly with a tourist info booth outside the bus terminal handing out maps although I already had an english one. There were many Korean tourists but no foreigners.

The bus stops were also tourist friendly with clearly numbered buses as multiples of 100 and the lines marked out in the bus stop. Rare for Korea there were even bus maps showing the routes in English and Korean and how to get to tourist sights of which there are many in Tongyeong.

I decided to start at the far end of town and work my way back to downtown and the cluster of main sights. One of the places I wanted to visit was an undersea tunnel built by the Japanese during the occupation linking an island to the mainland (see next entry). When I last came here a month ago I noticed a giant temple on the cityscape similar to the Grand Hotel in Taipei.

The bus led me to a stop past the temple but on my map I saw there was another Temple nearby. It was over a km of extra walking uphill to get to where the temple was supposed to be. I came to a clearing where the road ended, the bus terminated, and a hiking trail into the mountain began.

I wasnt sure where temple was and didnt want to hike into the mountain. I did however see another very large temple near this area and couldnt figure out how to get to it. Eventually I saw a trail of hanging lanterns along a small path that led to the temple.

It was very unusual with its landscaped gardens and interestingly painted buildings on the outside. Unfortunately I couldnt go any further as because this isnt a popular temple nobody was here and two chained guard dogs started barking so viciously it wasnt too welcoming.

I now went back to the parking lot and tried to figure out how to get to the main temple on the map. There were hiking trails for about 500m that would take me there but through a very steep uphill climb. As it wasnt that far I decided to go even though it was detouring me away from the city up a mountain.

After walking uphill for a few minutes I arrived at the temple. Yonghwasa allows for overnight Temple Stays which is quite nice as its easily located in the city with a bus close by.

Similar to most Temples there was a collection of small buildings with different shrines inside. One has gold Buddha figures, another had a collection of carved painted figures. The carved figures came in two sizes, either 4 ft tall or 1 ft.

A little further uphill was a long building with the rooms for the overnight Temple Stay and a large meditation hall. The interior wasnt particularly elaborate but had interested painted timber beams for the length of the building with various dragons and other artworks.

The hiking trail had shown another temple 400m away if I was to hike further into the mountain. I hadnt planned on coming or hiking and didnt want to veer too far away from the city and the sights I had planned on seeing.

After leaving the mountain and walking back downhill back into town I made it back to where the bus had originally dropped me off and tried to backtrack to the large temple prominent on the city landscape.

Seogwangsa Temple is behind Jinnan Elementary school close to the Chungmugyo Bridge linking this island to the mainland. It has very distinctive architecture on the cityscape perched on a hilltop close to the bridge linking the island. It was reminiscent of the 10 storey Taipei Grand Hotel but painted in a different style.

Even though its so prominent on the coastal skyline, close up it was hard to locate. I had to figure out how to get behind Jinnan Elementary school before I eventually was able to see it.

When I went in some people in the office were surprised as this isnt really a tourist spot. I asked if it was ok to look and they told me to goto the third floor.

Similar to a couple of city Temples in Daegu, the staircase walls and underside were beautifully decorated with various types of artworks. It must have hurt their necks painting the underside of the stairs with such detailed artwork.

On the third floor was a very large hall spanning the length of the building. In the centre along the long wall was a seated white Buddha. All the alcoves along the walls on all sides had their own tiny Buddhas.

The staircase and artwork continued up to another floor. Curious I decided to look even though I was only told to goto the third floor. I expected a locked doorway which is normal at the top of stairs.

Surprisingly it took me onto the roof of the building. Here there was an amazing view of the city, harbour, countryside and islands.

A few more steps up was another building in the centre of the roof. There were shoe racks outside so eagerly I went to see what this was since I was only told to goto the third floor and not up onto the roof.

This turned out the be the jewel of the Temple and was a large hall with many gold shrines.

The main shrine had three gold Buddhas with many gold figures in the rear. On either side of this shrine and on the right angle wall were more gold shrines. Normally there is a large painted mural but in this case it was all made in gold.

One was a collage of many characters. Another showed warriors in maybe a battle scene with swords drawn and fierce expressions.

Finally there as a shrine to a monk in the shrine closest to the door. This was really the highlight of this Temple which I had no idea to expect. I was just impressed by its prominent architecture close to the water.

The staircase down continued with the artwork on all four walls and stairwell underside. The stairwell kept going down to lower levels I didnt come from. One was a dining hall before leading me out to the main entranceway

Seogwangsa is certainly worth checking out on any trip to Tongyeong. Aside from its beautiful interior it can provide stunning views of the city and harbour from its roof.