I am writing this final post from the comfort of my couch on a Friday afternoon.

It is a weird sensation to be living the same day twice. Yesterday’s Friday was filled with a trip to Bongeunsa, followed by another painfully long drive to the airport and 10 hours to fly home.

My fitness tracker on my Apple watch has only good things to say about the double Friday. I also have an extra day for one last post to bring this trip to a tidy close.

The Bongeunsa temple complex is in the middle of the city, across from a huge shopping mall, which was not there in 794 when the temple was built. The templex was largely destroyed by fire in 1939 and again during the Korean War.

Since this visit was during the holidays, the temples and grounds were busy with services being conducted by chanting monks with dinging bells in many of the temple buildings. My previous temple visits, most in Japan, had been quiet, with a few tourists and no services, so this was very different.

Here are a host of photos. Enjoy them.

Before closing, I would like to tell you about the one thing I did not do. Seoul is located 50km from the DMZ. It is possible to go for a tour and in retrospect this is something I rather wish I had made time to do (traffic there and back would be a strong deterrent.) Maybe next time.

So, so happy to be home.