-
Start
-
Soyang River
-
Cheongpyeongsa
-
Flower Garden
-
Ethiopia
-
Pension
-
Park
-
Uiamho
-
Kim Yu-jeong Station
-
Jade Garden
-
Finish
Cheongpyeongsa Temple
After 15 minute of cruise trip to Soyang River and taking off at Obongsan dock, people would head to one direction in haste. They must be going to Cheongpyeongsa Temple, famous temple of Soyang Lake.
Cheongpyeongsa Temple is 1.7km away from the dock and it's an uphill that takes 30 minutes. It's gentle slope until the 1/3 point, ticket office, so you could speed up a little.
However, it's not a straight course, it changes to S-letter course along the Soyang Lake and it feels even further than it really is.
When you get to the first bridge after a long walk on empty plain, you'll see so many restaurants and owners who are inviting visitors to their restaurants. Actually, I was heard that the food here is not so great so we just passed.
When I could hardly see the restaurants, there came a memorial stone that says about a 「Prince and Sangsa-snake」 that made Cheongpyeongsa Temple even more popular.
Was it just our hopes and wishes? We saw that bridge on the dock far away to the left and this one came now which means we haven't even gotten half way. Phew
Besides, after the bridge the street got narrower and steeper, and even worse, there was a place with bug spray to avoid insects probably because it was a mountain path which made me worried.
But unlike my guess, the path up to Cheongpyeongsa Temple is covered with bushes so we could avoid direct rays of the sun and get some fresh air. We didn't see any harmful insects but we saw dozens or hundreds of butterflies sometimes.
Valley leading to Cheongpyeongsa Temple in early summer filled with green and blue colors. To the left, strangely shaped old trees were densely standing and rocks with moss were stuck among cliffs.
To the right, you could hear constant sound of water flowing from a small valley and it would make you feel like you're on a vacation.
After walking a while to the mountain road, a ticket office for Cheongpyeongsa Temple appears. It costs 2,000 won for one person.
Going right past the ticket office, the street we walked along was closer to the valley and you could get the cold water just by walking a few steps down.
To the left of the valley, a statue of main characters of Sangsa snake legend, Sangsa snake and Pyeongyang Princess, daughter of Taejong in Chinese Tang era, is sitting in the middle of valley.
The legend says a person who fell in love with the princess was killed by Taejong, the King of Tang, was reborn as a snake, got attached to her body, and everybody did every possible way to get rid of the snake but failed so finally she got to Cheongpyeongsa Temple.
The princess stayed one night in the Princess Cave near the temple, took a bath and offered a Buddhist prayer, and then the Sangsa snake fell off and died in front of the Hoejeonmun (Gate) at the temple. The King Taejong gave the temple three lumps of gold, one of which was used to build the temple, one for the princess to go back to her country and the last one was buried in somewhere on Mount Obong in case there is a need to renovate the temple.
So if you walk up the hill searching for gold everywhere, you won't miss a rock that is almost falling off on another rock. This is called Turtle Rock. There's another tale that Cheongpyeongsa Temple flourishes when the turtle is watching the water.
After the Turtle Rock, you'll see one of famous places in Cheongpyeongsa and one of three famous falls in Chuncheon, 「Gusong Falls」. It was named because of nine pine trees near the falls as well as its hight is 9m and it's also known as falls making 9 different sounds depending on the surroundings.
But it hadn't rained a while so we couldn't hear the heavy water sound but fresh water flowing from Mount Obong was enough to give us feel fresh since we were exhausted from the hot weather.
On the big rock in front of the falls, an untimely grasshopper was there and it seemed like it was watching the falls with people.
Next to Gusong Falls, there is a small cave made of rocks. This is the Princess Cave where the princess used to stay overnight. Even inside is filled with stone towers.
The way out of Gusong Falls and Princess Cave is the steepest section on the way up. But it's not so far from here so bear with me a little and there came a wide plain.
So now you could take a look around Cheongpyeongsa Temple. Thankfully, you could see everything on your way to Cheongpyeongsa Temple except for the 3-story stone tower which you would have to cross the stepping-stones to the right.
Budo is guarded by stone lions where the small crystals found among cremated remains of Jinrakgong Lee Ja-hyeon, a scholar and grhapati (居士) in the Koryo Dynasty, at the entrance. Cheongpyeongsa was named after his cognomen 'Grhapati Cheongpyeong'.
Other than the tower, there were a lot of traces of Lee Ja-hyeon and a small pond(影池) he made at the entrance to the temple is one of the valuable historic sites in Cheongpyeongsa Temple where you could see characteristics of garden in the Koryo Dynasty.
The valley was flowing next to us while we were climbing but it wasn't to quench our thirst so we were starting to feel thirsty.
Then the Jangsusam(longevity spring) showed up. Cold water was heavily flowing out of the head of the dragon. Near the spring, the coins stacked up that people threw to pay for the water.
We also quenched our thirst, climbed a little more and then our next destination showed up under the Mount Obong. Cheongpyeongsa Temple was right there before our eyes.
As a place where the Sangsa snake attached to the princess in the legend broke the samsara and reached the state of nirvana, it makes people to look for the relations from their past beyond realisation of previous existence, and it has Hoejeonmun(Treasure No.164) at the front.
Unlike other temples, Cheongpyeongsa had the Hoejeonmun as its front building without any Iljumun Gate or the gate dedicated to Four Devas(heavenly guardians). When you pass the Hoejeonmun, you'll see a two-level building, Gyeongboru.
It was after the Buddha's birthday but I could still see colorful lotus lanterns hung on the ceiling of Gyeongboru that had wishes of so many believers inside.
At both sides of Daeungjeon Hall(the main temple), Gwaneumjeon(left) and Nahanjeon(right) was there but the temple didn't meet my expectations considering its fame.
Daeungjeon was demolished during the Korean War and reestablished, and according to the stylobate from old times, the size of Cheongpyeongsa in its glory days should've been quite different from now.
By the time, a monk came out of Daeungjeon and passed by us in hurry, probably busy with something.
Instead, a yellow butterfly that was flying in the spring sky was resting with its wings wide open under the stone steps of Gwaneumjeon.
Geungnkabojeon that is small yet seems old. It's right behind the main temple and there's no certain boundary between the temple and Mount Obong so that there was a trail to the mountain.
So among the mountain climbers getting down the mountain we looked down the Cheongpyeongsa Temple and I could see a few old trees including the one of 800 years old standing so high making shades.
Coming down from the highest place in the temple, Geungnakbojeon, we approached the Hoejeonmun at the entrance and to its right, we found a bell of the temple announcing the morning in the mountain temple and temple pavilion. I felt bad that the pavilion was too new though.
Walking to the left of Hoejeonmun along the buildings, there was a statue of Buddha in front of a waterway for making wishes and some of the people were praying.
From the border of waterway, this is not a symbolic building of Cheongpyeongsa Temple anymore but a building where the real monks master their minds and live. The signboard caught my eyes asking to keep the noise down.
We passed by on tiptoe not to disturb the monks and approached the valley to see the Princess Bath where the princess used to take a bath in the legend.
But the Princess Bath was hidden under the cliff so it was hard to find it. We searched for it quite a while with the help of signs on signboard, and finally there it was! In the middle of the rock where the water drops, there was a big hole that seemingly would be called a bath. But well…the water did not flow probably because of drought, maybe next time.
With Princess Bath, we finally finished our Cheongpyeongsan tour and were going down the road again and then I saw a squirrel next to the stone tower next to the rock was seeing us out.
On our way down to the dock we arrived earlier. I missed the wind colder than patbingsu sold from the restaurants nearby so we hurried but the cruise ship towards Soyang Dam had left five minutes ago.
We arrived at the dock by the time we booked but had to wait quite a long time while we had cleaner Soyanggang water than we had expected.
Address : 674, Cheongpyeong-ri, Buksan-myeon, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do (강원도 춘천시 북산면 청평리 674)
Telephone : 033-244-1095
Operating Hours :
Website : http://cheongpyeongsa.co.kr/
Soyanggang Cheonyeo Statue 소양강처녀
Uiam Lake spreading wide in Chuncheon downtown. The representative bridge that decorates Uiamho(Uiam Lake), Soyang Bridge #2, is one of the places with the greatest night view in Chuncheon.
It was a bit early for night view not to mention the bad weather but the reason why we bothered to come here to see Soyang Bridge #2 is…
because an enormous statue that commemmorate Soyanggang Cheonyeo, a song representing Chuncheon Soyanggang river. As you could see from Soyanggang Dam, there are a few statues in Chunchon but when someone talks about Soyanggang Cheonyeo statue, they refer to this one.
This statue, 12m high and 14 ton weight, is established in 2005 at the place where Soyang River, upper side of Chuncheon Station, and Bukhan River meets.
Especially if you came to see the sunset view, it will show you the unforgettable night view with the sunset light reflected on Uiam Lake, and it is also used as a place to relax for riders since it has great bicycle lanes around.
Near the statue, a big rock has lyrics of Soyanggang Cheonyeo on it which was written by Ban Ya-wol and composed by Lee Ho like a poem.
Under the lyrics, there's a button that you could see the notes and listen to Soyanggang Cheonyeo and if you push it without being ready, you'll be shocked. As soon as you push that button, the music plays through speakers that you could even hear 150m away from here.
Behind the Soyanggang Cheonyeo statue, a stainless statue is floating in the middle of Uiam Lake that signifies 18m Soyanggang mandarin fish with the supports that was built during the Japanese colonial era.
There's also duck boat boarding site where you could take on the boat and go near the statue, Soyang Bridge #2 and Sangjung-do, which is an island floating in the middle of Uiam Lake.
Comprehensively, there's no doubt Soyanggang Cheonyeo is a great asset and pride of Chuncheon as it uses Soyang River as background. But personally, a mere connection between Soyang River and the song is overrepresented in so many places that made me feel bored. So if you ever drop by Soyang River, just skip every Soyanggang Cheonyeo on your way and see the real one to avoid getting bored.
Address : 8-7, Geunhwa-dong, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do (강원도 춘천시 근화동 8-7)
Operating Hours : Always open
