Jeonbuk Jeongeup Naejangsan Naejangsa Temple –Tour

1.     Date and Time : Oct 26, 2018 12:00~ 15:00 ( 3 hours including 1 hour break).

2.     Location : Jeongeup District at Jeonbuk Province in Korea.

3. Distance and Course : Tour Course on foot is about 7.8km for 3 hours which is to start at the Parking Lot No 2 => Ticket Booth for Naejangsan Entrance => Naejangsan Temple Main Gate => Uwhajeong  (Octagonal Pavilion at Pond) => Back to the Parking Lot No 2 through Naejangsa Temple Main Gate. Please refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMo_U6xp4RA&t=32s

4.     Access :

There is several ways to connect “Seoul Central City Bus Terminal connecting at subway lines No. 3, 7 and 9 where you should get on Express bus line bound for Jeongeup Intercity Bus Terminal, non-stop and taking 2 hours and 55 minutes. When you get off at the Jeongeup Terminal, you should walk to Yeongi Apt Bus Stop taking 4 minute for 295m. Please get on local bus No. 171 and get off at Heoryeong Bus Stop taking 36 minutes for 20 bus stop passing. You then should walk as soon as get off taking 27 minutes for 1.8km as a tour. Please refer more details to the “Transportation from Seoul Central City Bus Terminal to Naejangsa Temple”. You could simply take reverse course on your way back home. I could estimate total transportation is about 4 hour plus 30 minutes (waiting interval time) for one way which comes total 9 hours for round trip. But you would reduce this transportation time to 7 hours for round trip in case you use private car or rent car which you could save two hours for the transportation.

5.  Overall Remarks.

Naejangsa Temple is located in the midst of the beautiful Naejangsan National Park. The temple is said to have been built by the Buddhist monk Yeongeunjosa in the year 636 of the Baekje dynasty. Once a large temple with over fifty buildings, Naejangsa was completely destroyed throughout the course of Jeongyujaeran (second Japanese invasion in 1597) and the Korean War (1950-1953). The present temple is largely the result of reconstruction efforts completed in the 1970s. One of the most prized treasures at the temple is the Ijo-dongjong Bell, considered a major cultural asset.

Naejangsan Temple is a representative temple of Jeollabuk-do Province along with Geumsansa Temple on Moaksan Mountain. Surrounded on all sides by towering peaks, Naejangsa Temple boasts a picturesque landscape that is particularly striking in the fall when the mountains turn crimson with autumn leaves. Nearby attractions include Baegyangsa Temple, Bangjangsan Mountain, Jangseongho Lake, and Damyangho Lake.

6.  Detailed Course Information

I have been visiting Naejangsa Temple long time ago which I could not remember when last time. I decided to take a trip together with wife and checked when would be a best time to take a tours and learned around Nov 3 this year. I had to take a choice how to get down there by personal car or tourist transportation. I knew there should be thousand or more cars moving to the Naejangsa to see peak colorful maple trees around the Naejangsa Temple. There should be a massive traffic jam on the road from Jeongeup Train Station to Naejangsan Parking Lot. I therefore booked two seat at Korail Travel to less stress for such heavy traffic jam. I left Seoul ITX Station at 06:40 hour and arrived at 10:25 hour as scheduled and walked to local transportation bus at the Jeongeup Train Station and found there were tremendous cars on the road. My bus was to start to move to the Naejangsa and almost completely stuck on the road. We hardly arrived at Naejangsan parking lot No. 2 after nearly two hours jam, about nun time. Please note it should take less than half an hour under normal traffic conditions. We had to solve lunch first of all and found order lunch menu was also heavy que jam and asked working girls at the restaurant, even not read menu which menu should be shortest delivery. She said Sanchae Bibimbab. We promptly accepted her recommending menu and waiting for some time and eventually took a chance to take Bibimbab without any review time for Bibimbab quality. When I sanded up at the table and moved to the cash counter and saw one more que. I came out and started to move forward to Naejangsa temple where I started to see colorful trees on the mountains. But I could not speed up walking on the road because so many people here and there on the road. We walked on the road for about half an hour via ticket booth and found so beautiful trees on the mountain as well as Park Area where many people tried to take excellent position under best maple trees. When we walked on the road, we faced so nice view of maple trees lining up at the road as see at the photo. We walked on this road for about 10 minutes and faced so excellent view of colorful trees at the Stream. Please see the photo. As we walked on the stream side road for 10 minutes more, we reached Uwhajeong-Octagonal Pavilion at the pond which looks so wonderful scenery especially reflecting shadow on the pond. Please appreciate at the photo herein. We were continuously walking on the road for about 10 minutes and reached Naejangsa Temple Main Gate as see at the photo. I could not make a best position to take an excellent shot since too many people to take a best shot at the Gate. We could finally reach Naejangsa Temple after more than one hour waking from starting point and shortly looked around indie and outside and tried to take best shot position to Naejangsan Rock peaks behind the Temple. I found the best position to make shots around the temple. We checked meeting time with tour guide and confirmed 16:30 hour at the Parking Lot No. 2 and started to somewhat busy walking down to Parking Lot No. 2 and got on the same local transportation bus as we took this morning and back to the Jeongeup Train Station less than 30 minutes, big difference between more than 1 hour 30 minutes this morning while less than half an hour at present. Anyhow we got on the same train as we used this morning and back to the Seoul ITX Station on schedule. As a conclusion, we with my wife agreed unanimously we shall not take this kind of so crowded and rushed tour any more.