Hwaguesa Temple

I spent a Sunday afternoon at Hwaguesa Temple, near Bukhansan: A monk greeted us in French and led us to an eating area for foreigners:

Everyone else ate in the noisy outer area. Our meal included rice and various sidedishes and fruit:

We accidentally sat at the "monks only" table and ate their black bean rice cakes and oranges:

Since you should eat everything you take, I filled my bowl conservatively. Mushrooms, pineapple, tofu, and rice:

The meal was free, so I wondered how many hikers stopped merely for the food. Donations, of course, were welcome. After the meal, we headed upstairs for 1:30 of meditation. Talk about challenging. I much prefer a 4am meditation to a food coma post-lunch one!