Waujeongsa Temple and Renting a Car in Korea

Today (Friday) Chris kept me company in the hotel room. Samsung told him he is welcome to go into work but they wouldn’t be there because it is Family Day.  At the end of the work day, we had reservations to pick up our “Hertz” rental car. When I couldn’t pinpoint it on the map, I was a little skeptical - it turns out for good reason. Hertz was in name only and the actual rental agency was Lotte. That’s not an issue other than they refused to give us the car until we paid another $112 since Chris is only 25; they didn’t care that Hertz already charged us their under-age driver fee. Chris’ theory is that you have to be at least 25 years old, which is 26 in Korea, but since he told Hertz he was 25, Korea took it literally instead of adding a year. (Korean age is always one year more than your international age; they are one year’s old at birth.)

 

If you visit Korea, you are likely to go to a temple, an important part of Korea's landscape.  Korea has a 1,700-year Buddhist history and there are ~900 Buddhist temples there.  We kicked off our temple visits with Waujeongsa Temple in Yongin, an hour drive outside of Suwon.  Offering a quiet refuge contrasting to the busy city, it was so peaceful and unique there! Other than the 3,000 buddha statues and Golden Orb Weaver spiders, we practically had it to ourselves.

 

The first thing you’ll see at Waujeongsa Temple is Buldu, a stirring 24-foot high Buddha’s head.

The Shrine to the Nahan depicts the 500 historical disciples of the Buddha.

 

The Palsang-do is a mural illustrating the 8 scenes from Buddha’s life.

 

Buddhists believe that wishes, written down on the hanging lanterns, will reach the Buddha.

We had exciting plans for our first Friday night in Korea: laundry! Regardless of who was footing the bill, it just didn’t make sense to pay the hotel $100 (average ~$7 per piece) to wash Chris’ clothes. Instead we went to a self-serve laundry mat for ~$8 total (wash and dry). Never have I ever gone to a laundry mat while traveling, and I can count the times I’ve used one in California on one hand. We conveniently found one next to Rodeo Street (Hyanggyoro Street), a popular night hangout with plenty of dinner options while waiting for our clothes.  This street is full of restaurants, neon lights, cosmetic stores, and some mediocre-looking street food stalls, 

The laundry mat - our exciting Friday night plans.

We ate dinner at a yummy Japanese restaurant very close to the laundry mat.

Logistics:

 

This is the Suwon car rental agency - do you spy the tiny Hertz sign?!

There are lots of toll roads in Korea. The car agency sold us a loaded hi pass card which allows us to drive right through the tolls. Another option is to stop and pay with the T-Money card.

 

As an international driver we were required to get collision coverage. They told us we wouldn’t have to pay for any damage unless it made the car inoperable.

 

The Suwon laundry mat we went to was on the corner of Ganmaesan-ro and Gomae-ro. It accepted credit card and the washing machines were pre-loaded with detergent.