Baekyangsa — Attraction in South Jeolla

We were fortunate enough to be able to make a trip to the Chunjinam Hermitage and Baekyangsa Temple, where the much-touted chef/nun Jeon Kwang (NYT, features Chef's Table Season 3, Episode 1) resides and operates. We spent 3 days and 2 nights there, and had a phenomenal time. I would highly recommend it, as it was a personal highlight from all of my travels.

We were surprised to find only two nuns reside at the hermitage; Jeon Kwang and another nun, Miojin(spelling may be incorrect).

Alongside for the next year is Anne Lee, a Canadian-educated researcher currently putting together a proposal for Korean Temple Food to get Unesco designation as an intangible cultural heritage (which I would say it definitely deserves).

The cost of the program is 150,000KRW per person, per day.

I have a longer review on chowhound, if you're interested.

My recommendation:

A visit to Baekyangsa would be phenomenal if you are able to spend time with the chef (and even if you aren't! Our two days without the chef were even better than the day we had with the chef, but not the same culinary experience). It's a little bit hard to coordinate, but if it's possible it's extremely worth the effort, trek, and price tag.

The added opportunity to visit with Miojin, a fantastic Buddhist and extremely warm person, is highly recommended

It's an extremely fascinating place, at an extremely fascinating time to visit -- where the turmoil of becoming an international sensation is mixed with Korean Buddhism, and where the struggles of secular realities are mixing fervently with an evolving Buddhist culture that is adjusting to those new realities -- backdropped by a gorgeous landscape and beautiful surroundings.

Another option to look into (though I don't have more information to share at the moment):

There are 4 designated Korean Buddhist temple food masters. We had a brief interaction with Woo Kwan, who was bright and cheerful, and speaks English fairly well. I would have liked to spend more time with her, and if I can track down her whereabouts I'll share them here (she's at a temple in Gyeonggi/Incheon, I believe, but I don't have more info than that and couldn't find a relevant...

When visiting Naejangsan National Park it is definitely worthwhile to enter from the south or as if you were going to intentionally visit Baegyangsa(白羊寺) in particular, because at this southern entrance to the park, there is actually a whole town to explore, complete with restaurants, coffee shops and plenty of souvenirs shops you can buy from here. Again there is another long walk from the town (35mins) all the way to where you have to buy the tickets for entrance to go to Baegyangsa proper. If you have bought your tour bus ticket at the depot in Jeongup, you need to buy another return ticket again at the convenient store next to the coffee shop which is next to, or close to the entrance of Baegyangsa park. Otherwise you won't be able to ride the same tour bus again on your way back to Jeongup. If you are in doubt about how to purchase this return ticket, do ask at the tourist office at Jeongup station how to buy the return ticket for your journey from Baegyangsa’s entrance. The problem is the buses are not consistent about when they will sell you a ticket, either right on the bus, or in an office on the way to the bus prior to taking the...

A beautiful place to do a temple stay. I completed the temple stay with the cookery seminar from the nun on the Netflix show JeongGwan Sunim. She understands more English than she lets on. Her Korean buddhist philosophy on food is beautiful when translated properly. Her food..... Indescribably delicious. Great temple stay.... However if you suffer from back problems like myself, sleeping on the floor and competing 108 prostrations is almost completely impossible..... Sad i couldn't complete it properly at the time. The mountain in the background of the temple is beautiful and had inspired many writers.... I can...