Guinsa, Labyrinthine and Escher-esque

Today I went to a Buddhist temple, or rather a temple complex, because there wasn't just one, there were tons of them, all over the place. It was labyrinthine paths and Escher-esque staircases nestled into the mountains, going up, up, up.





Each section seemed like the whole, because you couldn't see anything else but the buildings towering above you almost as much as the mountains were. But then you glimpse this little hidden staircase and keep climbing and discover yet another level of the complex, brightly painted temples and footbridges all around.





Next you find a little courtyard balcony: it's below everything yet to come, but offers a view from above of everything through which you've just walked. So you look back, and discover that hidden staircase was one of many, a myriad of winding routes all leading to the same place... eventually.




Words truly cannot describe what it felt like, or the aching beauty of it.