My friend, the monk

Best monk ever

Text me, we'll pray

Monk gift!

Looks like a walnut...

...tastes like red bean

What's a Pocari and why am I drinking its sweat?

  On Saturday I headed up Korea's barren east coast to look for a rare duck up in Gangneung.  At a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, a young monk saw me scanning the ocean with my binos and we got to talking about birds.  When he got back on the bus, he gave me a box of walnut-shaped red bean-filled snacks, and a bottle of Pocari Sweat.  I was blown away.  I showed him bird pictures on my camera, and we talked birds a bit longer on the bus.
  When we got to snowy Gangneung, we exchanged cell numbers, and I gave him the link for my bird blog.  He gave me a Buddhist 'wai', and we parted ways.  Best monk ever.