Gyong-ju (경주) Trip - Nov. 16, 2007

I know several of you are just dying for an update, so I figured I'd give you guys at least one entry. It took me forever to rename the photo files but it's done now. Just gotta write up the entry now to go with the pretty pictures. :o)

Now that I'm about 2 weeks off, let's see what I can do.

So on Friday, after Korean Language class, Hanna, Heini and I made our way to Gyeonju. We hopped the bus, which you have to admit 3,700 Won (~$3.70) is pretty cheap to drive an hour via bus. Shoot my taxi ride from one side of Daegu back to campus cost me 30,000 Won (~$30)!

So we made our way to the Traditional Korean Bed and Breakfast for the night. We stayed at a cute little place called Sa Rang Chae (사랑채). I most definitely recommend the place to everyone, unless you have a fear of cute friendly dogs, which to us, they really made the place. They were sooo cute!

We check in and the little one, followed us to make sure that our room was to our satisfaction. For after the little room inspection, he went away and never came by our room again. LOL

So after unpacking, we headed out to get something to eat. Heini was wanting some Samgibsa, which is basically BBQ Pork Belly. We walked along the strip and didn't see any restaurants that had the cooked meat dish, so we headed back to this one place we saw that sold Bulgogi, which is marinated Beef. Yummy! We especially liked the little "sandwiches" you could make with the lettuce leaves, rice and bulgogi. Yummy!

After eating, unfortunately the temperature was dropping, but I was determined to see some of the sites. We walked by Cheomseongdae, which was actually built during a Korean QUEEN's rein. Obviously before Confucianism got a hold of Korea...I was about to go on a rant about why I dislike Confucianism, but I stopped, aren't you happy? So, anyway, this is supposedly the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia. Which to me was rather surprising considering China, and also they built the observatory in a valley! That really didn't make much sense to me, but hey I am looking at this through 20th century eyes. Since the girls really were cold and wanted to keep moving, I just took a picture of the observatory from outside the gate. ;o)

Hanna was getting REALLY cold and wanted to go somewhere inside. So the Gyongju museum looked pretty close on the map and I knew that we could actually go inside and get some coffee or something like that to help warm us up. So we headed to the museum only to find out that it closes earlier in the winter and we missed the time by one hour. Doh!

They wanted to head back to the hotel, but seeing how we passed another site, I really wanted to take advantage of how close we were to the site. The girls relented and we went to Imhaejeon. Imhaejeon was part of a royal Silla Palace. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a really good shot, but I gotta say I rather like this effect. These two pavilions are next to a very large pond, which you can't really see in any of the photos that I took, but hey, it really is there. I wanted to get a photo but it was rather difficult for some reason.

As I was trying to get a decent shot, there was a group of young children who were walking around the place with lanterns, which I gotta say made of a slightly spooky look.

This particular palace was a sort of party palace for the Shilla Kings and Queens. This is where they greeted dignitaries and held banquets, showing off all the unusual birds and plants that they kept on the property.  The actual palace itself burned in one of the many fires they seem to constantly have.

Because it was so cold and Hanna seemed to be really affected, even after I gave her my polar fleece vest to wear, we took a taxi back to the hotel. I was just amazed how cold the Finns were, especially considering where they're from, but I guess they really adapt quickly to different climates. We grabbed some snacks at a local store and then went to the little lounge area in the B&B to have a little break.

While we were there, I met a Canadian Law Student and a guy from Malaysia. They were both wanting to go to Haeinsa and wanted to know if I've been there. Seeing how the trip was going to be 4 hours one way for them and they were pretty burnt out on temples, I suggested that they go to Andong instead and check out the Mask Dance Village. I told them if they got bored of the Village, they could at least tour the Soju plant or SOMETHING else, unlike Haeinsa. I wonder if they actually took me up on my suggestion?

Anyway, the girls were tired so they went off to the room and after talking with the guys for an hour, I headed back to the room. We were all pretty much exhausted and cold, so we just slept. Although after a while, the floor was so hot and the blanket was keeping that heat in that it was starting to become a bit like an oven for me. Hanna though, had somehow sleep crawled so that her body was directly touching the hot floor. Wild!

We must have been REALLY tired, because we didn't wake up until around 9:30 am. We had breakfast and then went to meet the other girls at the bus station. Where I met a Korean Jahova's Witness who was wondering if we'd like a tour of Gyeonju. Who know what sort of tour they would have given us!

The girls weren't on the bus, so we figured they must have missed the bus, so we waited the 30 minutes for the next bus to arrive. While waiting, we went upstairs to the coffee shop. Which looked like something out of a Eastern European spy movie. I should have taken a picture of the other side of the room, but the ash trays and lighters looked like something from the 1970's and the faux leather chairs. Yeah, it was definitely interesting, here a picture of Heini and you can see the faux leather chair.  Well, on the next bus, the girls were on it. Turns out the bus was full so they had to catch the next bus. They were starving and I had the map the B&B owner had written directions to a Buffet place that was 6,000 Won. Hanna was really wanting another sweater or something to keep her warm, so I suggested a path, which would lead us through a shopping area where they could find something, hopefully, and also get us closer to the food place. Unfortunately, Hanna couldn't find anything to wear that wasn't expensive, and we had some problems finding the place to eat. Turns out they moved, and we had some nice Korean High School boys, who enjoyed the fact they could speak English with us, and took us to the place to eat. See, not all teens are punks!

 So we all had our fill. Hanna was the happiest because they had so many vegetarian dishes that she could just eat as much as she wanted, and everyone else didn't have any difficulties finding anything to eat, so it was good for all. We then went looking for gloves and sweaters for an hour and then we headed to the Tomb park.

So if you all paid attention to a previous entry about Gyongju, you would remember that Gyeonju was the ancient capital of the Shilla Kingdom. Therefore there are a lot of Tombs in Gyongju. We went to Tumuli Park, which was filled with Tombs and also had two tombs that you could go inside. I thought there was only one tomb so we missed going inside the other tomb unfortunately.

Inside the tomb, you could see the various layers of earth and rock to form the tombs. The tomb itself is constructed out of wood, so I really have to wonder how it was able to withstand the pressure of all that rock and earth for so long. Inside, were some artifacts and the actual grave of the King. You could see the gold and jade crown, some of the clothing and some of the remains of the mystery King. No, I don't have pictures of inside the tomb, no photos were allowed. So here's a photo of two tombs.

Just walking around the park was really awesome. The leaves were absolutely beautiful. We asked this guy to take our picture, thinking we'd get one photo but he took our group photo and then took individual picture of us. Unfortunately, my picture, I'm closing my eyes. Blah!

After walking around the park, we had to catch a taxi to the Buddhist Temple Stay. Now that was a rather interesting trip to Golgulsa, which you all will have to wait until next time to read about. Muhahahaha...

MORE PICTURES CAN BE FOUND HERE.