Surfing the Korean Wave: Days 6, 7 and 8 - Getting Silla in Gyeongju

 

Some of the many Silla burial mounds in Gyeongju 

If you've been reading any of the prior posts on our recent stopover in South Korea on our way back to Beijing 北京 from the U.S. west coast, you will have noted that I had previously visited Seoul back in the spring of 1999. You may have also picked up on the fact that at that time I didn't leave the capital, with the exception of a day trip to the Korean Folk Village in the nearby city of Suwon. So for this trip I was determined to see more of the country than just its biggest metropolis. Which is how, after five nights in Seoul, we found ourselves on the morning of our sixth day in-country at the city's main train station to board a KTX high speed train bound for Busan. 

Leaving Seoul:

The scenery en route was largely suburban or semi-rural, but with a surprisingly large number of apartment complexes. According to this article, 64% of South Koreans live in apartments or condominiums:

The KTX was somewhat grungier than I had expected of a high-speed train, but it got us to our destination in under 135 minutes. Though the train was headed for Busan, the country's second-largest city, we got off at Gyeongju Station, right around lunchtime. Offerings inside the station building were somewhat limited, so Shu-E and I settled on a Japanese restaurant:

If you were wondering where the next APEC summit is going to be held, now you know:

From the station we took a taxi into the central part of town, and dropped off our things at our accommodations. As it was too early to check in, we decided to do some sightseeing. All the walking we had been doing in Seoul was taking its toll on Shu-E's knees and feet, so when she noticed that glorified golf carts were one means for getting around, she decided we should rent one for a couple of hours:

Gyeongju is arguably the most historical location in South Korea, capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BCE - 935 CE), a "museum without walls" that is home to several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. For an overview of this history, we put-putted in our cart to the Gyeonju National Museum. Outside the main hall is the Emille Bell. Legend states that when lightly struck the bell's resonance can be heard over a radius of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles), but of course visitors aren't allowed to test that claim:

My wife isn't one to visit museums, but the free admission convinced her to spend some time inside:

Though the exhibits cover the earliest periods of human habitation on the Korean peninsula, the most interesting items are the displays from the golden era of the Silla dynasty:

Why a duck? 

This gold crown from the 5th century wouldn't have looked out of place in Game of Thrones:

A stele erected in 501 telling the story of a verdict in a property suit. The final decision was that the property in question should be returned to its original owner:

A pig, one of the twelve animal zodiac deities (8th-9th centuries):

Stone doors sculpted with terracotta guardians: 

A roof eave in the design of a human face. It may have looked better on the finished structure, but as a stand alone museum piece it was a little creepy:

The museum grounds include a couple of ancient stupas:

A 7th century sculpture of a triad comprising the Maitreya Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas: 

A large ridge-end tile that once adorned the roof of a Buddhist temple:

A green-glazed tile with divine guardian images (679):

On the way back to the cart rental shop Shu-E stopped to take this photo. The mound at the back is one of the numerous tombs for Silla monarchs and their family members that can be found in the Gyeongju area:

Following the cart drop off we were able to check into our room at the Hwangnamkwan Hanok Village and Hotel, a modern-day recreation of a traditional Korean guest house. This meant we would be sleeping on the floor, similar to what you find in Japan, only without the tatami mats 畳. The room instead had the traditional ondol floor heating system, though the temperatures were never low enough to utilize this feature during our brief time in Gyeongju: 

Strolling through the neighborhood. The busy lanes and streets we encountered earlier were now much quieter, an indicator many of the visitors were day trippers:

After some considerable discussion as to where to have dinner, we settled on an Italian restaurant called Seasoning. As much as we enjoy Korean cuisine, after almost a week of dining mostly on meat, soups, stews and kimchi, a break was in order. Compared to Chinese and Japanese cuisine, Korean meals are more limited in variety:

The restaurant turned out to be a fine choice. Operated by four young Korean men, the dishes reflected their take on what an Italian meal could resemble. I regret not taking better photos of the food we ordered to share here, so instead here's a picture of the restaurant's exterior:

The side streets of Gyeongju were populated by shady-looking characters, and therefore best avoided:

Back at our hanok guesthouse to retire for the night:

Day seven in South Korea. Our room was on the ground floor; this view was taken from the second floor of the building:

Our main destination this day was to Gyeongju's most famous site, Bulguksa Temple, which we reached from the city center by bus:

Bulguk-sa has been described as the "crowning glory of Silla architecture", despite much of it having been destroyed by the Japanese in 1593 and subsequently being rebuilt, and deserves its place on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. The name translates to "World of Buddha Temple" and can be seen in hanja on the main entrance gate:

The approach to the main hall leads to two "bridges" (actually staircases) designated as national treasures. Both date from the establishment of the temple in the mid-8th century, and were repaired in 1919 (the balustrades were added in 1972). The smaller of the two is Baegungyo (White Cloud Bridge):

The larger of the pair is called Cheongungyo (Blue Cloud Bridge) and has 33 steps, representing the 33 stages of enlightenment. Both bridges lead up to the main gate but cannot be climbed by visitors:

The first of two stupas that stand in front of the main hall is Dabotap (Many Treasures Pagoda):

Daeungjeon Hall (Main Buddha Hall) dates from 1765; the original was burned in the late 16th century:

The other stupa is called Seokgatap (Sakyamuni Pagoda). Both pagodas somehow escaped being destroyed by Japanese invaders. When Seokgatap was restored in 1966 it was discovered to contain a copy of a sutra that turned out to be one of the world's oldest woodblock print books, dating back to the early 8th century:

We also checked out some of the other halls in the temple complex. The original Gwaneumjeon Hall was erected in the 8th century but what greets visitors today in a replica built in 1973. It serves as a shrine to the Goddess of Mercy (Avalokitesvara):

The Nahanjeon Hall was put up in 1979 on the site of the 8th-century original. The Buddha inside is flanked by 16 arhats:

The shot for the back cover of my next album: 

The rain came down intermittently while we were at the temple, creating a misty backdrop:

We couldn't leave Bulguksa without touching the lucky Golden Pig in front of the Hall of Supreme Bliss:

All that poking around historic Buddhist temples can work up one's appetite, so the two of us headed across the road to have lunch. Korean meals often involve a dazzling array of delicious side dishes to go with the main course, and this one didn't disappoint:

The beer, as usual, wasn't as inviting:

Most visitors to Bulguksa will proceed on up the road to Seokguram, a UNESCO-listed Buddhist grotto. While some guidebooks describe it as a must-see sight, many travelers complain that the highlight of the grotto, a statue of Buddha surrounded by guardians and lesser deities, is placed behind glass that reflects light, making it difficult to see and photograph. So following lunch my wife and I made the decision to return to town, getting off the bus at the site of Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond. The park features several reconstructed pavilions built around an artificial pond with origins going back to the 7th century. When the pond (previously called Anapji) was drained in the mid-1970's, a large number of relics going back to the Silla era was discovered, many of which are now displayed in the nearby Gyeongju National Museum:

The sight of this truck in the parking lot of the palace/pond raises questions about intellectual property rights in South Korea. The country (or at least certain areas in Seoul) was still known for its counterfeit goods in the late 90's when I first visited:

A mural depicting Gyeongju in its Silla glory days:

We next walked to what is identified on Google Maps as the Gyeongju Historic Site Wolseong District, a vast park containing a number of imperial tombs:

It is here that you find Gyeongju's most recognizable site, the Cheomseongdae observatory, constructed between 632 and 646. There are a dozen stones at its base, symbolizing each month of the year, plus 30 layers going from bottom to top to represent each day of the month (though some websites state there are 27). In addition, the 366 stones used in its construction correspond to the number of days in a year. Although the name in Korean apparently translates to "Observe the Stars Platform", there are alternative theories as to its original purpose:

Everywhere we went in central Gyeongju could be seen stands selling a snack called sibwonppang, aka 10-won bread, a popular cheese-filled treat shaped like a coin. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but these goodies have apparently been embroiled in a legal dispute with the Bank of Korea: 

The 10-won bread was quite tasty. The same couldn't be said for another Gyeongju snack food, sweet potato fries, which neither one of us particularly enjoyed:

Snacks out of the way, we wandered over to the nearby Tumuli-gongwon, a large, walled park home to 23 tombs. Signs warned of stiff penalties for those foolhardy (or stupid) enough to try and scale any of the burial mounds - ₩20 million comes to roughly $14,500 at present exchange rates):

The tomb of Michu of Silla, the 13th ruler of the Silla dynasty:

One of the burial mounds, Cheonmachong, has been excavated and is open to visitors. It stands 13 meters (43 feet) high, and 47 meters (154 feet) in diameter. Construction is presumed to have taken place around the year 500 (or perhaps closer to the end of the 5th century), and belonged to a close relative of a Silla king:

Cheonmachong means "Tomb of the Heavenly Horse", and refers to a birchbark saddle flap depicting a heavenly horse that was discovered when the tomb was excavated in 1973. This is what the mudguard is believed to have looked like:

The condition it was in at the time of discovery:

A facsimile of a gold crown also discovered in the tomb:

Over 11,500 artifacts in total were found inside, with some indicating the Silla kingdom's contacts in the east Asia region, such as this shell lade made in Okinawa 沖縄...:

...and these comma-shaped jades presumed to have originated on the Japanese mainland:

Elsewhere in the park young visitors were lining up to have photos taken:

After resting for a spell in our room at the hanok, we ventured out after sunset. First stop was to a bridge around a 20-minute walk away, beautifully lit up at night:

Afterward it was off in search of dinner, eventually settling on an izakaya 居酒屋, the name of which escapes me even though it was written clearly in rōmaji ローマ字 and Japanese on the exterior. Like the aforementioned Seasoning, this restaurant offered its own take on Japanese pub grub, such as this tasty karaage から揚げ:

The main drawback to our accommodations in Gyeongju was that it didn't serve breakfast. So on our final morning, having already resorted to the local McDonalds the previous day, I set off alone to the closest Starbucks to find something with which to start off the day (Shu-E doesn't usually eat breakfast and so stayed behind in the room). On the way I passed by some more burial mounds:

On the way back to the hanok to enjoy my sandwich and coffee I said "good morning" to a pair of cats enjoying the morning sun:

A K-Pop take on Abbey Road?:

Back at the hanok:

Before checking out, my wife and I took advantage of the guesthouse's free-to-try-on hanbok to culturally appropriate some traditional Korean clothing:

And so our brief visit to Gyeongju came to an end on the morning of our eighth day in the ROK. It would've been easier to take a bus to our next destination (Busan) as the bus station was only a 15-minute walk away from the guesthouse, but figuring the railway terminus in Busan would be more centrally located to our next hotel rather than a more out-of-the-way bus station, I opted for the high-speed train, so we took a taxi back to Gyeongju Station.

Off all the places we visited in South Korea, I was most pleased with Gyeongju, The three days we were there were too short, only a scratch on the surface of all the Buddhist figures, pagodas, palace ruins, rock carvings, temples and, of course, tombs the region has to offer. I was surprised, actually, at all the foreign visitors who were there the same time as Shu-E and I. Seoul I could understand, but I had little idea that Gyeongju was that well-known as a tourist destination. Like Japan, Korea these days appears to be a must-visit destination.

And speaking of Japan, by not knowing the Korean language or how to read Hangul (thank goodness for Google Translate), and having to rely on English-speaking locals to help us in getting around (and there were a surprisingly good number of capable English speakers, at least in the places where we went), I'm beginning to understand what it must be like for the tourist hordes currently running around Tōkyō 東京 and Kyōto 京都.

That still doesn't mean they have my sympathy, however...

Milkis, a creamy Korean soda not too dissimilar to Calpis カルピス

Next up: Busan. 

Surfing the Korean Wave: Day 4 - Getting up close and personal (sort of) with the Hermit Kingdom

 

The view from the Dora Observatory 

I still don't know what I was thinking. Back in the spring of 1999, when I was still living and working in Tōkyō 東京, I took advantage of the Japanese Golden Week holiday period to spend a few days in South Korea's capital, Seoul. A political science major (with an emphasis on international relations) and a child of the Cold War, I should've used that opportunity to visit Panmunjom and the Joint Security Area (JSA), where North and South Korean soldiers stand only a few meters (or feet, if you prefer) apart along the Military Demarcation Line. A tour of the JSA would have allowed me to go inside the blue meeting room where the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War was signed, and would even have provided me with the opportunity to take a few steps into DPRK territory. But for reasons lost in the mists of time (and in the fog that constitutes much of my brain these days) I didn't go*. 

Fast forward a quarter century later, and this time I was determined not to let that opportunity elude my grasp this time. Except that in the summer of last year Travis King decided to dash into North Korea while on a tour of the JSA to escape a court martial, and since then tours to the area have been suspended. Still, I was determined to get to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) one way or another (legally, in any case), so I signed up my wife and I for an organized tour. This meant having to get up before the crack of dawn, and then walk more than twenty minutes, mostly uphill, from our hotel to the Myeong-dong area where our tour bus would be waiting to leave before 0700 hours. As we approached the meeting spot, we could see the N Seoul Tower in the distance (which I did have the good sense to visit back in 1999). We could also see, very high in the sky above, two small white dots which most likely were North Korean balloons, considering we had both received alerts on our cell phones earlier that morning alerting to the presence of such balloons, and warning us not to touch them should they land near our vicinity. In any event, they were too high up to photograph:

Shu-E boards the bus:

Our first stop was at Imjingak, a park dedicated to the ten million South Koreans separated from their families when the peninsula was divided between the US and USSR following the end of the Second World War**, followed by the more permanent separation brought about by the war between the two Koreas. Here, amidst the various memorials, visitors lined up to purchase North Korean currency and stamps, the only place in South Korea where one can do so legally:

Having purchased DPRK cash earlier this year in Dandong 丹东 (though most likely it was fake), we skipped the line and instead walked around the park:

An unlikely memorial, dedicated to American military personnel of Japanese ancestry who were killed fighting during the Korean War:

An altar:

Identical statues symbolizing the plight of Korean comfort women 慰安婦, one representing the North, the other the South. There was something distasteful about tourists sitting on the benches taking selfies of themselves next to the figures:

Nearby was this steam train, which had been derailed by bombs during the war:

The train is riddled with more than 1200 bullet holes:

A sign indicating where a rail line once operated. The park is also the site of Freedom Bridge, where more than 13,000 POW's were exchanged following the cessation of the fighting in 1953:

Shu-E grabs a quick bite before boarding the bus for the next stop on the tour:

Stop number two on the tour was at the site of the Third Infiltration Tunnel. Here there were models of the ROK soldiers employing their modified taekwondo stances which they utilize while on duty at the JSA: 

As the name implies, this was the third of four infiltration tunnels discovered since 1974 (though South Korean officials estimate there could be up to twenty others). We weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones into the tunnel, so click here to get a glimpse of what it was like inside. After descending a steep corridor to reach the tunnel, we walked along 265 meters (869 feet) of the tunnel (which is located 73 meters/240 feet underground) to the point where the North Koreans sealed it off after realizing it had been discovered. It was a walk my back and knees don't wish to repeat. It also quickly became apparent why each visitor was given a hardhat to wear, as without mine I would've quickly knocked myself unconscious and/or received a traumatic head injury from the claustrophobically low ceiling in the tunnel:

Outside in the welcoming open air, our tour guide Moon took some photos of me to prove where I was:

Our penultimate stop was at the Dora Observatory. Thanks to those pesky Commie balloons, the outdoor roof was closed to visitors, so we had to make do getting voyeuristic glimpses into North Korea through the interior windows. In the photo below, the forested area to the left of the fence is the actual DMZ. The DPRK lies beyond the triangular shaped body of water in the middle:

In this photo you can barely make out the competing Korean flagpoles. North Korea's is on the left, standing proud at 160 meters (525 feet) high, while South Korea's puny 98 meter (322 feet) rival is on the right (a closer look at the ROK flagpole can be seen in the photo at the beginning of this post):

It may be difficult to make out, but in the top right of the photo below we could make Kaesong city:

The blue-roofed buildings which can be barely glimpsed in the right middle of this pic are the infamous huts in the JSA, now off limits to people like us (thanks for nothing, Travis!):

What I could've seen back in 1999 or before last summer:

I took this photo from a window on the east side of the observatory. Everything you see here is South Korean territory:

Our final stop on the tour was at Daeseong-dong (aka Freedom Village), a settlement of 200 souls right in the DMZ (there's a village on the North Korean side that's also close to the border, but which apparently is a Potemkin village of facades, empty of any residents):

Of course there was a souvenir shop here. Had I been living in South Korea I would've purchased some DMZ-grown rice to take home with me:

The most dangerous border on the planet, the flashpoint to a possible nuclear holocaust, is packaged in T-shirts featuring cute cartoon figures:

We were back in Myeong-dong by early afternoon, where Shu-E and I had lunch. I'm not sure how much my wife got from the tour (the previous day as we passed a National Foundation Day celebration, she asked me why there were so many American flags being waved by elderly Koreans), but for me it was a fascinating trip, even if we didn't get to go right up to the border like so many others have done up until recently. With its mixture of tension and tour buses, it has to be the most surreal tourist experience I've ever had:

After lunch we had a look inside Seoul's very modern City Hall, finished in 2013. The interior is dominated by the Green Wall, a seven-story high vertical garden covering 1516 square meters (16,319 square feet). Inside also is the Metaseosa Seobeol art installation:

The basement features a free museum built around an archaeological site from the Joseon dynasty, unearthed during excavation of City Hall:

Among the finds was this clump of thousands of arrowheads of different shapes stuck together:

Just in front of City Hall is the old seat of government, built in 1926:

One of the good things about life in the Foreign Service is the knowledge that no matter where you travel in this world, there's a good chance you might know someone who is posted in that particular location. Which is how we came to have dinner that evening with Chris and Sabrina, whom we know from our time in Vilnius. On our way to the Jordanian restaurant where he had dinner (as good as Korean food is, it has its limits) we took this photo of the N Seoul Tower:

And after being treated to a delicious meal by our most gracious hosts, we had a group photo taken on the same bridge:

It's remarkable ("alarming" might be a better description) just how close South Korea's capital is to the border of a country that continually threatens to annihilate everything and everyone living on the southern side of the DMZ. We would have one more day in the metropolis before heading out to the hinterlands. Stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the competing national anthems:

"Aegukga" 

"Aegukka" 

* It was also while living in Japan's capital in the late Nineties that I seriously considered joining a tour to visit North Korea. My plans were crushed, unfortunately, when I learned that U.S. citizens at that time were not being allowed by DPRK authorities to participate in these tours. Had I been able to go, I wonder how that would have affected my later security clearance after joining the State Department.

** My father was stationed in South Korea before the Korean War, part of the U.S. contingent patrolling the 38th parallel separating south from north, though these U.S. troops left the country in 1949, a year before the invasion by the North in June 1950. He once told me that Korea was the coldest place he had ever been.