Gyeongju GG days

carrie

Gyeongju City in eastern North Gyeongsang Province was the capital of the Shilla Kingdom that unified the early Korean kingdoms until 935, and is today filled with cultural relics. Most of its best sacred sites are designated by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage sites. We arrived here in the evening, waited a long time for bus but had to stop a taxi, which was not expensive. Having checked in GG hotel, we went out to explore food, only to end up in McDonalds . Next morning when I drew the curtain, I was amazed at what I saw. It seems history stopped here.

Gyeongju is often referred to as the ‘Museum without Walls’ due to the presence of many cultural and archaeological sites, so it mainly thrives on tourism. Its charming landscape and most of the sites are within a walking distance from one another. Our hotel GG is in the centre of a mixture of folk style houses, ancient temples and modern restaurants.

Our first destination was Gyeongju National Park which has a number of cultural preserves that dated back to the Silla Dynasty. With a total area of 137 sq km, it’s known as Korea’s only historical national park housing important historical sites from the Silla period.

Wherever we go we saw great Royal Tombs with trees growing out of the tomb. It was really a bizzare sight.

We passed by several temples , each of which is old but maintained in decent condition. The weather is fine, the sky is blue and our sight is filled with green: green trees and green grass. Low Hanok houses dotted here and there in green grassland.

We came across on the exterior wall of a temple wise quotes of Dalai Lama. They made me think twice about how to live this earthly life.

While hunting for food we saw many cute shops and lovely decorative graffiti art. It is a nice little town.

Before we visited the national park, we slowly wandered in the town center checking which restaurant to settle down for a nice lunch. Looking through the finestra of this restaurant, we found it neat, but the food was disappointing. It seemed they just heated up some noodles and the sushi fish was like rubber. In the evening we somehow skipped dinner. Since we had nothing better to do in GG, Kappa was watching food videos done in Busan by Mike Chen. Watching food videos when you are hungry is not a good idea.

After the early lunch, we spent a whole day in the national park and collected beautiful memories.

We followed the crowd observing the exhibits from the excavation of tombs. Koreans are not good at presenting cultural relics. I soon lost interest in the fake exhibits and walked out. When we were seated on a bench in the shade a woman tour guide came to interview us. Speaking decent English, she wondered how we felt about Gyeongju and introduced to us about the tombs.

The Daereungwon Tomb Complex is the Silla Kingdom’s Ancient Burial Ground. This Tomb Complex is something like the pyramids to the Koreans, where the royals of the ancient Silla Kingdom are buried under. From afar they may look like normal mounds, but these mounds are considered sacred and important to the local people. There are many of them around the small town of Gyeongju, each varying in size and height. It is quite humbling to consider the history behind these tombs, and viewing them from afar seems to be quite unimpressive. The one we did go inside was nothing special at all. Compared with history of China and considering its location Korea was an obscure underdog in its ancient times.

But I must say the beauty of landscape was breath-taking. Nowhere else have I seen such a view. I felt the sky here higher, grass greener, air fresher, and everything about the surroundings was just so agreeable. We walked around the park in the afternoon sun, sitting down on the old stone from time to time reading Korean guide book. At a certain point, kappa left the book on a bench. Good, kappa remembered and we quickly went back. The lonely planet book was still lying there waiting for us.

Local people are queuing up for photos. Me too! I would regret if I were not in that beautiful picture of the national park. Pity that I did not persuade kappa to have a photo taken with me.

Facing the beauty of nature, I am always relaxed, happy, cheerful and love my kappa more!

The trees and walls have all been there for centuries. We were only passers-by peeping at her for a flinting moment.

After almost a perfect day touring around , we exited, hoping to take a shortcut back to GG when we stopped in a street park resting on a bench. We were quite relaxed totally loosing our guard sitting among the locals. Suddenly a nasty looking woman mumbled something at us, which surprised me because we did not even say anything. We went on talking between ourselves in a low voice when the ugly wrinkled woman stood up to attack us. She must be a lunatic. An old guy sitting opposite her obviously could not bear the sight. He stood up for us trying to stop her craziness but failed. The woman started to assault him. “Kappa, let’s go”. I took kappa by the hand and escaped from the weird incident. Wise people don’t lean against a falling wall, goes an old saying. Aged women in Gyeongju left me a very unpleasant impression, most of whom have a weathered face, hunched back, and a nasty attitude. We had an experience trying to buy ginger from an old rude woman in a market. Life has treated them badly, I guess!

Our plan for the next day was to visit Bulguksa Temple. Waiting for Bus 11 started another day.

Bulguksa Temple is located on the slopes of Mount Toham, about 15 km southeast of Gyeongju. Also known as the ‘Temple of the Buddha Land’, the UNESCO World Heritage Site dates back to 528 during the Silla Kingdom. The historic pagodas and foundations are the only original structures in Bulguksa Temple, while the rest of the temple are reconstructions.

We paid for the entrance and extra for the museum. Nothing was really impressive, but I can tell from their efforts although Korea has nothing gorgeous to boast they managed to show to the world that they are a hard working, indomitable people, undaunted by repeated setbacks.

I am not interested in buddas at all, leaving kappa alone to search for what might fascinate him. Taking photos of me was my intention to label the day by different attire I wore so that I can categorize my photos.

We sat on a stone resting, savoring the surrounding views and kappa picked up a wild flower from the dirt to leave it dry between the pages of the tour book for later memories. He often does that. How sweet! We were not very much impressed by this visit, so we wrapped up the trip. When Ankor was prospering, korea was obsolete; When China dominated, korea was obsolete; When Japan rose up, Korea was not even obsolete, it was trampled on. Maybe now, it is their turn to utter a voice to let the world hear them. They are already heard by their electronic feats, fashion design and fine chemistry. I have lived on Korean cosmetics for almost two decades. Every dog has its day, goes an old saying!

Waiting for the bus, a bunch of youthful people across the road sitting at the bus stop happily chatting caught my attention. The world belongs to them and we are only lookers-on at this age. What is done can’t be undone! Good, I an blessed with a gentleman like kappa with whom I have a lot of interests in common. Aren’t I lucky!

Since the first disappointing lunch in Gyeongju, we skipped two dinners in the following two days due to the wrong hour. When returning from tour in the afternoon the lunch hour was missed again. We were a little bit desperate in locating a restaurant to have nice food. Walking into an alley, we sniffed meat in the air. Following the fragrance , we ended up in a restaurant where they served roasted pork leg. Finally we could settle down for a relaxing time with nice food.

Seated on the wooden floor we were very tired and hungry. We ordered a pork leg set, and beers. The meat tasted ok but not very yummy, lacking certain spices. The soup in the set was strong in bean paste flavor. Kimchi was too salty. We tasted authentic local flavor for sure. After finishing everything, kappa wrote on the wall, “laomao is eating here” and he then drew a very cute cat next to the note, my dear cat mania.

In the evening we went out to get more familiar with the town. We found a big market selling local stuff and vegetables. We bought a piece of ginger, and half way back to GG we bought a watermelon, very sweet and fresh. Going back to GG, we had watermelon and watched food video by Mike Chen. Relaxing! Mike suggested adding a spoonful of sugar to help dough ferment better. I wll remember to try it when doing xiaolongbao. We recalled how kappa suffered from diarrhea in Huian and lived only on watermelon. Bittersweet moments in Vietnam. Maybe watermelon made diarrhea worse. I was reflecting.

When kappa was holding the heavy watermelon and orienting our way with his Samsung phone, it failed to do his job. Back in GG, kappa tried every means to do CPR for his dear baby, but it came back to life, blinked to its owner as if to say goodbye and stopped struggling. We were so sad this happened to us when we were so much in need of it. Kappa said it died at a wrong time, and it should have waited until he was back in Torino. I asked kappa, “isn’t it a reflection of our earthly life?” Death happens suddenly in life beyond our control. What we can do within our power is to watch out for omens and prepare for undesirable scenarios in advance. Knowing how sad kappa was, I wrote an obituary for this devoted Samsung phone.

Obituary of kappa’s Samsung S5
Purchased in Easter in 2014, this Samsung phone S5 has been accompanying my love for five years, never failing him. When we were traveling abroad it navigated us home. Remember that late afternoon in Hui when it was pouring like mad. I held you tightly in my hand telling my kappa the right direction to steer. Without you we would have been lost! When you are not navigating, you are entertaining. Without you, Pokémon fun would be impossible. When you neither navigate, nor entertain, you helped kappa reach fanfan. Chatting seeing each other drew two loving hearts closer. For five years, you were never powered off, always standing by kappa’s side, silent and devoted wherever he was. For five years, you witnessed kappa’s afflictions and blisses. To honor you , Kappa has just bought you a new Doraemon cover to make you look younger, you appreciated it and in it you rest forever. Farewell, our devoted friend! 

We travelled on with kappa having no phone in hand. We felt huge inconvenience without Samsung S5.

Tours went on and next site to visit is Wolji Pond, part of Donggung Palace, a Silla-era complex. The artificial pond is surrounded by landscaped gardens and reconstructed pavilions. Again, it was pretty but underwhelming. Kappa always remarked, “Japan is much better” We walked 12000steps in the summer noon heat. Imagine how much we perspired that day.

From photos Cheomseongdae Observatory was very appealing. While we made our way towards it, we were embraced by stretches of flower fields. It was a pleasant surprise, hard not to be tempted, so we spent a lot of time strolling around, and enjoying our bento in the pavilion.

The Cheomseongdae Observatory was right in front, standing solitarily in the middle of an open-air park, with nothing around it. It was a structure built during the reign of Silla Kingdom, Korea's earliest complex civilization. Once used to forecast weather by observing the stars, it is one of the few remaining relics from the ancient Silla Kingdom, designated as one of South Korea's National Treasures. At 1300+ years old, it is also during this period when the Islamic civilization was rising to power and China was ruled by the Tang Dynasty. While the structure is historically significant I find the experience of visiting it so so. It might be due to my expectations prior to visiting the place.

Kappa was feeling hot and tired, so I went off to wander around alone. I walked a long way aimlessly just wanting to see more. I discovered more Hanok style houses.

900 meters away from the observatory lies the National musem of Gyeongju. We were tired and thirsty when we got there. Kappa used some coins to get a bottle of coke from the vending machine.

The museum walk gave us some idea about Korean history. A group of Korean elementary school pupils on fileld trip were very earnest in learning their history under their teacher’s guidance.

Waiting for the bus to go back, I looked arond and was more impressed by the idyllic scenery than by the museum. I dont know how kappa felt.

I found local bus stops very interesting and lovely.

Since kappa couldn’t do pokemon, he took the time to try different bottons on the panel to see the fuction of each. He made out the key to switch the language, the key to find out the weather, the key to know when the bus is coming and the key to the map, interesting. Very passenger friendly👍

We got off the bus near the town centre to hunt for food. Passing by a tiny restaurant where they sell fried chicken and beer, typically korean food. We pushed the door in. Fried chicken was not bad , esp, to go with the free salad. Kappa liked it but I would prefer the chicken marinated before they were fried, which is where kappa disagreed. He remarked that Chinese food is often mixed with too many ingredients for diners to tell the authentic flavor of food. I agree and I found myself slowly converted to Italian cousine. After chicken we took a walk around and bought some food for breakfast and Haagen-Dazs icecream🍦. Night market started with different food van and stands for variois crafty works. Local people may not have much money but it seemed they are enjoying their present daily life.

We had one more day left in Gyeongju. It would be too boring to stay indoors doing nothing. Kappa dug out online a tourist attraction in the outskirt of Gyeongju— Hanok folk culture village. So we headed to it by bus. Google map is a great help for independent travellers.

The admission fee was dear but I like this stretches of old Korean style village with large ponds of lotus leaves where stand out white, pink water lilies dancing with breeze.

There were few tourists. The surroundings were quiet and the weather was agreeable. We sat under a big tree having our bento, with green lotus leaves surrounding us.

Ages-old Hanok houses nestled in the wooded hills, quite a picturesque view.

Kappa discovered on a door an English notice saying “ please don’t disturb, we hate Japanese especially” They are still bitter about their past.

Looked from afar, they Hanok stlye houses have got quite a curve which made them look like a giant dancing dragon esp. when winds came up. It was a nice view, inpressed deeply in our memory.

This trip added one more color to the spectrum of our Korean memory. It would have been a perfect conclusion had we not got caught by odds.

Having left the village, we reached a big crossing where we got on a wrong bus which took us to a different city. When we saw jungles of high-rise buildings, we realised to our horror that we were running farther away from Gyeongju. We jumped off to stop the mistake, and got on a bus that went back. We kept saying Gyeongju to the driver which was the only Korean word we know. We were understood and dropped at a stop where we could get on a bus that would go to Gyeongju.

Language is indeed a barrier. When we were on a wrong bus, many locals wanted to help. Overwhelmed by a language I don’t know I just shut up. It is fun to recall what happened then but I did panic at the moment. It seemed kappa did not panic . He was even trying to imitate some Korean phrases he overheard on the wrong bus.

Back in GG, kappa found on trip advisor a Korean style restaurant which had very good reviews. It was within walking distance and the surroundings were nice. Although a western woman diner said it was very nice, I found it ok. Somehow I felt local typical Korean food was for poor people. I found Korean food served in China better.

　　Gyeongju has left us nice impressions with her distinctive folk culture, beautiful landscape and abundant cultural relics! Gyeongju farewell!