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May 3rd-5th, Saturday-Monday. Monday being "Children's Day" so we had the day off. Yesterday, May 8th, was Parent's Day (instead of Father's or Mother's Day). In Japan they also have separate boys and girls days instead of just children's day.
Well, because of the long weekend, I went to Gyeongju, the old Silla Kingdom capital of South Korea. It is a city marked as an important cultural heritage site, so no new buildings can be built over a certain height (5 stories I think). It is a small city with a lot of visible tombs dotting the landscape both in-between buildings and on the outside of town. It is a little bit of a tourist town, but mostly for other koreans as all the foreigners I saw seemed to be staying at the same hostel I was. I find this strange and I kind of want to know the reason. This might seem a little much, but my first thought was "these tombs are like pimples, they're everywhere". Traveling always takes a long time when you are poor, so I arrived at 2pm on Saturday (after leaving that morning). I find it amazing how I can travel almost the entire
country in just 4.5 hrs by car. The United States is so big compared to South Korea. I just keep thinking how it takes me that long to drive from my little home in Vermont to Boston.
I was able to see a lot the first day. I went to the Gyeongju museum, Anapji Pond, and Tumuli Park. On the way to the museum, I decided to walk since the map is out of scale and it didn't look that far. I ended up wondering through the oldest preserved forest, past a Confucian School, past an ancient ice house, and through a park. I saw all these sites without really knowing it since I wasn't looking at the map right, or know what they were when I saw them save for the Confucian School. I wish now that I went in and looked around while I was there, but that is my only regret. It's funny what you can see when you just take the time to let things happen. At the museum there was the entire history of the Silla kingdom in artifacts where i was able to see a timetable of tools, ceramics, metal work, wood
Anapji Pond
There are suppose to be lotus flowers work, and the progression of all. That was where an important Silla (pronounced Shilla by the way) gold crown on display with a belt that a king would have worn. At Anapji Pond it was a Korean version of a water garden, which looked different from the Japanese (of course). It was surprisingly relaxing to walk around the perimeter of the pond. That is also where I feel like I really embarrassed myself as a foreigner. I just happened to see korean with a Vermont tourist t-shirt walking the other way by me and I couldn't help but point and get excited. I obviously scared the poor guy since I was suddenly embarrassed I couldn't explain what got me so excited. There was also a lotus garden next door, but since the flowers are out of season when i went I didn't get to see a field of lotus flowers to my disappointment. Then at Tumuli Park, it's sort of like its name, it's a park of tombs. But there is this one tomb where we can go inside and see the contents and how a tomb was laid out. I found that pretty amazing, and a little creepy, to
Gyeongju Museum
Like I said about Buddha. Check out his third eye! go inside and see how they would bury their royalty.
(May 4th) My first (and only) full day, and I mean full day. First there was hiking up a mountain to see Bulguksa Temple which is considered one of the masterpieces of Buddhist Temple Art of the Silla Kingdom. I loved the temple, and what is great about them is that they are actually still used, even if on a more minor scale. It is a religious site and where people pray. The little knowledge I have on Asian art really helped me understand the layout and significance of almost every part of the temple design. What I noticed the most was the general layout of the buildings. It helped give me an idea of what the Korean Buddhist sect holds as higher among the different buddhas. What I mean is each building contains different buddhas and each building is placed on a step. Think of about 5 stairs and there is a building on top of each step, that is how the temple layout is. This format is based on the idea of a "temple mountain" or the mountain of heaven in Buddhism, Hinduism, and even the same
Gyeongju Museum
Famous ceremonial bell outside of the museum idea of Mount Olympus with the Greek gods. After I went to this temple, I hiked up Seokguram Grotto, another buddhist site. It was 3km (about 1.5 miles) uphill and saw an amazing rock carving of buddha and lesser gods and/or bodhisattvas within a cave. It was a little crowded, but it was a good site. After hiking back down Heli thought it would be a good idea to rent a bike and go along the Namsan mountain range. It was a great idea, we saw so many sites and only were caught in the rain at the very end. I'll just list off everything that we saw: Seochulji Pond, Hwarang Educational Institute (traditional education), Stone Buddha carving at Tapgok, and Tongilgeon Hall. Once we got back into town (before is started raining) we saw Hwangryongsaji Temple site and Bunhwangsa Temple. I won't go into extensive detail now, but let me know if you do want it because I have more pictures and background on almost all of those sites.
(May 5th) The next day when my camera died and I didn't have any batteries, or access to batteries, I visited the Folk Craft Village and was able to
Gyeongju Museum
Golden Silla Crown. Technically we aren't suppose to take pictures, but everyone was so blatantly and nothing was being done, so I couldn't pass it up. meet some local artists. Some of them were famous and I was able to view a throwing demonstration by one on a wheel that was different than all others that I have seen. I wish I had a scanner or a way to draw it out, but it was a hole in the ground where there was a seat and the wheel was placed inside in front of you. It was shaped kind of like a flattened hourglass so you could use your foot to propel the wheel around. I am fascinated with the looseness and inexactness with which it was done. I only had time for this before I left for Seoul because it was a little ways out of town. Yay for a history lesson weekend! I love it! (I guess I take after my dad in that way, we are so nerdy) ^.^
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