Busan and Gyeongju

---

Since my last post I had one night left in Busan. My last day there I visited Yonggungsa Temple and spent some more time in the markets. Yonggungsa is pretty far from the city, so I had to take the subway to Haeundae Beach to catch a bus. About 40 minutes later, I was dropped off at the bottom of a hill, with a big stone sign with the name of the temple on it. Just over the hill was the approach to the temple with several vendors selling various foods and souvenirs. A series of statues each representing a different zodiac figure were lined up along a wall, along with several other statues. All of these seemed fairly recent. Next came a stone pagoda and a gold dragon gate. Soon, however, down a few stairs and through a tunnel was the ocean and the temple sitting on the rocks above. Down a large flight of stairs was the bridge to the temple. Halfway down, off to the side a path led to a buddha statue sat alone on a rocky outcropping into the sea. This rock offered a great view of the waves crashing below and the temple to the right. This was right on open ocean, so there were good sized waves coming in. The temple consisted of several buildings, and a collection of statues. The main hall was as colorful as the buildings at Beomeosa, which seems to be the style in Korea. Several painted carved wood dragons adorned the building, as well as many paintings. Sitting next to the main hall is a large, fat golden statue. Above, farther up the hill is a standing boddhisatva statue. Both of these statues are big, the golden one is several meters tall, and wide. The boddhisatva is around 20 feet or so tall. The temple is not huge, but the location is probably as ideal as possible, so Yonggungsa is an incredible place.

Once back in town, I got on the subway and went back to the markets I visted before. It was about lunch time so I found some more of those delicious donuts from before and got a cup of deep fried chicken with a sweet and spicy Korean sauce. It was good and overall only a few thousand won. On the way back towards my hostel, I got out at one of the subway transfer stations to look for a department store to check out, but found a huge vegetable/meat/fish market instead. I wandered around there for at least an hour looking at all the different produce and meats. There were the basic vegetables, meats and fish, as well as several more interesting items. For example, you could buy pigs feet, or if you are interested, half of the face. Several vendors had large assortments of dried fish, a few had big piles of chili peppers, as well as other goodies. Throughout the market, vendors with carts full of fruit of vegetables were wandering around. Occasionally a scooter would make its way through the croud. In one side street, a construction crew was doing some work, jackhammering a piece of concrete only feet away from some women selling their vegetables. Once I had my fill, I was back on the subway headed home. I didn't really do much the rest of the night, just wandered around the beach nearby.

The next morning I was off to the train for Gyeongju. I had a few options - the fast KTX which would do the route in half an hour, or the slower local express train which takes 1.5 hours. I opted for the express train since I was in no rush and I would get a better view of the countryside. I will take a fast KTX when I eventually head up to Seoul, so I will have a chance to experience that as well. Gyeongju is a small city, only 270,000 people. I would describe it as the Korean version of Japan's Kyoto - an ancient capital city with many historic sights. I arrived in the early afternoon and it was not a long walk to my hostel, only about 15 minutes from the train station. The hostel occupied the 3rd and 4th floor of a building, above a pork restaurant and some other businesses. The building itself was somewhat grungy, but the hostel was fine. After dropping off my bags, I walked around the area to the south, about ten minutes away, where there are several parks with ancient tombs. The tombs were covered with a large grassy hills. The nicely rounded hills look like the perfect place you would want to run up and roll down as a kid. Also in that area was an ancient observatory, which was a precisely constructed tower, about 5-6 meters tall and a few meters wide at the base. A bit farther was Anapji Pond, where an ancient palace had stood. A few buildings had been reconstructed on the site. It was a nice place to wander around for a while. I was starting to get hungry, so I made my way back towards the hostel and a bulgogi restaurant nearby, where I got a big serving of delicious beef bulgogi.

Every night at the hostel, they have a little party on the rooftop deck with the staff and guests. I bought a bottle of soju, the local liquor and some snacks. The good thing about South Korea is that the local soju and rice wines are cheap - only about 1000 won for a 350ml bottle of soju, which is basically a vodka-like alcohol, except not as strong, usually around 20%. Some of the stuff doesn't taste too good, but a few brands aren't too bad. We all stayed up there for a few hours until around midnight, getting to know each other. There weren't many guests staying at the hostel that night, but it was fun.

The next morning I caught a bus to Bulguksa temple, one of the major temples in South Korea, about 30 minutes away. It was another large temple, with several buildings surrounded by walls. We walk through almost all of the sections, which was nice. There were several colorful buildings and stone pagodas, statues and other artifacts. A hike up farther up the mountain on which the temple was located is the Seokguram Grotto, which houses one of Korea's most important statues of Buddha, and one of the finest in the world. Unfortunately there was a sheet of glass which sealed off the statue, so I could only view it from a distance. I could see the main statue clearly, but it was difficult to see any of the other carvings that surrounded it. Overall I thought the grotto was a bit underwhelming. The admission was the same as the temple (4000 won), and a hike up to it (or bus), and you can hardly see the site. After I had spent some time looking at the Buddha, I hiked back down to the temple and bus stop.

My next destination was Yangdong folk village, an old village with many traditional Korean houses. This was even farther from the city, with less frequent buses. I had to sit around and wait about an hour at the hostel until the bus came. I arrived in the late afternoon. I had about 2 hours until bus back, so I wasn't rushed. The village was fairly large, and took a while to walk through. It was a nice place, with lots of charm. Some of the houses, however, had several modern amenities, such as nice cars and satellite dishes, which kind of took away from the atmosphere. Overall, it was a nice place. By the time I was done, it was getting close to sunset, and when I got back it was getting dark. For dinner this time I picked up a few things at the nearby market where they were having some kind of event. There were tables with grills all over the place, some live music and a few other foods. I bought something that resembled a thin pancake with various vegetables in it. It was pretty good, especially with the dipping sauce it came with. I also picked up some fish-shaped pastries filled with a red bean paste. It was delicious too. After dark, we had another rooftop party. This time there were more people staying, so there were more people up there. About half of the guests were Korean, with a few foreigners.

I had originally planned to spend two nights in Gyeongju, but I decided to stay another and hike a mountain nearby. Since the place was cheap, only 15000 won a night, it wasn't a problem. The mountain (actually a few mountains in a small ridge) is in a national park and has many historic sites on it. There were many temples that didn't survive the years as well as a number of buddhist statues carved in the rocks and burial mounds. By the time I got there it was almost exactly noon. Luckily the entire hike was through forest, so it was not sunny or too hot. I started out hiking up a valley, which was very easy. This seemed to be the most popular route, since there were many Koreans hiking as well. It was kind of funny to see the Korean hikers with all their gear for such an easy hike. Almost everyone had a hiking pole (often two), jacket/athletic shirt, hat, and other gear. There are outdoor stores everywhere so far in Korea, one on nearly every block in certain neighborhoods, including the unfortunately named Kolon sports. Anyway, the hike up was easy. All along the way were the buddha statues carved into the rock, or freestanding. Near the top was a large one in a great spot looking over the valley. There was a fairly small space in front of it before a nearly sheer drop 30-40 feet down. A few minutes farther and I was on the ridge, walking towards one of the summits. A few spots along the way offered great views of the valley and plains below. There were endless mountains in the distance. Down on the plains, which were not very wide, were rice paddies and farms. North, not visible from where I was, was the city of Gyeongju. Since I was nearly at the top, it was pretty easy hike to the summit. The only slightly difficult part was from the hermitage and large buddha statue to the ridge. The summit didn't offer great views, since there were trees all around. The mountain is not especially tall, about 468m. There was another site I wanted to see, some remains of a temple site, about a kilometer away. There is a dirt road that crosses over the range and made getting to the trail to the temple site very easy. This trail was a little more difficult, since there was a lot more vertical spots. A few spots even had ropes to help you get down or up. The temple site was only a few structures, but they were worth seeing. There is a three story stone pagoda on a rock overlooking another valley and a couple of buddha statues a bit below it. I hiked back the way I came, because I wanted to come out a different area. It was a few km to the exit, but mostly flat or downhill, so it was not a problem. The road took me most of the way along the ridge, and offered several great lookout spots along the way. I found the trail I wanted to take down. I chose this trail because it seemed like it went by some ruined fortress walls, but I didn't see any. About a few hundred meters in the path split, and I chose what seemed to be the path I wanted. The other way went down the other side of the mountain, so I figured it was the wrong way. My trail was pretty narrow and didn't seem to be used much. But the nice thing was I was alone and it was very quiet. Along the whole way were small mounds, some with stone tablets, so I imagine they were small burial mounds.

After half an hour or so, I was down at the base, next to some farm. A few sites were a short walk away, so I went to see them. There was an ancient stone well. Actually it was more of a dam. There was another burial mound in which a king was buried in a clearing just past the well. I then made my way back through a small farming village to the bus stop and back to the hostel. I was craving some dumplings, but there weren't any restaurants that had them nearby so I walked to the supermarket and bought some to cook back at the hostel. Again, at night we had another party. There were mostly new people this time, since everyone else had left. A few new Koreans, a French guy and an Australian couple were there. It was fun again.

Right now I am about to leave to catch my bus to Jeonju, about 4 hours west of here. Apparently Jeonju is the birthplace of bibimbap, so I hope to have some delicious food there. Maybe I will even post some more pictures.

---