Gyongju

A Touring Weekend

Excerpts from my Digital Diary

Stacey had planned a trip to Gyongju, the ancient Korean capital of the Silla dynasty. I was lured by the promise of caves. Robyn, having only been in Korea for a week was eager to come along, and when Stacey changed her mind, I persuaded Robyn to travel up with me on the Friday. We had a rare two-day weekend, and I was determined to make the most of it having come to the realisation that I had spent over six months in Korea and had seen so little of it. The next morning saw a rainy, miserable, cold day dawn. Somewhat dejectedly we decided the National museum would be the best place to start as it was an indoor venue. It was fantastic, housing the largest archeological collection in Korea, some of which was pretty special.

I think that photography was forbidden, but I managed to get a few shots snapped off. The Highlights of the museum were the huge bell, and the tiny horse, both of which were beautiful and incredible.

We had a quick wander around town, looking for some food. We got some kimbap at a cheap diner, but here's a picture of the town anyway, as it's pretty typical of a Korean street on a weekday.

We decided to laugh in the face of the weather and head to a walled garden full of burial mounds. Wooden tombs with stone mounds, then grass (and often tree) covered soil outer shells. The park was fantastic, especially the Heavenly Horse Tomb (the mound on the far right), which was cross-sectioned on the inside. The rain was bearable, thanks to the umbrella loaned to me by the yeogwan (cheap hotel) owner. It was an old umbrella that kept collapsing, to be sure, but it helped immensely.

These burial mounds are everywhere in town, and many of them trodden paths going up the sides. In fact, there seems to be little or no reverence connected with these, the graves of ancient power and majesty. Kids slide down them on cardboard.

We stopped for Coffee and Hot Chocolate, and it was then we decided to head for the tomb of General Gim Yu Shin, which had been recommended by Maria. It was a great little walk, and a great tomb. It had stopped raining, so we enjoyed it all the more.

We walked back to town, and found somewhere to eat. We had beef with side-dishes. The process is as follows. Use the giant scissors and tongs provided to chop up the meat and let it sizzle on the grill for a while. When you think it may be done, take one piece, place it in a leaf along with sauce and all or none of the other things provided, then fold the leaf and pop it into your mouth.

We played cards and drank beer into the wee hours, then went to sleep having decided to head back to Daejon if it was rainy the next day, or go to the beach if it wasn't.

Day Two

We were pleasantly surprised with beautiful weather on the morning of the Sunday. The bus to the beach took about an hour, and took a wonderfully scenic route through the mountains and past an incredible dam. It was a pebbly beach that was nice and quiet. The contrasting weather of the two days was amazing. It was just like being back in England. The East Sea (The Sea of Japan) is somewhat bluer than the West Sea (The Yellow Sea), or at least I think so.

We past small groups of Koreans, many of which enthusiastically invited us to partake of freshly caught raw fish with spicy sauce and soju. We did this twice before reaching the other end of the beach, turning down three or four other invitations. Raw fish is actually really good, and it struck me that this is a wonderful way to go fishing.

There was a small picturesque harbour and a number of seafood restaurants located at the other end of the beach, and we stopped in one of these to drink some coke and warm up a little, the weather being pleasant but windy. Outside, there were a group of people sorting and drying seaweed. Seaweed is loved by the Koreans, they eat it with almost everything. I'm sure it's really healthy, and I enjoy it in some culinary contexts.

Walking back to the bus stop was pleasant as the sun was behind us and so not in our eyes, and the wind had died down significantly. I slept on the bus back to Gyong-ju, then we had pizza before heading back to the bus station. The bus ride back to Deajon took about 4 and a half hours, almost twice as long as the train took. I never did see any caves, nor did I find any reference to them in the guide book. I'll have to take that up with Stacey later.

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