Gyeongju (Silla Dynasty Capital), Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea
경주 (신라왕조의 수도), 경상복도, 대한민국
慶州 新羅王朝 首都, 慶尚北道, 韩国
11-12 December 2010
Starting this year, Korea has launched its VISIT KOREA FREE BUS Campaign. This is to encourage more foreigners to visit other places in Korea aside from Seoul through providing free bus services from Seoul to other places down South, namely Jeonju and Gyeongju; to the East - Gangwondo; as well as Busan to Gyeongju.
Tourism department of Korea has planned the activity well to the extent that the buses are comfortable enough for long rides which range from 3 hours to 5 hours.
We left Seoul at 8am sharp as announced. One more thing is that the organizers made it to a point that all is happening promptly, even just a minute of tardiness will leave you nothing but left in Seoul.
We have long planned this trip, along with my fellow scholars, Diana, Regina and Abby. We wanted to see how great Gyeongju - the Capital during Silla Dynasty is - after all the stories and histories that we have heard and learned from our Korean Society and Culture class, etc. Now, it will come to a reality.
We heard that the bus transportation in Gyeongju has certain time schedule with gaps of 30-40minutes. Knowing this, we have all decided to rent a bicycle to travel around the city. We prepared with this mindset, considering the temperature, etc. We arrived Gyeongju at around 1:30pm. We took off at Hotel Concorde and many taxi drivers are there awaiting to tour the foreigners with a package deal. Yes, we were one of them.
We first went to Seokguram Grotto, where the Big White Granite Buddha is standing. It is located inside a cave above Bulguk Temple; built back in 8th Century. However, to-date, the area where the Buddha is is protected with glass mirror wherein tourists can only glimpse from there. The Buddha is surrounded by 15 granite images in the walls. Ten of which depicts the disciples of Buddha and the rest depicts Bodhisatvas.
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| Entrance before you can start your trail going to the Seokguram Grotto. |
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Seokguram Grotto - 석굴암석굴 (石窟庵石窟) (8th century) |
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Seokguram Grotto - 석굴암석굴 (石窟庵石窟) (8th century) |
We had to walk around 15-20minutes from the entrance until we reach the Seokguram Grotto itself. Unfortunately, we were disappointed because the Buddha was too far away from us :( But yes, the white granite structure was amazing. Probably the first I have seen that is not gold or gold plated, etc.
According to Yahoo Weather, it is 5-10 Celsius in Gyeongju today!!! But it was very cold!!!
During our ride going to Seokguram Grotto, it was a big relief that we did not biked!!! It was a long ride up the mountain! Thanks to Driver Ajussi. Next stop is Bulguksa or Bulguk Temple.
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| Bulguk Temple / 불국사 / 佛國寺 |
Bulguk Temple is a head temple of Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism in North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea. In Bulguk Temple, we can also find two stone pagodas, namely, Seokgatap and Dabotap. Bulguksa is considered the figure or masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhism (Art) in Korea from the Silla Dynasty.
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| Seokgatap / Dabotap 석가탑 / 다보탑 釋迦塔 / 多寶塔 |
Seokgatap's structure depicts balance, stability and symmetry. Dabotap is known as the Pagoda of Many Treasures and can be found in the 10won coin.
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| Saritap / 사리탑 / 燃灯佛舍利塔 |
Saritap can also be found inside Bulguk Temple. It was one of the pagodas brought to Japan in the early 1900s but returned after 25 years or so. It was from the Goryeo Dynasty but shows some art of Silla Dynasty. It has been said that it contained remaints of 8 priests or a queen. Three main features of Saritap are having the foundation stone, its main body and the ornamental top. This is also one of the National Treasures of Korea to-date.
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| Bulguk Temple / 불국사 / 佛國寺 From Left to Right: Abby, Regina, Diana, Karina |
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| Regina and her new found fruit! =) |
Both Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa are part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 1995.
We were supposed to go to the Gyeongju National Museum; however, we otherwise chose Gwareung instead as we find it more interesting. Gwareung is one of the tombs from Silla Dynasty. Before getting to the tomb, we could see some statues of Confucian scholars, clubs and lions. The tomb also has the 12 zodiac signs on its fence.
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| Gwaereung / 괘릉 / 挂陵 |
Anapji Pond is an artificial lake in Gyeongju National Park. It was once a part of the palace during the Silla Dynasty. Total width from East to West is 200m and North to South 180m. After the fall of Silla Dynasty, the Anapji Pond also fell into despair and was only rebuilt in 1974.
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| Anapji Pond (안압지/ 雁鴨池) |
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Anapji Pond (안압지/ 雁鴨池) |
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| Anapji Pond (안압지/ 雁鴨池) |
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| Anapji Pond (안압지/ 雁鴨池) From Left to Right: Abby, Karina, Regina, Diana |
Last site for the day is Daereungwon Tomb Complex (Cheonmachong Tomb) where there are at least 23 large tombs from the royal families and noblemen from Silla Dynasty are located to-date.
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| Daereungwon Tomb Complex / 대릉원 Cheonmachong Tomb was discovered with a horse painting, only painting discovered during the era of Silla. Inside the Cheonmachong Tomb, there were over 11,000 remains and crowns of the king found and some are displayed for public view. |
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| Cheonmachong Tomb / 천마총 / 天馬塚 |
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| Daereungwon Tomb Complex / 대릉원 / 大陵苑 |
Finally, we could eat our first meal for the day - dinner! We went around the streets of the Center of Gyeongju City where there are a lot of restaurants, boutiques, banks, other establishments, etc. We strolled a while to identify where we wanted to eat our first meal for the day. Some restaurants have literally no diners while the others are full. We finally decided to eat in a restaurant where they serve Spicy Stew, which I consider as close to Adobo; however, there is no more Chicken, so we ordered Pork instead. In addition, we ordered 칼국수 / Kalguksu - Knife Cut Noodle!
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| 돼지갈비 찜 / Pork Spicy Stew with Rice Cake |
The authentic Gyeongju Delicacy found everywhere at the heart of Gyeongju City!
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| Gyeongju Bread / 경주빵 |
Cheomseongdae Observatory is an astronomical observatory located at the heart of Gyeongju City. This is the oldest observatory surviving in East Asia. This is one of the National Treasure as well of Korea and was built under the reign of Queen Seondeok during the Silla Dynasty.
Cheomseongdae literally means star gazing platform and was built with 362 pieces of granite. This represents the days of the lunar year. This is our first destination for the day. We had to walk probably around 20 minutes from where we have stayed last night. We were not as satisfied as we did not expect the observatory to be just as high as 9.4 meters tall and we were hoping we could go inside as well.. :(
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Cheomseongdae Observatory (첨성대 / 瞻星臺) |
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| In this place, there are small stones on the floor where it shows that there was once a temple located in that place... |
Gyerim was said to be the site that Kim Alji as a baby was found in a golden box with a rooster beside. Kim Alji was then adopted to the royal family and his descendants became the later kings of the Silla Dynasty.
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계림 (Chicken Forest/ 鷄林) in Gyeongju National Park
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| One of the sites where Queen Seondeok (drama) took place... |
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| Gyeongju National Park |
It is already around 2pm and we have not eaten lunch yet... We finally found the Egg Bread we have been seeing other people eating! =) It is a lot more delicious than the ones we bought in Seoul National University Subway Station though it costs 3 times the ones we had there...
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| 계란 빵 Egg Bread KW1,000.00 |
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| Vendor in Gyeongju National Park |
This is what we ate for lunch. 1-small size of Cured Tofu with mixed vegetable and seafood and Korean Pizza Pancake. The small-sized of the Cured Tofu is supposed to be good for 2-persons but since we eat more of the viands, the soup does not matter too much.
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| 순두부전골 Cured Tofu with mixed vegetable and seafood |
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| 해물파전 Seafood Korean Pancake Pizza |
We then left for Hotel Concorde where we will take our bus back to Seoul. It is scheduled to leave at 4pm and indeed at 4pm sharp, it started moving. At 4:04pm, we arrived at the next stop - Hilton Hotel and left at 4:05pm. Last stop in Gyeongju is in Hyundai Hotel, we arrived at 4:08pm and left at 4:09pm. This is how prompt the bus left as scheduled.
This trip was not as expected but had learn a lot historically. This was an adventure trip, we did not plan anything in details in Gyeongju aside from our bus reservation but all went well I should say. :)
6:20pm Korea Time
13 December 2010
Karina Marie Ang Chua
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