Gyeongju

Tuesday morning dawned with gray clouds and a cool breeze.  The foreign teachers all jumped into two cars and with prayer headed north to the "Museum without Wall."  Gyeongju is a tourists dream and a historian's paradise.  Since I was playing the part of both, I had the time of my life.

We stopped by the store on our way up to pick up snacks.  The Vice Principle was, as is tradition, the one taking us and paying the expenses.  Then we continued driving north.  It was gorgeous scenery.  We were for a time in the valleys with beautiful mountains on all sides.  Then we entered the hills that are a part of those majestic mountains.  We soon reached Gyeongju and drove to our first location.

We first went to the Bulguska Temple.  It was a large temple complex with four courtyard inside and a large open area outside.  Very pretty to see.  There were many statues, prayers, and architecture to see.  Thoroughly enjoyed seeing this place.  It was a spiritual center during the Silla Dynasty and the complex has many symbolic references to the spiritual journey.

From here we got lunch.  A soup with a rice-filled whole chicken.  That was new.  Loved the broth that came with it.

After that we headed towards our next location.  We stopped at a supermarket to get the famous bread that is made only there.  They were behind though so it was going to take an hour.  I was out walking around snapping pictures when I turned and saw one of the two vehicles we came in had been in an accident.  In fact, it was the front passenger side of the vehicle, where I would have been if not out taking pictures.  Another car had backed up into our car while ours wasn't moving.  Nothing damaged, just a small dent.  However, I am glad I wasn't in it.  The owner of the other vehicle was apologetic and gave his info over so that if the driver of our car wished, he could call later for money for injury or repairs.  Thankfully our driver is Christian and caring. He noticed the other driver's wife appears to have cancer and decided no harm was really done.  He won't be calling to collect.

We went from there to the five kings tombs.  Huge mounds that house ancient kings.  We parked in a much larger parking lot, and went into the walled in area.  Imagine a nice American nature park with sidewalks and trees.  That was very much what it was like.  Enjoyable too.  Then there were the large mounds.  The was a museum in the side of one so you could see how they were made.  A burial chamber created with a wooden structure makes up the basic center.  Then that is covered in a huge mound of rocks.  Then some dirt is thrown on top.  Old ladies with small scissors clip the grass so that it stays nice looking.

After that we walked around and saw a nearby old observatory.  That was really nice.  The vice principle found a four leaf clover and gave it to me.  Good luck!  Then we walked around and looked at some horse statues and saw a horse pulling a buggy with a sound speaker on the back.  The sound speaker was making fake neighing sounds.  That was annoying.

Then we went and picked up the nice, warm bread.  It was yummy.

Finally we went to Seokguram Grotto.  A man-made cave that houses a big Buddha.  A beauty considered to be a world treasure.  No pictures were allowed, though I would have tried if there weren't cameras.  It was so beautiful.  It required a bit of walking, though thankfully we got to drive to the top of the mountain.  It was quite a sight.

We got a lot of walking in.  Also were able to get many pictures and learn more about each other.