A tour in & around Gyeongju-si.

I’m up early the next day. The clouds are shifting, letting the sun break free now and again, and guests have left their umbrellas in the courtyard to dry.

While brushing my teeth I watch a man navigate the narrow raised banks that separate the various fields on bicycle.

Breakfast items have been left out in the cafeteria building and a family makes toast and eggs and cereal. I eschew breakfast and begin my walk back to town to the tour’s meeting point at the rear gates of the park that houses the Daereungwon Tomb Complex.

The streets are mostly empty; the stores mostly closed. I retrace my steps from the day before and arrive at the gates of the park before anyone else. People begin to arrive, waiting for the gates to open and I wonder who amongst the tourists gathered are part of the tour. As it turns out, almost all of them.

Our guide appears and we wait for the gates to open. He tells us he likes starting tours here because usually you can slip into the park early and be amongst the first to visit the Daereungwon Tomb Complex, a park home to 23 ancient tombs both large and small. He’s surprised the gates aren’t yet open, but we don’t wait long.

As soon as we’re let in our guide takes us past the Hwangnamdaechong Tomb to Cheonmachong. He has us wait while he buys ticket and then leads us inside. Excavated in 1973, it’s the only one that is open to the public.

The tomb is thought to have been constructed between the late 5th century and early 6th century. Inside a number of artifacts were found, including the largest and most elaborate of all gold crowns unearthed in Korea. It now rests in the Gyeongju National Museum.

Inside, we’re also shown how the mounds were constructed, with wooden load-load bearing beams protecting the tomb and rocks piled around it.

On the way out of the park we pass a mural on the path that depicts a winged horse found in the Cheonmachong tomb. The heavenly horse seems to serve as an unofficial mascot of the town.

There’s a small bus waiting for us outside the park and we board it for the drive to the Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple. It’s a pleasant ride and we soon arrive at the parking lot. I’ve taken a nap.

A wooded path leads up the Tohamsan mountain to the grotto and I walk on ahead of the group. I pass a few families on the way, the children dwadling, the parents encouraging.

I arrive at a large plaza below the grotto itself and wait for the rest of the group to joing before heading up. A small fountain emnates the soothing sounds of trickling water beside me.

The grotto itself houses a 3.5 meter high statue of Buddha guarded by four heavenly guards. Along the wall of the rotunda are three bodhisattvas, ten disciples, and two Hindu gods.

Said to have been built by Kim Daeseong, construction on the grotto began in either 742 or 751, the cultural peak of the Unified Silla kingdom. The grotto was completed in 774, shortly after Kim's death.

Photography is not allowed in the grotto and our guide leads us inside and then has us stand in the back so that we can spend a little more inside, allowing other visitors to walk past before us.

Emerging from the grotto we pass another shrine. From the courtyard we have views out to the distant mountains and the lower plaza, strung with colorful paper lanterns.

Walking a path to the lower plaza we pass a small building in which a woman sells tiles for the continued upkeep of the grotto and temples. For a small donation you can write your own message. One of the guests on our trip walks over with the intent of doing so, but decide not to in the end.

I walk ahead of the group back to the parking lot and buy cookies from a stand while others buy snacks and drinks. I offer cookies to the guide and the driver.

A large bell hangs in a fenced off section and I watch as a little girl struggles to strike the bell with the large wooden hammer.

Our next stop is the Bulguksa Temple, considered as a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist art in the Silla kingdom. Built during the 15th year of King Beopheung's reign (514-540). It was later rebuilt in 751 by Kim Dae-seong. It’s undergone continual restoration work since 1920, after having caught fire during Imjin War (1592-1598) and suffered serious damage afterwards.

The temple itself sits within a large garden complex and we begin by walking along a gravel path past a large pond that greets us as we enter.

We soon encounter the get of Four Heavenly Kings. Inside, the four guardian kings flank the gate, staring down at us as we pass.

Just past the gate we get our first view of the main building. Our guide tells us that that we’ll have a chance to take photos and leads us around to a side enrance as the main steps are closed for entry. He’s excited to show us a large carved fish that’s used as a ceremonial gong to call monks to prayer. The fish serves as a symbol representing the path to enlightenment.

Inside the building I’m faced with the Dabotap, an intricate stone pagoda said to have been built in 751. The Seokgatap pagoda, a sinpler construction, stands in the opposite corner.

The two pagodas reflect objective truth (Dabo) and the subjective wisdom to realize it. Dabotap is designed to reflect the complexity of the world, while the simpler Seokgatap represents the brevity of spiritual assent.

We walk around the complex and temples, our guide leading the way, until we reach a golden pig outside the Geukrak-jeon Hall. A large crowd is collected around it and our guide tells us it’s said that touching the golden pig will bring prosperity. The group lines up to take photos of each other touching the pig and I sneak in a touch between set ups.

Walking out of the main complex our guide has us pause and points to a point in the ground from which to take the postcard shot of the temple. There’s a number of people milling about, taking their own photos, and there’s not the time to wait for people to leave. We have a schedule to keep and more sights to see.

We take a different path back to the bus, skirting the opposite side of the pond. It’s a beautiful area and I could spend an entire afternoon slowly walking the grounds with a picnic lunch. It’s one of the tradeoffs when taking a tour, the breadth vs. the depth. And today I’ve chosen the former.

The bus takes us to the Gyeongju National Museum. A large bell sits near the entrance to the grounds: The Bell of King Seongdeok the Great. Legend has it that the first bell cast produced no sound when struck. It was recast with no success multiple times until a monk dreamt that if a child was cast into the metal, the bell would ring. He took a village child and cast her into the metal. When this bell was complete, the bell rang beautifully. Now, a recording of the bell plays over speakers hanging in the eaves at predetermined times.

Our guide takes us to a building in the far corner of the museum complex past various buddha statues to a video screen which shows a complete mapping of the Seokguram Grotto including photography of all the sculptures inset into the rotunda.

Finally he leads us to the main building and shows us a roof-end tile nicknamed the Silla smile, their version of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Cast during the Silla-era, it’s thought to originate from the former site of the Silla-era temple Yeongmyosa.

From the museum we’re taken to the Woljeonggyo Bridge, a covered wooden bridge originally built in 760 A.D during the Unified Silla period and lost during the Joseon period. It was rebuilt and opened in April 2018 and now serves as one of the main tourist attractions in the town.

Restoration efforts are ongoing in the river, and there’s a lot of construction that we can see just downriver.

At the end of the bridge tents have been set up with racks of hanbok. A group is offering the free dress-up opportunites and we leap at the chance. The guide is excited. He thought they may be doing it this weekend and it’s great to finally participate in this popular local activity.

From the bridge we wander through the Gyeongju Gyochon Traditional Village and stop at a merchant house. There’s large groups touring the area and at one point our guide has us sit in the shade while we listen to another guide explicate the house in which we sit before sneaking out ahead of them.

From the traditional village we cut through the Gyerim Forest en route to the Cheomseongdae Observatory. The park boasts large fields of grass and wildflowers in addition to a few burial mounds that look like baby mountains when viewed against the mountain range in the distance.

We pause at the Cheomseongdae Observatory, the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in Asia. Looking at its structure and openings I’m reminded of the astronomical towers on Easter Island, and crawling into them to look up through the chimney-like openings to the sky.

It’s the end of the tour. We thank our guide and he asks us if we’d be interested in taking tea somewhere. There are few traditional tea houses left in Gyeongju and he tells us he’d be happy to show us one if we’re interested. We all agree and he leads us through the park back to Daereungwon.

Looping through Daereungwon, we head out the northern end and past other tombs that sit north of the park.

Across the street from the tombs he leads us down a narrow alley to the Neungpo Tea House. An overgrown pole looks like a camel or long-neck turtle holding onto the tea house’s sign.

Inside we’re sat on the floor at a large low table. Snacks are produced and the proprietor takes our tea order. We start with a cool sweet tea while she brews our main drinks. It’s warm inside and it’s not until we realize that we’ve accidentally turned the floor heaters on that we understand it’s not entirely the tea that’s increased our body temperature.

The tea is delicious and it’s a great way to end our day. My feet are sore from all the walking and I welcome the opportunity to sit before heading home. A singer-songwriter plays on the stereo and our guide tells us that the man singing on the stereo is the proprietor’s son.

The tea house has also featured in movies and there’s posters on the wall advertising the films. In one corner there’s a framed picture of a still set right by where we sit.

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I walk back home to shower and change before dinner. It’s been a hot day (the heating pads at the tea house notwithstanding) and I’m eager to shower and relax a bit before walking back to town.

For dinner I head to the Oasis wine bar. It’s a cool bar spinning hip-hop and R&B on vinyl. I feel right at home when I spot the poster of Madvillain on the wall.

I misunderstand the wine list and order a bottle of wine to accompany dinner, inviting the bartenders to pour themselves a glass to taste. In the end, it’s still too much wine and when I’m about to leave I ask the bartender to ask the women next to me if they like red wine; they’ve been drinking white since they arrived. They do, and I leave them the rest of the bottle.

It’s late when I head out and the streets are once again mostly empty. The only people I see are two women in hanbok at the edge of town walking in the middle of the street towards the center. If I didn’t know better I might think I’ve seen an apparition. 🇰🇷