Touring Kyongju

Interesting notes:
** They number all of their cultural assets and their intangible cultural assets- but they don’t number their buildings or houses. They don’t have an address system!
** They’ve developed a strange mixture of Shamanism and Buddhism which seem to co-exist without problem

Our hotel was quite an experience. Our host, Mr. Kwan, spends most of his days hanging out in his shorts and baseball cap and entertaining his guests with his “pet scorpion”. The scorpion is supposedly in a paper envelope and harmless. When you open up the envelope to look inside- it has a noisemaker that scares the crap out of you- no scorpion. After the ‘scorpion show’, he demonstrates his ability to stand on his head.
Our bed was comprised of a mattress on a plywood board, balanced on plastic beer crates. The towels were the size of washcloths. But, it was only $25/night.

Today was our tour outside Kyongju. Our guide, Mr. Kim, picked us up in the pouring rain and we headed out along with another young kid from Singapore, Pan

Note:
** The Koreans don’t like informality in names- and hate nicknames- so everyone is Mr. or Mrs. Kim, Lee, or one of the few other names in the country.

Our first stop was Kolgul-sa Temple. The focus of this temple is the practice of Sonmudo (Zen martial arts). The practice was started during the Silla Dynasty when the priests taught the discipline of mind and body to the elite corps of soldiers. It was practiced by successive generations of monks.

Part way up the hill, we got to watch a group of monks practicing the art of Sonmudo. Then it was a tough climb up a slippery slope to get to the group of shrines at the top. In the niches in the rock face were various statues of Buddha.

John climbed the rock face to get to the Buddha cut into the rock…I stayed behind. The idea of balancing myself and my umbrella on a steep rock climb didn’t sound too smart.

At our next stop, Kirim-sa, we arrived to find the temple filled with women attending a service for the dead. The temple is one of the largest and most important Silla temples- and was by far, one of the most interesting. We must have seen well over 1500 Buddha statues- and most interesting of all, was the temple dedicated to the Buddha guarding Hell. That was a new concept for us.

Finally, on a small rocky islet 200 m. off the coast was the site of the underwater tomb of the Silla King, Munmu (661-681 AD). It’s said to be the only underwater tomb in the world. The story goes that Munmu had made it known that on his death, he wanted his body to be burned and the ashes buried at sea close to a temple. The idea was that his spirit would become a dragon and protect the eastern shores of the Silla Kingdom from the Japanese.

It was time for lunch- and drenched, we headed to a traditional Korean restaurant. Once again, we were surrounded by dozens of bowls filled with strange things; kimchi (multiple versions), all sorts of fish in spicy red sauces, bowls of soup with unknown things in them, sauces and peppers (which the Koreans eat raw- after dipping it in spicy sauce).

Once again, we used the “packet” concept- using lettuce and other leafy things as the container for the various fillings. At the same time, Mr. Kim gave us an interesting cultural/history lesson that had us shaking our heads…
Our last stop was the Yangdong Folk Village. The Korean government has designated several villages around the country as preservation areas and these villages give you a chance to see what Korea was like in the 15th and 16th centuries. The village consisted of about 150 houses, most of them inhabited.

Wet and tired from walking in the pouring rain, we headed back to our hotel. We thought we’d “graze” at the food stalls for dinner- but with the rain, none of them were open. Craving pizza, we asked Mr. Kwan where we could get it. He sent us to the local bakery- where they microwaved something that looked like pizza. It was horrible- doughy and filled with cocktail wieners and sweet pickles. Don’t think they’ve got the concept down quite yet. We topped it off with some stale ice cream. What a meal!