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| south korea |
| kyeongju |
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| Jennifer, Stefan, Misty and I arrived early in the day and were very confused... |
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| Ancient Shillan mound tombs in the middle of downtown... |
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| We wandered around until we found this rice wine factory...where, of course, they didn't serve rice wine... |
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| We found a really cool Korean restaurant that had these totems outside. They're meant to ward off evil sprits. |
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| We stopped on a beautiful street lined with cherry blossom at a convenience store for sake, beer and the infamous Kyeongju Bread. |
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| After a 3 hour bus ride from dowtown Kyeongju, we finally made it to the Bulguksa Temple where we started the morning off with bibimbap under the cherry blossom trees. |
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| The next night, Kate, Rachael and Allison came and met us with some guys from England for beers. We drank late into the night and of course made the essential trip to Family Mart before heading back to the hostel. |
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| After a good 1 hour hike up Tohamsan we came upon the Seokgulam Grotto. It was established in the 8th century and contains a monumental statue of a seated Buddha looking out towards the sea. Apparently, the statue once had a diamond embedded in its forehead that would catch the light of the rising sun and cast the rays down upon the village. During the Japanese occupation of Korea the diamond was stolen and has never been recovered. It has since been replaced with a crystal but it has yet to reproduce the original effect of the diamond. To the left is a photo of the line up to see the statue. Photography was forbidden inside. |
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| Seokgulam Grotto |
| 석구 람 |
| 북 국 사 |
| Bulguksa Temple |
| Back down the mountain and to Bulguksa Temple. Apparently, one of the most famous temples in all of Korea and one of the last surviving examples of ancient Sillan architecture. It was founded in 535 and was designed by the architect as a memorial to his parents. There were four of these huge guardian statues protecting the entry gates to the temple. |
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| There was this amazing rock garden off behind one of the buldings in the temple. If you take a stone and stack it as you make a wish, it'll come true. |
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| Boiled Silkworm Larvae |
| Typical fare in Korea are the ajummahs on the streets selling bondegi. It's the chrysalis stage of the silkworm. They boil it in these huge pots for hours and hours on end. Children love the stuff and most Korean people will grap a paper cupful as a snack on a special occasion. I'll never forget the smell, it wafts through most streets, no matter where you are. It's unmistakeable, kind of smells like warm dirt. I'd always wanted to try them and after some coaxing from Nathan, I decided today would be the day. |
| 본 데 기 Bondegi |
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| They were a little bit crunchy but popped in your mouth as you bit in. Kind of what it would be like to eat crunchy dirt with a little bit of salt sprinkled on top. Definitely not tasty enough to ever buy again! |
| Later that night, we had incredibly expensive drinks at Juliet Bar across from our hostel and then finished the night off at a Hof. Nathan was trying to quit smoking, but I guess the temptation was too much for him. |