With weather supposed to be a bit better today (though still some potential rain in forecast) we decided to do all of the far away outdoor temple activities on our UNESCO World Heritage site day. We decided to skip breakfast and hop on the bus and head east towards the temples. Around 30 minutes later, we arrived at our stop outside the Bulguksa temple. Our plan was to transfer here to a bus taking us up to the top of a mountain to see the Seokgurum Grotto, however the bus only comes once an hour and we had just missed it.
Across the street is the Bulguksa Tourist Complex, which is a fancy name for a bunch of restaurants and shops to keep people fed and entertained in between temple hopping. We were planning on eating lunch here, so we decided to grab and early lunch and catch the next bus up to the grotto. We walked around the complex for only a few minutes before settling on a restaurant that had pictures of a whole fish dish amongst other good looking foods, so we headed in to eat.
We translate the menu and decide on the mackerel and the octopus bulgogi. The sides come first, as always, and we are pleased to see the new dish we love. This is the moment we asked what it is and were enlightened that it is fermented fish intestines. While waiting for our food, the couple behind us (only other people in the restaurant) had their food arrive. We begun to get nervous about our order, as they seem to have gotten the fish as well and a VERY fishy smell begun to permeate the room. All we could hope for was that this was less fishy than the herring soup we had tried in Kyoto. In no time, our food arrives. The fish is beautifull cooked, split in half to allow for good access to all of the meat and with a nice crispy crust. The octopus bulgogi comes with a bowl of very clean and beautiful with lettuce with some micro herbs as well as a bowl of rice that we could add to our liking. The octopus was thin slices of the tentacles interspersed throughout the greens. The fish was incredible with a ton of meat and the small bones soft enough that you could eat them without having to pick them out of every bite. It was slightly fishy at first (not nearly as bad as we thought it may be), but got less so with every bite. The octopus bulgogi was clean and fresh and had such great flavor with the bulgogi sauce mixed in. We swapped dishes back and forth until we only had a few minutes until the bus came and most of our food gone. We were feeling very full as we typically share a meal instead of getting two, but we were so happy to have gotten the chance to try both.
We paid quickly and practically sprinted to the bus. We arrived just in time, having only 2 minutes or so until the driver left. We had been looking at our maps and saw some very windy roads ahead, but we were not prepared for this ride. The bus driver was absolutely whipping it around corners, performing maneuvers at speeds that we didn’t know a bus could handle. Mostly focused on staying in our seats, this 15 minute ride flew by.
Finally to the top of the mountain, we got out and searched for the return schedule at the bus stop. We had about 50 minutes to spend before the bus came back and left again, so we set off. Most people went straight to the temple area, but we noticed some spots that looked like they would have great overlooks, and man we were right! We checked out the overlooks before going up some steps towards a large, colorful building. In the middle of the building was a massive bell with a suspended log, clearly meant to ring the bell. We have both wanted to ring so many gongs and bells at this point, but they all seemed to have signs saying not to touch. Finally, this bell had a sign saying 1,000 won (75 cents) to ring bell. We gladly paid and entered the building towards the bell.
The lady who collected the money recommended swinging it a little to build momentum and then hitting the bell. David went first, walking towards the log. The log was super heavy, and being nervous to swing too hard and damage the bell, he held back on his full strength. It hit the bell with a nice noise, but immediately he realized that full strength would have been just fine. Caitlyn went up next, being alerted by David that she could go full force. Swinging back, 1…2…3…Caitlyn had clearly felt the same nervousness despite David’s advice, and also felt reluctant to go all-out, but still got a nice hit.
With time quickly ticking away until the next bus, we begun walking along the paved mountain/forest path, following the signs for Seokgurum Grotto. In less than 10 minutes, we find some stairs leading up to more colorful buildings and a courtyard with beautiful colored lanterns. We walked to the top of these stairs and entered the grotto. The grotto portrays the enlightment of Buddha, and as found on Wikipedia:
“The Seokguram Grotto is said to have been built by Kim Daeseong and originally called Seokbulsa (석불사; lit. Stone Buddha Temple). Construction began in either 742 or 751, during the cultural peak of the kingdom Unified Silla. The grotto was completed by the Silla court in 774, shortly after Kim’s death.”
The grotto and Buddha were spectacular, with the Buddha being absolutely gigantic and carved out of stone. It was easily worth the bus ride and short trek to get up here.
Even faster than getting up, we quickly headed down the mountain as to not miss the bus, especially seeing that there certainly was not 2 hours worth of stuff to see here. We were the first to arrive at the bus stop, just a few minutes early. Crowds started to form, and we wanted to get good seats (let alone any seats), so we stayed our ground right next to where the bus would arrive. It came right on time, and we wanted seats towards the front to see the crazy ride on the way back down. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), a tiny car was in front of the bus going much slower than the bus wanted. We got down to the bottom of the mountain going a reasonable speed, and got off the bus to head towards the Bulguksa temple. We decided to stop by the public restroom before heading in. After walking out of the restroom, we see an older man uncomfortably running towards the bathroom. He passes us and right when he gets to the door, we hear an enormous expulsion from the man. We both turn to eachother to realize we just witnessed someone shit their pants. We felt conflicting emotion between feeling bad for him and feeling we just witnessed something funny, but we ultimately decided that it was truly hilarious. We followed signs up a long ramp up a road towards the temple. We hadn’t done much research on the details of this temple, aside from its cultural significance, so we weren’t prepared for just how large the complex was. There was a ticket booth near the entrance, however a sign said that it is currently free, to our surprise.
We walked through a gate into a nice garden area with some beautiful, well-landscaped trees and plants. We next walked along the path and through a small building with four massive statues. A small pond with a beautiful stone bridge lay ahead of us. We learned through some signage in the complex that the Japanese burnt down most of the temple, but the bridge was one of the few things to survive.
We finally arrive at the central area of the temple to see two giant staircases leading up to a large building (though the staircases were roped off to foot traffic). Winding up a small side path, we were able to get behind the building, realizing that it was a wall into a courtyard.
Two beautiful stone pagodas sat in the courtyard, both also rare survivors of the fire. Some plaques indicated that they may have been built as early as the mid-700’s. We walked all throughout the complex for well over an hour, exploring all of the small temples and shrines, each dedicated to a different aspect of Buddhism. They request no pictures inside most of the temples (which almost no one respected), so we tried to only take pictures from the outside, meaning we didn’t get many indoor pictures. We walked every inch of the grounds, deciding to leave as we had a few other things on our list for the day. There was some rain on and off, but it wasn’t bad enough to prevent us from the other outdoor sights.
We took a bus back towards more central Gyeongju, getting off at a park right next to the park with the burial mounds. This park contains the Dongung Palace and Wolji pond. Again, we’ll let Wikipedia do the heavy lifting:
“Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, formerly known as Anapji, is an artificial pond in Gyeongju National Park, South Korea. It was part of the palace complex of ancient Silla. It was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE”
Our understanding is that the palace and pond were made long ago and were subsequently lost to time, eventually being rediscovered and refurbished. We got off the bus just a few short blocks from the park containing the palace and pond. Arriving, we paid a very small entry fee and begun to walk through. We saw a few small buildings (open walls) so we headed towards them. The first one was right at the edge of some water, which we eventually realized was likely wolji pond.
We went to three separate outdoor structures overlooking this nice pond, before moving along through the park looking for the palace. We came to realize that the palace was the structures themselves after reaching the end of the park. It was very pretty, but certainly not what we expected. It is supposed to be very pretty at night when lit up, but there was a good chance of rain so we wanted to knock it out while it was only sprinkling.
The last place in our UNESCO day is the Cheomseongdae Observatory – an ancient astronomical observatory built in the 700s and is considered the oldest standing observatory in Asia. It was a pretty good walk getting here, but the weather was nice enough and most of it was through a park. As we walked through the park, we some some strange things. Giant sculptures of insects and other strange objects appeared every time we rounded a corner.
Eventually we saw a row of what looked like pilgrims and other strange characters, and we remembered that the Korean holiday Chuseok (apparently like a Korean Thanksgiving) was happening in a few days and they were likely setting up some festival.
We eventually find the observatory. It was neat with the context of its age and significance, but we found ourselves debating when doors and ladders were invented more than discussing the observatory after noticing a lack of doors.
We decided that it was about time to grab a beer, so we found a fun looking outdoor yet covered, beer place. It wasn’t too busy, and no attendants were in sight, so we grabbed a great table. We checked the menu and found some good looking beers, including some craft Korean beers, at a reasonable price. We picked some out but then saw that the menu said that we needed to purchase food with drinks. We looked at the food and didn’t want to spend over $10 on cheap bar food (fish and chips, cheese fries, etc.). We decided to leave, and right as we were standing up, a gentleman comes over and asks if he can help us. We ask about the food and he said “no worries. The fridge is over there, grab whatever you want to drink and then when you’re ready to pay just come up to the counter with the empty bottles”. We sat right back down and grabbed a few Korean beers while enjoying the nice weather under some cover.
We drank our beers, checked out, and started heading towards food. Along the way, we spotted a cocktail bar on the maps app named “Bar Boon”. This is very rare so far in Korea, with cocktails seeming much less popular. We popped in to a nice, cozy cocktail bar with a wall of liquor and two bartenders behind the bar. We sit down and one of them asks in good English where we are from. We get into a fun conversation, with his English ability just about able to keep up with most things we were saying, while the other bartender kept quiet. We ordered a rum old fashioned for David and a pineapple cocktail for Caitlyn, which were both delicious. We talked to the bartender all about Korea, soju, and his small hometown in Southern Korea. We eventually grab one more cocktail, a basil smash for Caitlyn and a “smoked American” for David (some italian liquors and bourbon) and enjoyed those while we talked more and ate spicy Korean chips. Eventually, the other bartender starts to speak up, actually knowing more English than we had assumed! He asks if we have much soju in America and we inform him that most of ours is ~5% and not nearly as good. He replies “wow! In Korea its maybe 16%!” He asks if we’ve ever had real soju, which is closer to 40% or more. We tell him we didn’t know that was a thing, and he pulls a bottle down to show us. We ask the bartenders how much for us to buy one small drink of the soju, and they say “on the house” and pour a small few sips for each of us. It was delicious! So crisp and clean with no alcohol vapor sensation. After sampling the “real” soju, the first bartender pulls out a bottle of plum liquor that he proudly tells us is made in his home town, and pours us each a sample on the house. Not too sweet, but with a nice fruit flavor! We ask for the check to make our way to our next destination. Out of the corner of our eyes, we see the second bartender grab a torch and flames go up in the corner of the bar. He comes over a minute later with crispy local jerky that he lightly caramelized for us to try. We are pretty sure if we stayed here any longer, we would have ended up sampling the entire wall of liquor!
We eventually say our goodbyes and head off towards dinner. Neither of us cared much what we ate, but did know the area we wanted to eat in. We headed back roughly towards where we had lunch on day 1, and found a spot that was highly rated. We walked in to be handed a menu with very limited options, but they highly recommended the beef board, so we got one of those to share. At this point, Caitlyn needed to use the restroom, so David sat behind watching the bags. 2 or 3 minutes later, David catches a glimpse of Caitlyn out of the corner of his eye returning, and suddenly hears “THWOMP” as Caitlyn barrels head first into the glass door. The employees eyes shoot open and they rush over to open the door and check if she is okay, all while David is crying with laughter. Caitlyn reports that she had seen some cats outside to her right, so she turned to look at the cats. Additionally, the door is clear glass with a small button to open as opposed to a handle, and the button was obscured by a plant at the entrance. It should be known that these doors are all over Korea and Japan and each have “PUSH” written in English larger than any other language. With great shame, and wishing this was at the end of the meal rather than before the food was even delivered, Caitlyn drowned her embarrassment in the small cup of beer at the table. We laughed the whole time at the situation, which probably made the meal better than it was. The steak was super simple, lacking any interesting Korean flavors or unique aspects (pretty much a plain steak). We ate, paid, and David carefully pushed the button to allow Caitlyn out without breaking a door.
We walked back home after a very long day, showered, and got into bed. Unfortunately, Caitlyn begun to feel a little bit off, and then started getting serious chills. David offered the whole comforter to Caitlyn and grabbed our two small travel blankets to keep himself warm for the night. Nervous that Caitlyn was getting actually sick, we went to bed with the hope that everything will be better tomorrow.
David’s thoughts of the day: Just as I start getting used to bidets…they are much less common in Korea. I have only stumbled upon maybe 1 or 2 since arriving here. Japan was doing it right.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: It is much colder in Gyeongju than in Busan. In Busan the temperature was up to 95° some days. Here it is much more mild, and up in the mountains, it is actually pretty cold.
Steps walked: 20,188
Miles walked: 10.31
Bluming Travelers 