My English Family!

Last night, my co-teacher Monica invited Okk, Me, and Aaron to an amazing dinner on the river at an expensive duck restaurant in the middle of nowhere!  It took almost an hour to get there, but we were all pleasantly surprised when we sat down and saw all the amazing food set on our table!  

Not to mention, the restaurant was awesome and looked like a ginormous mushroom...

 

and was set right on the river where we had a stunning view of the sunset! 

One of my favorite things about this place was the fact that they grew almost all of the food they serve right there on the premises!  You can even take a stroll through their garden after dinner if you'd like!

... and there is absolutely no shortage of fermented kimchi here!

It wasn't until we were leaving the restaurant and driving back to Busan that I coined our group "My English family!"  Because, well, that's just kinda what it felt like!  I'm so glad I have co-workers who adore me as much as I adore them, and who want to include Aaron in everything we do together!  Cheers to my English family of 4!  We're small, but we have a lot of fun together!

Roadtrip to Gyeongju! (DAY 2)

We got a late start on Sunday!  We both woke up after 10:00am and didn't head out until 10:45am!  We headed to the nearby market for some fresh fruit for my breakfast and then on to Paris Baguette for some yummy pastries for Aaron!

Then we rode scoot over to the area with all of the Royal Tombs, where we found some ancient stones (Yes, I realize all rocks are ancient, but these are different) to sit and have our breakfast under the shade trees!

The park (or graveyard) is truly stunning... I love the look of the royal tombs in Korea!  They're like giant grassy noles (sp?)!  I put the camera on a tripod and set the timer (which takes 5 simultaneous shots)...  This one was by far my favorite!

A beautiful, lonesome tree in the graveyard...

You would never know there were hundreds of people all around us at this point in time!  Korea is outrageously crowded, and we're stepping all over each other most of the time!  It just happens to be that Aaron and I are getting good at taking pictures where it looks like we have the whole place to ourselves! :) 

Another lonesome tree in a field, near a royal tomb.

After walking through the royal graveyard, we hopped on bus #11, headed for Bulguksa Temple, one of Koreas most famous temples!  We got there and walked across the street to grab some lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant with a patio - a TRUE luxury!

I had drunk a fare share of water and needed to use the little girls room, so I asked the lady working at the restaurant where the bathroom was... she pointed outside, but didn't say right or left, so I was on my own!  Inside the first door I opened was this BIG DOG!  I'm not afraid of big dogs, but when you open the door to a big dogs territory, you better be ready to run!

Lucky for me, he turned out to be a very docile and sweet dog!  He was thrilled that I opened his door, and slowly came walking towards me, with a waggy tail, and tired eyes, looking for a little love, which I was more than happy to give!

Ater lunch, we walked across the street and headed up the beatiful path to Bulguksa Temple, located on the slopes of Tohamsan, in Jinheon-dong, Gyeongju.  There were rolling fields with beautiful white flowers on either side of the pathway with families spread out, all around, enjoying little picnics of kimbap and makoli!  I thought it was the perfect spot to stop and take some pics!  This is me, behind the secenes:

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them." --Henri Matisse

Aaron and I at Bulguksa Temple...

We eventually left the beautiful fields and meandered the paths toward the gate of the temple complex.  Bulguksa Temple is a humongous working temple and quite possibly the most impressive temple in Korea. It's regarded as a masterpiece of Buddhist art, and was built in the 8th century during the Silla Kingdom period.  It's sad to hear stories about the Japanese coming and destroying all of the Korean temple complexes, but pretty cool to think a temple has occupied this exact land since 550 AD.  You just don't get that kind of history in the USA.

No temple would be complete without gigantic freaky looking guard statues to scare off the evil spirits!

Bulguksa Temple was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.

This lotus pond greets you as you walk through the main gate of the temple complex.  Unfortunately we weren't here in the right season to see the lotus flowers in bloom!

This was a small prayer hall in the back of the temple complex... 

which had this huge bronze buddha sitting inside...

Outside the small prayer hall is a rock garden where visitors can attempt to make their own rock stack.  Rock stacking was a concentrated discipline of reclusive Buddhist, Yi Gapyong.  Koreans now practice it for the art of devotion.

I practiced it for the art of balance and having a steady hand! 

Turns out I have both balance and stead hands! Win, win!

Aaron is much taller than your average Korean... especially your average Korean from 1200 years ago!

Beautifully and intricately carved door handles in the temple complex.

In front of the main prayer hall there are two famous stone pagodas, which are both National Treasures in Korea. This is Dabotap, which means "the pagoda of many treasures."  It was so delicately carved that they say ‘Silla masons managed stones like clay’ to create it. 

This is Daeungjeon (대웅전), the Hall of Great Enlightenment, also know as the main prayer hall at Bulguksa Temple.

No humungous buddhist temple is without a gazillion souvenier shops, filled with budhist bookmarks, prayer beads, and in this case, ugly hats!

While waiting 45 minutes for the next bus to come to Bulguksa to take us back to Gyeongju, we decided that we would leave and head back ot Busan that night, to beat the holiday traffic on Monday!  So, we headed back to the hotel, cancelled our rooms and jumped on scoot!  We took back roads all the way back to Busan this time to avoid the busy highway!  The scenery was beautiful... including this enormous wheat field that Aaron asked me to walk through for a photo opp!   

After an hour or so of driving, we stopped at this rice field to let Scoot cool his engine!  The Korean countryside is truly stunning in certain areas! :)

We ended up stopping for dinner in Ulsan and then stopping again, once the sun went down, in Onyang.  We stayed the night there and continued the journey in the morning!

Scoot (and Aaron) did such a great job of getting us all the way back home to Busan! Thanks you two!

On our way back to Busan, we took the coastal road, which ultimately lead us to the famous Haeundae Beach!  Lucky for us, Haeundae has our favorite Mexican spot and it happened to be the weekend of the Sand Festival, so sand art was being hand crafter all along the beach!

Pretty increidble, huh?!

There was even an area where the artist had sculpted the sand AND spray painted it!  The talent in this world is simply amazing!

We finally made it back to Yeongdo around 4:30pm and were both exhausted from the long drive and fun trip!   Not sure when we'll get out of Busan again next, but I do know we just bought ticket for 16 days in Vietnam in August, so we're definitely looking forward to that! 

Until next time!!

Thanks for reading about our Gyeongju Adventure!

<3 Jill and Aaron

Roadtrip to Gyeongju! (DAY 1)

I don't know what we were thinking when we thought taking Scoot 3 1/2 hours north to the histroical city of Gyeongju was a good idea!  I know it's only because I prayed for 20 minutes straight that we didn't both turn around and head back to Busan!  My gosh!  My butt and legs were sooo sore by the time we arrived!  Thank goodness the drive north was filled with beautiful scenery where we could stop on little breaks and enjoy!

Safety before fashion people!  Safety before fashion!

I guess I should give a little heads up about Gyeongju... So, here you go!

Gyeongju is 511 square miles, with a population of about 270,000 people. It was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled most of Korea between the 7th and 9th centuries. A ton of archaeological sites and items from this period still remain in the city.  Most Koreans refer to it as "the museum without walls", which I would definitely agree with!

We finally made it to Gyeongju around 1:00pm and checked into a super ghetto motel, since the 2 youth hostels we picked out ended up being booked!  So, this is what Aaron got for $15.00 a night! 

We checked in at the motel, dropped our bags, and headed out for some lunch at this Chinese restaurant in downtown Gyeongju.  We met a really nice guy from America, who was with his Korean wife having lunch.  We talked for a couple minutes and were already offered a job at the univeristy where he works!  Hopefully when and if we eventually do look for university positions it ends up being this easy!

During lunch, we searched the internet on our iphones for a place to check out in the city!  Before I moved to Korea I used to plan every moment of every day of every vacation!  Now, I pack a backpack, buy a train ticket, or in this case, jump on the scooter, and figure out the rest when I get there!  So, anyhow, we researched for 5 minutes and decided to check out Yangdong Folk Village, a traditional village from the Joseon Dynasty which was recently designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  So, we jumped on scoot and headed 16 km's north.  Fifty-four historic homes, over 200 years old, have been preserved in this village.  It's so famous that even Prince Charles visited Yangdong in 1993!

There are actually people still living in these hisoric homes!  This one however is not occupied!  According to the sign in front, the home was built in 1543 for the governor of Gyeongsan-do province.

This is the front gate. leading into the home's courtyard.

Knock, knock!  Anyone home?

The village is traditional by all aspects, from the gardens to the rooftops!

No washing machines or dryers in this village!

I can't imagine how much it costs to purchase one of these homes!  Aaron and I think they're probably just passed down through generations and never actually sold!

You better believe there aren't any big grocery stores in this UNESCO village!  Nope... this sign states "Super" (which is what they call supermarkets in Korea)...

... and here it is!  Yangdong Folk Village's very own "Super".  Obviously most of the residents live off the land around here!

 Why buy veggies at the market when you can grow them fresh on your own land!?

Traditional Korean roofs consist of straw (in this case) or beautiful tiles!

After getting our fill of Yangdong, we scooted back to Gyeongju to check out the Anapji Pond.  Anapji, or Anap Pond is an artificial pond in Gyeongju National Park, South Korea which was part of the palace complex of ancient Silla (57 BCE - 935 CE). It was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE.

We bought some traditional rice snacks at the front gate to snack on while we walked around the pond!  They were surprisingly delicious and super low in calories!  Always a nice plus!

All around the pond were fields filled with lovely white flowers and people sprawled out, searching for four leaf clovers amongst them!  This darling little girl wasn't interested in finding clovers though, she was working hard to make a beautiful bouquet for her grandmother! :)

Aaron and I jumped over the tiny fency and plopped down in the field in search of our very own four leaf clover!  I kid you not, the second I looked down, I found this one!   Guess that means I'm lucky, huh?!

This may vaguely resemble an Ollin Mills photo, but I happen to think it's beautiful!

I will never understand why people play games on their cell phones when they're surrounded by such beauty!

I layed here for a while, picking flowers and looking for more 4 leaf clovers!  Unfortunately I didn't find anymore!  Guess they are pretty hard to find, eh?!

The perks of having a photographer boyfriend!

We ended the night with some delicious Japanese food for dinner, and NANTA in the park, a famous Korean musical, which usually costs about $100 a ticket!  Lucky for us, it was FREE!

In ancient Korea, Kings were burried with all of their belongings, including their servants, who were believed to pass into the afterlife with them... In order to burry everything and everyone together, they built huge mounds, like the egyptians with the pyramids.  In Korea's case though, they built huge dirt mounds and covered them with grass!  The NANTA show was going on right next to a graveyard filled with tons of these ancient graves!  Kinda weird and eiree if you ask me!

After the show, families and kids were climbing the gigantic mounds and sliding down them, like they were a junglegym of sorts!  We thought this was REALLY strange, since usually Koreans are really respectful of gravesites, but apparently it was no problem to play on this one!  So, I dared Aaron to climb up and slide down on a plastic bag (to make him go faster, of course!)  What you're about to witness is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time!  And the Koreans around us were thuroughly entertained!  No one was upset! :)   Thank goodness!

It was the perfect way to end a wonderful first day in the ancient South Korean city of Gyeongju!