Bummin’ around Gyeongju

Last weekend, Jim and I took an awesome weekend trip to a gorgeous, fabulous ancient town in Korea called Gyeongju. I tell you, I have never seen anything quite as beautiful as spring in Korea. I am in LOVE with all the flowers and trees. The vibrant shades of purple and green and red and pink are some of the most vivid I’ve ever seen. The hillsides and streets are thick with blossoms. Everywhere we go, there are huge swaths of color sweeping across the road. It’s awesome.

So, we decided to make the 4 hour trek to this town north of Busan. It was the ancient Silla dynasty capital. The Silla dynasty was Buddhist, so much of their legacy is steeped in that culture. The town is flanked by two very large national parks, both of which are dotted with tomb sites of the ancient royal family, Buddhist temples and other Silla relics. The center of town is very small. There aren’t many multi-story buildings, and there are NO apartment complexes. This was so bizarre, and so refreshing! To be somewhere without groves of 20 story apartments in Korea. Wow. There’s a downtown area much like Gwangju, but at night, as we discovered, it’s pretty dead. Not a lot of people out and about it seemed. We landed on a rather drizzly, gray day. The sky had been threatening to open up at any minute, but as of our arrival, it was only sprinkling.

We were starving, so we found an udon place nearby and ordered up. Of course, I thought I’d be adventurous and order the ramen bibimbap, but not so much. It wasn’t the warm treat I was hoping for. It was cold. So, not nearly as delicious as Jim’s udon. But no matter. Behind me on the television was Korean TV, the ever fascinating, never logical experience of entertainment. On this particular day, it was some show called “X-boyfriend.” And as far as we could tell, there seemed to be a panel of contestants (all women) of some sort and a panel of judges. One of the judges was the Korean singer who Miho had tattooed and done a photo shoot with in her tattoo parlor. (I have no idea what her name is.) The show seemed to follow around the ex in question and detail his antics on camera, and then there was lots of crying and lots of talking, presumably advice-giving and such. Then at some point, we see the ex cyring in the boys bathroom. Really. And then a short time later, back on the show, the girl, complete with a red, tear-stained face, goes inside this box on stage. I was guessing that if her ex was in the small box, then he wants her back. If not, then we would see a display of emotion not seen since Gwyneth’s blubbering Oscar speech. Lucky for us, the ex was there. Very moving. So totally. The inside of the box was ridiculous – like a small little lounge, trippy wallpaper on the floor, ceiling and walls, little stools for the ex-couple to sit on. So, the guy starts tearing up again, and the girl just hides her face in her hands. And then we had to leave because we had almost forgotten that we were in the ancient Shilla dynasty capital and had a variety of ancient places to be. Riight. So, as I sat down to write this, I had to look on the interwebs to see what I could find out about it. And here it is…it’s subtitled in good English so it’s not as fun as if it were just in Korean, but enjoy it nonetheless…I think if you live in NYC you can catch it on this station – IATV.

http://www.iatv.tv/variety/11155/

Anyhoo, back to things that are ancient. We jumped on a bus to head to Bulguksa, some say the most famous temple in Korea. On the bus ride, we got a pretty good tour of the entire city, including the bizarre resort area that’s been built up around a lake in the northwest corner of the town. Dozens of major hotels, an amusement park, a soon-to-be-completed water park and any number of other manufactured experiences lined the shores of the lake. Though this was all pretty much an eye sore, the streets we drove on as we toured the area were lined up and down with cherry trees in full bloom. The day was a bit gray, but the blossoms were a gorgeous shade of pink and red and they stretched as far as I could see in any direction. At one point, we were stuck in traffic, and we were on a street with trees on either side and down the middle, all very tall and stretching over us, creating a little tunnel of pink blossom perfectness.

We finally made it to the temple. It was Saturday, so the place was buzzing with action. We landed in the parking lot below the temple and made our way into what looked like a park above us. When we got closer, I was, again, stopped by the realization that we were about to walk into a place that was covered in cherry blossoms. We walked up a stairway and entered into a swirling, whirling space filled with cherry blossom trees. Blossoms were floating on the air in the wind, drifting languidly like snowflakes to the ground below. Families, lovers, kids, old folks, everyone taking photos, stopping to shake a branch or two to send a flurry of blossoms into the air. I stood in the middle of the walkway with my arms up in the air, a giant smile on my face. As soon as I felt the melt of winter begin, I was determined to find a place just like this. A place where I could run through the blossoms falling at my feet. Springtime here is really unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I mean, Boston was beautiful, definitely. But this is surreal. The burst of color and life is astounding to me.

Jim managed to pull me out of the cherry blossom grove and up the path to the temple. The path was lined with all sorts of hawkers, and we bought two tiny little plastic Buddha statues. We entered the temple site, and wandered up the long, winding walkway towards the main structure. Gorgeous lampposts lined the walkway. The place was like a secret forest. The temple building itself is pretty grand. There are two large staircases leading up to the entrance, both of which are off limits for use. Visitors have to walk around to the back entrance. As I walked towards the back, a flash of green caught my eye. I saw rows of green lanterns hanging from a small building enclosed by a wall behind the temple. I got on my tiptoes to get some shots of them. Jim found me and we made our way into the central part of the temple where an ancient pagoda and a few other relics stand. There is a small space of worship in the middle of the space where we were constantly scolded for taking pictures. This in a sea of some of the most advanced, elaborate cameras. There were dozens of people with serious camera gear. This is the way in Korea – no camera is too big.

We made our way out of the temple and decided we wanted to try our luck at getting up to Seokguram Grotto, an ancient hermitage that is part of Bulguksa. We were in a bit of a time crunch. The hike up the mountain to the grotto really winded me, which was totally frustrating. My time in Korea hasn’t allowed for a lot of exercise, so I’m totally out of shape. We made it up to the grotto with about 30 minutes to explore before we had to hop on the last bus back to the bottom of the mountain. So, speed walking our way to the Buddha, we made it with about 15 minutes of exploring time. At the site, there is an artificial grotto built into the side of the mountain. Inside the grotto is a statue of Buddha surrounded by fifteen panels of bodhisattvas, arhats and ancient Indian gods. It’s encased in glass these days, and photos aren’t permitted, of course, so we snuck a couple in. We barreled back to the parking lot to hop on the bus. Ended up back downtown and started looking for a place to stay.

We stumbled into a great Buddhist store and then just started wandering around the neighborhood. We turned up a side street and suddenly, and as we were walking, I caught sight of something pink down a small alleyway. Of course, I had to search out what it was, so I dragged Jim with me down this little dark street. It was early, maybe 7:30 pm, so the street was pretty empty, but what we found was exactly what I thought it was. A street of glass windows with little cushioned stools where the ladies who were prepping themselves for the evening at dressing tables would soon sit waiting for customers. I’m still not exactly sure how this whole set up works, but it’s the same in every town – Gwangju, Seoul, Gyeongju. Streets lined with glass windows, all illuminated with soft pink light. Ladies getting ready for the evening. Chairs in the windows. One could certainly make a safe guess as to how this all works, but what I mean is that I’m not sure how this all works within the space of Korea. It’s something that fascinates me – the obvious, pervasive presence of a booming sex industry within a culture that basically pretends it doesn’t exist and simply never talks about it. I think I have to get back to the states to really explore this whole issue – to get a sense of what goes on and what people think of it, what the true situation is. I haven’t really found anyone who will talk about it here. At any rate, it still fascinates me, especially the early hours which is the only time we’ve ever encountered the places. The time when the ladies are primping and preening, when the ajummas are cleaning up the rooms, when the women are gathered in front of a TV intently watching some such thing, killing time before the customers show up. It was such an incongruous surprise to find it in Gyeongju after visiting ancient Buddhist temples…

We finally found a pretty decent place to stay for $30. Nothing remarkable about the place except for the very large, very empty fish tanks on the first floor landing. Rocks, stones and plants. No water, no fish.

Went out to find ourselves something to eat. I almost got hit by a scooter which we later discovered to be the “parking attendant.” Seems that everyone who parks on the streets downtown must pay a fee. So, a little ticket is left on your windshield, and as soon as you start your engine, this woman on a scooter comes speeding up to your window, ready to collect the fee. I’m not sure how this actually works. There didn’t seem to be any more than one person. But man, was she fast. We found a little grill place and ordered some random stuff from the menu. Thought we were ordering grilled chicken on a stick, and, in a certain way, we did. But turns out it was chicken feet. Spicy, grilled chicken feet. Yes, no thank you. Played gin all night and got up the next morning to explore a bit more before we headed back to Gwangju.

Jim needed sunglasses, so we went hunting. Thought we’d try our luck at the Gyeongju market. And wow. I’m so glad we did. Didn’t manage to find sunglasses there, but we did find a whole array of products and experiences that we simply don’t have in Gwangju. We turned the corner of the particular walkway we were on, and we stumbled into row after row of these incredible rice treats. In Korea, on special milestone occasions like grandparents birthdays, first birthdays, weddings, funerals, etc., special rice treats are brought as gifts. They’re called deok, I believe. And apparently, they dome in all sorts of shapes and colors. I had only seen the towers of candy-like treats – red, green, blue, pink. But what we encountered in Gyeongju was far more elaborate and interesting. Giant octopi surrounded by big prawns. Lots of whole fish. Tons of fruits and vegetables. Almost like what people do with marzipan. It was hard to tell whether the seafood was real or just rice-based and shellacked for that glossy finish. Every time we moved our heads, there was something else astounding to see. As we got to the end of the rice treat section, we found ourselves in street food heaven. Steaming pots, spicy smells, familiar sights. We meandered a bit and then turned left up another walkway. This one was a bit dark, but as we looked ahead to where we were going, another dumfounding sight stood before us. In the stall directly ahead, dozens of red-purple octopi hung from hooks, tentacles and all, fresh and ready for eatin’. (Gyeongju is only about 30 km from the coast, so the seafood is thick in the town.) As we got closer, I noticed that two of the three proprietors of the stand were napping, as most Koreans do in the market, especially when there’s slow business. They were dressed in red shirts, nearly matching the creatures that hung in front of them. Bowls of sea urchins and sea slugs sat on the wooden table below the hanging octopi. A woman and her family were purchasing a variety of things to our left. I watched a little girl with balloons stop and stare for a minute and then go back to playing with her dad while mom waited for lunch to be wrapped up.

As we turned to walk towards the street, we walked right into yet another jaw-dropping, whaaa? There was a butcher shop about two stands down from the octopi. And on the ground, in front of the meat case, was a red plastic bowl with two very large pig heads sitting inside in a pool of water. A green hose lay next to the bowl, indicating a fresh bathing may have just occurred. Right. Just some pig heads lying around. We took another turn instead of heading out. I just had to see what else I could find there. But, it was getting late, and we had a plan to get to another place or two before the end of the day. So, a very left turns later and we were back on the street.

Two pairs of sunglasses and some various Korean sundries later, we were on our way to Seochulji Pong. We took a taxi not really knowing how long the bus might be. We stopped at the pond and found ourselves in a funny little neighborhood. Everything ancient – most of the homes and buildings in Gyeongju are traditional architecture. There seemed to be about a half-dozen temples surrounding the pond. We met a nice Korean man who tried to explain the story of the pond to us as well as the story behind the broken stone face we kept seeing all over the place. Then, we discovered this totally beautiful, very small, temple down the road. I think this was my favorite part of the trip, aside from frolicking in various field of spring blossoms. The temple had a garden in which there was a gong, a bell, a pagoda, a small fountain and a Buddha. There were camellias and these gorgeous deep purple blossoms that may be related to magnolias, I’m not sure. The camellias were pink and white and red. I was in heaven. It was just so serene and so beautiful to be in the space. We walked towards the back, to the Buddha, and found the little fountain. Some movement caught my eye, and I realized that there were tiny little green frogs with bright orange bellies swimming in the water. We found about three of them. They were too cool. I loved these little frogs. We watched them for a while and got back to the Buddha. The temple abutted a pine forest, so the Buddha stood against a background of a clear blue sky and a forest of dense pines. In the time that we had been there, some people had gathered inside the temple with one of the monks to pray. The chanting began and the voices drifted over the space. We quietly walked towards the temple and stood outside for a few minutes allowing the reverberations of that sound to wash over us. I felt so privileged, so blessed to experience something like this.

On the other side of the pond was a palace of sorts. Before we walked in, we read the description of the place – a palace built by former President Park to commemorate the three individuals who helped to unify Korea. Seeing as he was a ruthless dictator, we weren’t expecting too much with the palace. And, in fact, there wasn’t much to see. It was totally antiseptic and contrived. The grounds were pretty, but boring. The entire building was painted tan. TAN! What? In a culture of such color and vibrancy, you build a TAN palace. Ew. Boring. The best thing I got out of it was a rubbing of a tile on the ground. They had the most beautiful lotus flowers on them. I couldn’t resist another inspiration for a new tattoo!

We quickly moved on, caught a bus back to town and ended up in a field of yellow flowers. Had to take some shots with yet another set of cartoon guardians of the field. And of course, a series of fabulous shots of me in the field wearing my ridiculous new sunglasses and holding one of the three parasols I bought that day for $2. We wandered around this incredible field and found the first observatory in Asia. We climbed a hill thinking we’d find a pond, but instead found an ancient freezer! A place they used to keep ice underground. Jim was ecstatic about it. I was not really too impressed. I wanted to find the damn pond I had set out to see! We finally realized that the pond was actually on the other side of the street as we made our way back to the other side of the park. Our bus to Gwangju was leaving in about 45 minutes, so again, we decided to speed walk the place and jump in a cab to the bus station.

The pond was very simple, but very beautiful. The site was excavated many years ago. A Shilla palace was discovered, but most of the building remains were covered up again with earth. Not really sure why. There are now two pavilion buildings on the edge of the pond, one with a scaled wooden replica of the palace that once stood on the grounds. We were crunched for time, so I ran in to use the bathroom. When I returned, about 3 minutes later, Jim called me over to see what he had just shot on his camera. Apparently, while I was in the bathroom, three men dressed as Shilla warriors had ridden in through the front gates on horseback and rode across the site and out the other side. Right! 3 minutes and I miss this.

Into a cab we went. Made it to the bus station with 10 minutes to spare. But of course, the only bus of the day was sold out. So, we bought tickets for another bus to another town to make a connection to Gwangju. We had an hour to kill so we went in search of food behind the bus station. Always a good idea! It was a pretty run-down deserted neighborhood, but we managed to find a little joint open for food. Two cyclists were inside enjoying some soju and samgipsol, so we sat down and ordered some as well. I’m not the biggest fan of it (we call it Korean bacon), as it’s usually super fatty, but this was delicious and lean. While we were eating, the nice restaurant lady picked up her keys and put on her jacket, jumped on her scooter and sped away. Hmm. Ok. The cyclist guys seemed to know that it was all good, she’d be back soon, they said. So, we shrugged, finished our beers and delicious food and had to run to catch the bus. We left some cash on the table – there was lots of confusion over just how much we had to leave. Made it to our bus. An hour later, we were in Daegu. When we tried to buy tickets to Gwangju, we were told the next bus didn’t leave until 7:50 pm – almost 2 hours later. Argh. The next 3 buses were sold out. So, resigned to stay in Daegu for a bit, we wandered out to find something to do. Found a café across the street that was actually called Sleepless in Seattle…had some coffee and tea and played more games of gin. Finally made it on a bus to Gwangju. Stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break. Now, on every bus I’ve ever traveled on in Korea, we get 15 minutes at the rest stop. But apparently, our bus driver was a little antsy, so instead of 15 minutes, we got about 6. But we didn’t know this. So, after I bought a drink and decided to head back to the bus while Jim got a snack, I opened the door to the parking lot to see our bus driver driving away without us. I started yelling for Jim and waving my hands frantically while running straight at the bus. He stopped, thankfully. It’s unclear whether he really would have left us or if he was just trying to get our attention, but he definitely asked the passengers if anyone else was missing before we headed off again. I don’t really know. But it would have seriously sucked to be stranded in that bus station with no money, no phone and no bag, as I had left everything on the bus. Jim was pissed, and when we finally got back to Gwangju, he went right up to the driver and demanded his name. I said in the little Korean I know, why 5 minutes? 15 minutes, always! “You didn’t understand!” he said. Probably true, but still, with foreigners on the bus, one cannot assume we understand, non? There was a series of hand gestures and cross remarks made, and we finally got out of the station and in a cab home. Finally. It was an incredible weekend, and I’m so very glad to have gotten the chance to get there. Jim and I had a great time together. Definitely my most favorite place in Korea, hands down. We only saw a small fraction of what there is to see there. Another time. Another time.

Last weekend – dinner and drinks with lots of Korea friends, and a trip to a butterfly festival with our favorite 7 year-old! Tomorrow night – our first of two going away parties! Stay tuned for that soon!

One week left…so very, very strange.