The first night we took her around a popular area in our neighborhood, Mu Ga Dong, which is down the street from our apartment. This is a restaurant, shopping, bar area with tons of college students since it is directly in front of Ulsan University. We ate at a delicious Korean BBQ restaurant and had coffee at our favorite coffee shop. We had a lot of catching-up to do...
A Trip to Gyeongju
The next morning, our Korean friend Michelle, picked us up at 8am and took us an hour away to Gyeongju. This city was once the capital of Korea from 57 BC-935 AD. The Silla Dynasty lasted for 992 years and most of the sights Gyeongju has to offer date from the 7th century! Gyeongju is known as 'the museum without walls,' and has more tombs, temples, pagodas, and rock carvings than any other place in South Korea.
First Stop: Seokguram Grotto (a Unesco World Heritage Site)
We began by driving up the side of a mountain, then walking along a path for about 10 minutes to reach a famous Buddha statue that is considered to be one of South Korea's most important national treasures. The Buddha is actually in a cave and is constructed from slabs of carved granite. It's 11.5 feet tall and is supposedly similar to cave temples found in China and India.
This is us walking along the mountain path to reach the Buddha.
Outside the Buddha cave, Yuka took a sip of natural spring water.
A pagoda on the mountain. It was so foggy up there!
Next Stop: Bulguksa Temple
The next stage of our trip took us to South Korea's most famous temple, Bulguksa, which means 'Buddha Land Temple.'
Yuka and Melissa in front of the Bulguksa Temple.
Walking towards the temple, we first passed a couple of lotus ponds on both sides of a bridge.
At the front of the temple complex is a large stairway known as Sokgyemun, it has 33 steps signifying the 33 steps to enlightenment, which symbolically lead to the 'Land of the Buddha'.
We couldn't resist trying some deep-fried corndogs!
Us with Michelle enjoying the Cherry Blossom trees.
At the front of the temple, 4 huge statues were built to guard the entrance of the temple.
A huge drum at the temple.
Inside the Bulguksa Temple.
The three storied stone Dabotap Pagoda, which was built in 751.
A view of the temple complex.
Last Stop: Driving around Gyeongju and the resorts
We ended our trip to Gyeongju by driving around and exploring the city some. We drove through a lot of family resorts where guests can play golf, rent bikes, etc. We also drove past the Gyeongju tower, which is probably one of the coolest buildings we've ever seen. In the middle of the building, a pagoda is carved out where you can actually walk/see through the building.
A Korean Lunch
We ended our time in Gyeongju with a traditional Korean lunch. The funny thing about eating in Korea is the amount of dishes they bring you! We could only eat about 1/2 the food they brought us. The restaurant is famous for it's tofu, so we had a few different varieties of that, plus some veggie dishes, a couple soups, and some kimchi-pork. Oh ya, we can't forget the fish they served us with it's eyeballs protruding out...we passed on that dish!
We ended our time in Gyeongju with a traditional Korean lunch. The funny thing about eating in Korea is the amount of dishes they bring you! We could only eat about 1/2 the food they brought us. The restaurant is famous for it's tofu, so we had a few different varieties of that, plus some veggie dishes, a couple soups, and some kimchi-pork. Oh ya, we can't forget the fish they served us with it's eyeballs protruding out...we passed on that dish!
Bye Yuka!
After a few days with us, Yuka had to head back to Japan. We had a great visit with her and are hoping to see her again before our year here is over!
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