Ahh, Korea. I'm so happy and grateful to have been given the opportunity to return to this beautiful country. I've been a huge fan of this place since my last visit! This time, however, I'm not just here for fun. I'm here for work, to help teach people at the University of Seoul how we plan for improved air quality in the United States, something I'm sad to say they seriously need to address. The picture below is, unfortunately, not due to morning haze.
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| Smog in Daegu |
Presentation in hand, and weeks of planning complete, let's start with a little fun! For the first part of this trip, I'm being accompanied by Christina (my sister), Tom Weyandt (with the city of Atlanta), and Doug Hooker (my boss's, boss's, boss's boss!). We arrived in Seoul and hopped the first train down to Gyeongju for the weekend for some sightseeing before the conference on Monday. We're traveling via KTX high speed train, something I didn't experience on my last visit. There is no security and no one collecting tickets. When you walk into the boarding area, there is a line on the ground that says "we trust you, ticketed passengers only." Could you imagine a system like that in the United States? The train ride was very smooth. It reached a max speed of around 300 km/hr and the trip to Gyeongju took about 2 hours.
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| Vrooooom! KTX high-speed train |
I was here in Gyeongju in fall 2011 and it's a somewhat different experience in the summer. First off, it's hot! Koreans gingerly air condition. Just enough so you don't die, but not enough to keep spoiled Americans happy! It's also pretty humid, but not Atlanta humid. I wonder how much of the humidity is due to the millions of acres of rice paddies? Second, it's a different kind of beautiful. My last visit was in autumn and many leaves were gone or were bright colors. Now it's verdant and lush. It really reminds me of the north Georgia mountains. Third, there is so much rice here! Every spare square inch of flat land is occupied by a rice paddy. In fall, I noticed lots of farmland but didn't realize how much of it was dedicated to rice.
On our first day in Gyeongju we visited Tumuli Park and saw the Shilla Kings' burial mounds and made a trip to the Gyeongju National Museum. Unfortunately, the main archaeology hall was closed due to earthquake-proofing. Afterwards we visited Anapji Pond and then headed to the hotel for a break.
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| Anapji Pond |
Later in the evening we had some Gyeongju Ssambap for dinner! Last time when I visited Korea, it took several days to adjust to the time. This time, with the help of Tylenol PM (thanks Emily for the suggestion!) I slept straight through the night and was bright-eyed and bushy tailed for an 8AM trip to Paris Baguette for breakfast Korean pizzas (yep! as odd as it sounds) and then off to Bulguksa and Seokguram!
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| Bulguksa grounds |
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| Bulguksa Temple |
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| Stately! |
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| Seokguram Lanterns |
Lunch was at a restaurant near Bulguksa. An Ajumma (older Korean lady) restaurant barker flagged us down to eat at her restaurant. We agreed and she ran into the road, stopping traffic to lead the way. We had beef bulgogi with mountain vegetables, some pork bulgogi and bibimbap. There was tons of panchan (side dishes). You can get excellent Korean food in Atlanta, but the panchan is just not the same!
My traveling companions have been excellent sports. Willing to hike in the sun, take bus A to location B followed by steep steps to see temple C. Hopefully, I didn't drive them too hard! Gyeongju is a big a place with lots to see and do, I couldn't let them miss out.
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| Of course, there was Gyeongju Bread as well |
Next stop, Seoul!
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