Visiting the Capital of the Silla Kingdom

Long before there was Korea there were three different kingdoms in the region that the North and South Koreans now call home: The Goguryeo to the north, the Baekje to the southwest, and the Silla (pronounced she-lah), which existed from 57 BC - 935 AD, in the middle. Lucky for us, the capital of the Silla, Gyeongju, is a thriving city about 2 hours away from Andong. Even luckier, Sara and I were sent there for a conference on co-teaching last weekend. And I will never turn down a some-expenses-paid vacation.

The conference was fun, but nothing special. It was very similar to orientation in many ways, except that I was able to be there with my co-teacher, which was more fun than helpful. It's good to teach with someone you can call your friend, and not just a colleague. For more details on the conference itself, see Sara's blog (anythingbutsquid.blogspot.com). The conference itself lasted a mere day and a half until Friday afternoon, so Sara and I, along with our good friend Katie, decided to stay in Gyeongju for the remainder of the weekend.

Everything in Korea is old, but Gyeongju is really old. And it's obvious. But it certainly hasn't escaped modernization. For example, outside of our conference hotel room was a view of the stunning Gyeongju Tower, an observation tower in the middle of the Gyeongju Cultural Expo Center.

Though we didn't get to go up in it this time around, it was still cool to see.

While downtown Gyeongju looks basically like every other city in Korea, the one thing that is stunningly unique about this place is the mounds. Oh boy do they have mounds.And mounds.Mounds and mounds of mounds.

What are these oddly shaped hills you say? They are the tombs of literally hundreds of Silla Kingdom kings, queens, and dignitaries. And they were EVERYWHERE. You could not turn a corner in Gyeongju without stumbling head over heals into a giant heap of tombs. Some are more culturally important than others, but they are all equally impressive. What's more, it was all me, Sara, and our friend Katie (pictured above) could do to not run up them and roll down like giddy 4th graders.

Aside from the mounds of kings, there were also mounds with trees.Mounds you could go in.
And mounds you couldn't.
The ones above are the tombs of the founder and first king of the Silla Kingdom as well as the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th kings of the Silla Kingdom. No word on where the 4th king ended up, but in Korea, if they don't talk about it, it can't be pretty.

After Sara, Katie and I were finished investigating all of the tombs, our friend Andrew showed up and we all rented bikes, a popular way to travel around Gyeongju.Our first stop was to Gyeongju's national museum, which was small and unimpressive, but entrance was free so I can't complain. The buildings were certainly cool.
It was also fully equipped for the handicapped, old, and WEAK. I was pretty tired from all that biking. Does that count?After that we stopped off at Anapji pond, which is a man made pond formerly used as a leisure spot by the Silla royalty. Like nearly every important, historical, and beautiful building in Korea, most of the buildings there were destroyed long ago by numerous invasions by the Japanese.
After a long day of biking, we sampled one of the other fine things Gyeongju has going for it.You can sit at home and talk about how you could live without McDonald's all you want, but spend 7 months of your life without a hint of authentic western food, let alone a decent cheeseburger, and then we'll talk. I had McDonald's 3 times in the span of two days, and I don't regret it one bit. My only regret is that we didn't get to visit the Gyeongju KFC.

On our last day in town, Andrew, Katie, Sara and I decided to trek out to the must-not-miss Bulkuksa Temple and Seokguram. The former is considered the No. 1 historical and scenic site in Korea by the Korean government. It was certainly beautiful and scenic, but it was also marred by more tourists than I've seen anywhere in Korea.
The temple wasn't terribly different from many others I've seen before, including in Andong, but it was nestled nicely into a mountain, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. And while there were a lot of people (including screaming children) it was still a peaceful and beautiful place to spend the afternoon.
It was especially nice to see it in the fall, since all of the leaves in Korea are now bursting into full color.
Our last stop, Seokguram, is a very old Buddhist grotto which contains an enormous statue of Buddha built into the mountain. Built in the 8th century, it has stood the test of time and now stands as a great monument to Buddhist culture in Korea and around the world. Since we aren't allowed to take pictures of the actual Buddha, I am borrowing this picture from Wikipedia to give you a good view.

Upon leaving the grotto, visitors are met with a spectacular view of the East Sea (Sea of Japan), which was a great site to see right before leaving Gyeongju. It is a good reminder for me that I need to return to this beautiful city.

Mom, Dad, and The Capital of the Korean Spirit, Part 2 of a 3-Part Series

It didn't take long after our return from Jeju-do for my parents to experience what many people call the real Korea. Resort towns like Jungmun (where we were in Jeju) and big cities like Daegu and Busan certainly have a different, more international, feel than the "little city" of Andong. Andong, though a frequent tourist spot for Koreans, is unusual territory for westerners. The city's slogan, "Capital of the Korean Spirit," refers to Andong's long-standing and deep-rooted tradition of Confucianism and Hahoe Village's status as one of Korea's oldest and most traditional folk villages. When we returned to my Korean hometown, my parents were definitely thrown into the deep end.

Downtown
Our first stop was visiting downtown Andong. I wanted my parents to be familiar with their surroundings since I wouldn't be able to be with them 24 hours a day. I gave them enough know-how to navigate a few spots and showed them where they could get an English menu if they needed a bite to eat. Still, we ended up eating almost all of our meals together, so translation wasn't a problem.

During the downtown tour, my parents were introduced to our very Western downtown (Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut), as well as some of the more traditional nooks and crannies. We walked down "Chicken Street," which is Andong's largest traditional market. It's called chicken street because you can eat Andong Jjimdak there, an Andongian twist on a traditional Korean spicy chicken dish. Though our market is a bustling intersection in Andong, mom and dad were unimpressed due to their previous visit to the Busan fish market, Korea's largest.

Korean Hospitality and Mrs. Lee
On day two in Andong, we were scheduled to meet one of my co-teachers, Mrs. Lee, for dinner at her mountain art studio, which I have blogged about previously. The plan was to go to the Jebiwon Stone Buddha in the morning and head to her house in the mid-afternoon. On our way to the bus, I got a call from Mrs. Lee, during which I quickly figured out that the plan was for LUNCH, not dinner. Ohhhh Korea...

So with a limited time-table, but an urge not to waste a minute of my parents vacation, we hopped in a cab to visit Yeonghoru, a traditional wooden pavilion overlooking the Nakdong river and all of downtown Andong. The pavilion's history is a little cloudy, but what is known is that it's over 500 years old. Around the ceiling are planks of wood with poetry written on them in Chinese and Korean. Apparently, Confusian scholars would come from all over Korea after hearing of the view from Yeonghoru and would compose poems to be hung on the ceiling. Years later, the poems still hang there, a constant reminder of the transcendent nature of some places.

On the way out, my parents and I ran into a Korean family who were very eager to talk to us. We told them where we were from and what we were doing in Andong. The father, we found out, had only been studying English for a few months. But he spoke far better English than all of my students who have been studying for several years.
Afterward, we headed back downtown for lunch with Mrs. Lee. The meeting lived up to my mother's expectations (my mom repeatedly told me that she was most interested in how Koreans lived at home), as Mrs. Lee cooked us a traditional (and delicious!) meal of sam gyeop sal with an array of side-dishes. Unfortunately, she had bought enough food for six (as she thought the Eagles, who were still in Busan, would be there), so my parents and I could hardly walk at the end of it all.
After lunch, Mrs. Lee suggested that we go to Hahoe Village (pronounced hah-hway) and the nearby Confucian academy, Byeongsan Seowon with her. Though we already felt as though she had done enough, I know better than to refuse an offer like that from a Korean person. If they offer to do something for you, it's not just a formality here. So we found ourselves touring Andong with Mrs. Lee for most of the afternoon.

Though a wonderful experience, my parents both felt a little overwhelmed by the excessive hospitality they were receiving, as they both thought Mrs. Lee was doing too much. I wholeheartedly understand, even if I am more used to it now. A perfect example of the overwhelming generosity of Korean people toward their guests and the difficulty that we westerners can sometimes have of accepting it.

The Rest of Andong
During my parents remaining days here, we visited many of the local hot spots such as Dosan Seowon, which was under construction:
The Jebiwon Stone Buddha, a HUGE statue of Buddha carved into a hillside (he's in the back there):
And Mask Dance Hall, which mom took very seriously:
On one of our final nights in Andong, my parents finally met Hyeon-beom when we all went out for Andong Jjimdak. Unfortunately, since we were in a small backroom of the restaurant (with 8 people), I don't have any good pictures of that meeting. In short, my parents loved meeting HB, and HB loved meeting my parents.

The Final Day and The Sky Bridge From Hell
Due to dad's persistence that he visit the sky bridge detailed in one of Sara's blog posts, we found ourselves visiting Cheongnyang-san Provincial Park on mom and dad's last day in Andong. For a detailed account of the climb to the top of this "small" mountain, see Sara's earlier blog post. To completely understate the entire experience, this mountain is steep. This is the kind of place where real mountain climbers go for a good time, and Average Joes like Sara and I and our parents go to see just what we're made of. Let me just say, dad decided to go back after a mere 15 minutes due to some chest pains, and he was most certainly the lucky one. If I'd known what we were getting ourselves into, I might have joined him. Here are some pictures that don't even begin to give you a scope of what we went through:
When we finally reached the Sky Bridge, we were lucky enough to have a view of absolutely nothing. The fog was so thick, we could barely see the other end of the bridge.

Down below us was a beautiful view of--well, more fog:

Still, we had a good time, and we had fun teasing dad when we got back down for sending us all up there. In the meantime, dad had a lengthy conversation with some young Korean girls who wanted him to visit their traditional house. As cool as it would have been, he decided to stay and make sure he was waiting for us when we got back down. What a guy!

And now, after a week in one of Korea's most traditional cities, I can say that my parents are truly and thoroughly Korean.

After a good night's rest, my parents and I packed up and sped off to Seoul during my extended vacation. (I was allowed to use two of my winter vacation days now so I could spend a little more time with the 'rents!) Come back soon for more details about the last leg of our journey.

Parents' Arival and Jeju-do, Part 1 of a 3-Part Series

I guess it's about time I poured some much-needed life into this desert island of a blog. My extended absence from the world of web logging has been mostly due to the exciting arrival of my parents in Korea. But now that they have gone back to the states, I would like to update you all on the exciting first week of our adventure.

Busan
Mom and Dad flew into Busan the evening of Thursday, July 30th and were pleasantly surprised to find that jet lag never truly hit them. They were a little tired for some time on the second evening, but handled the transition like pros. Though I only got to spend a night with them in Busan, Korea's second largest city, we took some time to appreciate the nightlife and have dinner at a local Pizza Hut. I figured I would leave the traditional food to the traditional-oriented Andong. It astonished me to find that both of my parents were immediately enamored (and maybe a little overwhelmed) with the culture I've now gotten used to.

Arrival in Andong
Upon finally getting to the Capitol of the Korean Spirit (Andong), I checked my parents into the highly disappointing Hotel California. What was supposed to be the chic downtown alternative to the Andong Park Hotel (the most well-known of Andong accommodations) quickly turned into an exercise in futility, since the nightly air conditioning didn't come on in the day or night, several of the room's amenities didn't work, and hot water wasn't turned on until 8 o'clock each morning. My parents insist that everything was fine, but they spent the rest of their Andong tour at the Andong Park Tourist Hotel.

Regardless of the hotel situation, our two day stint in my Korean hometown was well-spent. We explored the area near the Andong Dam, toured Andong's charming downtown area, and sampled some of Korea's finest dishes in the local restaurants. Without a doubt, the biggest surprise of our first few days was that Mr. Larry "please bring a fork along" Williams is actually a chopstick champion to be reckoned with.

Jeju-do
My parents introduction to Andong was short lived, though, as we set off for Jeju island, often referred to as "Korea's Hawaii." On Jeju, we stayed in the luxurious Hyatt Regency Hotel, where we were pleasantly surprised to find that our ocean view room gave us both extraordinary views of the ocean:

and the mountains:

We spent half of our time enjoying the posh ameneties of our five star hotel, such as delicious western breakfast with a gorgeous backdrop:

and a drink or two in the calming, lobby-set cafe:

The other half of our time was spent climbing, clawing, hiking and otherwise killing ourselves through the island's many walking tours.

We visited the black sand beach near our hotel, which was set against stunning cliffs.

And climbed our way down through one of the island's parks in pursuit of glistening waterfalls.
Dad was slightly unhappy when we thought we were going back to the parking lot, but instead wound up at a very sudden dead-end.On our final day in Jeju, the entire crew (me, mom, dad, Sara, and Linda) trekked out to a Buddhist temple and mountain grotto that was purported to have some of the finest views in all of Jeju. Our guidebook simply said the path would be a climb "...about halfway up Sanbang-san mountain." Enter Sanbang-san:

Still, we braved the steep climb:

And arrived at the breathtaking grotto, where we drank from a cistern filled with fresh, cold, and clean mountain water, flowing directly from the rock itself. And the book was right, the view was to die for.

Stay tuned in the coming days for the second update from mom and dad's trip to Korea!