Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Breakfast, Checkout and Cherry Blossom Pagoda

 

Another day, another chance to enjoy unlimited Korean side dishes at the buffet table! I do so miss the meals I have in Korea. it's just so fun as compared to a boring western meal.

We checked out from the resort on this day. And I took this chance to take a photo of a Pororo Waterpark nearby the hotel.  Pororo is a super popular kid's character in Korea. There is even a Pororo Themed Park in Singapore, not sure if it's still there though. It's located at Marina Square. 

Driving out and into more cherry blossom trees everywhere!

Before leaving Gyeong-Ju, our teacher wanted us to take photo with this famous pagoda. 

Everyone else also wants to take photo with it, so the road was kinda crowded with people. You can't actually go up to the pagoda, or even go inside of it. You can just view it from outside, which is kinda sad, really.... So all you could really do here is take photos. 

So here you go. Looks pretty Japanese, right? After traveling around Korea, Japan and China, the lines between these 3 countries are starting to blur for me. Deep down, I know everything originated from China. But bias me always think the Japanese somehow does everything better :P

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Historic Area Night Walk

So our night walk was actually to see the pond garden and pavilion of the royal family. The place was only open at night during certain timing of the year. So needless to say, our Korean Teacher was not gonna let us miss that! I though it was strange to visit such a place at night. Would we be able to see much?

More official information of the place.

It kinda made me thing of the imperial gardens of China....

Above a pavilion in the middle of the pond. I guess the lighting does make it look different from day time. I like the colour of the sky here, no longer blue, but not yet pitch dark. 

It was quite a huge place. And it was rather crowded, really. I didn't really enjoy the crowd much.

We also walked towards another area where the trees where lighted up by pink lightings! And the tombs were of a cold white glow. Pretty surreal! 

And lastly, this famous tower that I kept seeing whenever we drove around town. Apparently, this was a star gazing tower! It's called Cheomseongdae.... I had to google most of the names in Korean. I have no grab of the language at all. Couldn't even make out the train station map in Seoul! Lol.

Anyway, here is another group photo to end the night walk.

 

But here is one of me at the royal pond garden. Good night!

Korea 2024 - Dinner and Cheomachong Tomb

After visiting a park, and two temples, it was time to go back to the main town area. We found ourselves back at the small town, and what a lovely weather it was. We were gonna have dinner here before doing a night walk around the ancient town.

On this day, we were having ssambap, which means food wrapped in green leaves? I love it. Look at all the beautiful food laid out above. It was for 4 person to a table, but somehow, I ended up in a table with two ladies who went hiking with me in Dongbaek Island Busan. So there was just 3 of us, but food enough for 4. Not only that, but the two ladies didn't eat any spicy food, nor most of the Korean dishes. So I ended up eating most of the food here, but gave up all the tempura dish to the ladies since it was non-spicy. 

In case you wonder how much a meal like this cost, I took a photo of the set menu for your reference. It really does come with all those beautiful side dishes! 

After dinner, we walked towards the start of the park again.

Here is a clearer photo talking about the Cheomachong Tomb in that area.

There is actually a map that tells you who were the famous royals or notable person buried beneath these small hill. One of the tomb was actually opened for you to visit. So some of us went inside to take a look. Just like the tombs in Ayuthaya that I visited in 2024, these Korean tombs also held treasures of the royal person, mostly gold. It also has exhibition showing how the ancient empire was already in trade and relation with the western world, showcasing Italian glass beads being buried with the dead, some western art pieces etc. 

After visiting the tombs, which was just a short walk from our dinner place. We boarded the bus again and drove pass the above famous bridge in Gyeong-ju. I was surprised we weren't stopping here as I read that this structure was pretty ancient and significant in this place. Oh well, at least I saw it with my own eyes! It kinda reminded me of the bridge in Florence. 

Here is a side view of it. It was hard to get a clear shot in the moving bus, sorry!

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Seokguram Grotto Way Down

 

After seeing the beautiful stone dome Buddha, we lingered around to admire the beautiful spring surroundings. I felt happy to be here, glad that it was such a humble structure, yet held such significant position in the history of Gyeong-Ju. 

Here's me wandering around outside the colourful hut.

Some official information about the place. Do click and zoom in to read.

We saw some nuns also making their way there. They looked so joyful and childlike. I guess when you follow the 'path', nothing really troubles you. I try my best to follow it's teaching, but no doubt the material world's problem still gets to me. It is always easier said than done. 

Finally, venturing down the hill. What a lovely view all around us. 

I especially love the tree branches that is still bare from green leaves. They make a nice natural pattern against the cloudy blue skies.

Here's a photo of a pair of nuns walking down together with us. Their clothes blending in with the colours of nature. Yet the bright paper lanterns just pop right out behind them. How pretty :)

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Seokguram Grotto Way Up

The entrance to visit the Seokguram Grotto. Our bus parked outside, and from the looks of it, can't say you can see much. I was most excited to visit this place, because I love grotto. I just actually learnt what that word meant when I saw it as one of the exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing. And this one has an ancient stone dome and Buddha inside.

Walking towards the main entrance, there were some official information of the place.

Apparently this is a UNESCO site! Yay!

Going pass the main entrance, I didn't know quite what to expect. But it looked like a hike to get there. And some part looked uphill. I was a bit nervous how far or how steep the hike would be. I think my worst hike was at Kunisaki where it was just stones laid out up a steep hill just to see some stone Buddha carved into the rocks. I hope this hike wasn't anything like that!

It was a  beautiful day for a walk. The road, although sandy, was wide and easy to walk. The only problem I might have of it was, there was no fence or guide at the side, so you could accidentally fall down the cliff, lol. Plus, there were some soil corrosion at some area, so it kinda looked rather unstable if you walked too closed to the edge....

I like the colourful paper lanterns that lined the path all the way up to the hill.

Finally, after maybe 15 - 20 minutes easy walk, we reached the based on the temple, and from here onwards, it was just stairs all the way. It wasn't really that bad. Maybe just a 5 - 10 minutes climb. No sweat!

And right at the top, I saw this colourful cute house. I was wondering where the temple was, expecting something huge since it was a UNESCO site and all. Well, apparently, this was it. You walk inside the house, and inside is the stone dome, and underneath sat the stone Buddha. It was all very humbling, cause it was quite dark inside, and plain. No photos were allowed inside. The house outside was actually built to protect the stone structure from the weather elements from damaging it since it was such an old structure. Some of the people might have been disappointed that we aren't allowed to take photos inside, but our Korean Teacher said that beautiful things should only be kept inside our heart :)  

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Cherry Blossom Park and Lunch

After the visit to the Buddhist temple, we had to walk thru a part filled with cherry blossom to get to our lunch place. Above are a different type of cherry blossom. I personally prefer them in pink. 

 

Above is what the park looked like. It was like those scenes from Japan where people went to picnic under the cherry blossom with their family, friends or colleagues for a lovely 'hanami' session. This was what I've always imagined how it would be like. And it was amazing to see it with my own eyes here. Best of all, it wasn't even crowded!

These are the stairways that lead from the park to the carpark. I though it would be a great photo location spot.

I was mistaken. I looked nicer when taken with the traditional toilet building next to it :P

Walking to the nearby restaurant area was just as enjoyable as the streets were lined with cherry blossom trees. There were also pavilion build for people to rest at which added to the atmosphere of the place.

Here's us walking towards the restaurant.

There were sittings outside the restaurant too. Isn't it awesome to sit here and have a cup of tea or coffee underneath the cherry blossom tree? It was like something out of a photo. I'm starting to get why k-drama are always so dreamy and lovey-dovey! The environment here is just too lovely!

The restaurant where we had our lunch. We had already ordered in advance. It was a fusion restaurant. 

I ordered them bimbimbap, which is mixed rice. It comes as a set like what is shown here. I finished everything served. What a lovely meal!

After lunch, we walked back to the carpark where our bus was parked. I saw the above buddha information. This was the highlight attraction I wanted to see on  my trip to Gyeong-Ju, the stone dome where the old stone buddha can be found! I was excited to see it next!

Here is a cute logo of Buddha :P

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Bulguksa Temple

 

After the lake, we took a ride to our next attraction, which was Bulguksa Temple. Above is the front of the temple. It reminded me a bit of those Tibetan temple.

The building was super old, so most of the places were off limits to visitors. We can't really climb up to the main hall or anything, so we only took photos from below it.

The place was famous for the arch staircase shown above. I guess in ancient time, it was difficult to build anything arch-like. So this was a significant architectural achievement at that time.

Going up to the temple via a side stair ways lead us further into the temple.

Here are some official information of the place. 

There were lots of colourful paper lanterns decorating some part of the temple ground which made for a nice photo shot.

I kinda like the above ancient door with the two guardian on it. The colour was just so vibrant and fierce. 

Inside some of the temple. The pillars were made of wood. And the statue of Buddha inside.

But I was more fascinated by the old stone sculpture found outside. They looked so ancient, and so beautifully carved. The faded red wooden gate surrounding them made it looked even more aged. 

As all temples in Korea and Japan, you could also find the big bell here. 

And there was this lone cherry blossom tree in the middle of a crossroad which kinda stands out from the rest. I had to wait a while before I could get a shot of it with no one crowding around it.

Selfie of me and the colours of Buddhism :)