Gyeongju

Whew, it is HUMID here. And I don’t think we’re into the worst of it. I don’t think we’re even close to the worst of it. It takes a good 2 days for wet laundry to dry, and forget about your fluffy bath towel, because by the time that dries, it smells nasty. The dehumidification setting on our air system works about as well as anything else here. I went to go riding last week and had to put my bike bag, which sits open, dry, on top of my bike, in open air, into the washing machine because it was covered in fuzzy and green-spotty MOLD. Yummy. Coincidentally (isn’t it ironic), a co-worker who’s lived in Korea for a while emailed us all that evening about mold, that ‘twas the season, and that there’s a good industrial-strength product available. I got to cleaning my apartment thoroughly yesterday, and was really afraid of what I’d find, but the bike bag was, oddly, the worst of it. That I found. There was a little layer under the rim of my bed frame, but other stuff was pretty much okay. I’ll be purchasing said product, regardless. And we should get a fine crop of mold in our hallway, where we have a permapuddle due to a leak, and it never fully dries out. We notified them when the leak first spouted a month or so ago, but apparently there’s a big long list of problems ahead of that. Like the mountainsides sliding down. Like the huge new sinkholes. Like people’s flooded apartments. And they seem to think that throwing plastic over things (mountainsides, rooftops) will solve the problems. Yep.

In other news of moisture, we were all good and wet five minutes into our soccer game tonight. I still suck, and am not exactly the person you pass the ball to when you have a choice, but at least I’m getting better at getting in the other team’s way. Woohoo! I look good in the uniform, which is the most important thing.

Okay, so the next adventure I have to report on is a four-day trip to Gyeongsangbuk-do, in southeastern Korea, from July 3-6. We focused on the Gyeongju area, which is chock full of cultural goodness. I met up with 4 coworkers (we were 2 US, 1 Canadian, 1 Aussie, 1 Serbian) for a 6:16 am train in the neighboring town, and embarked on our taxi-train-subway-subway-bus 71/2 hour trip. The public transportation here, as previously lauded, is pretty cheap. The deluxe buses will run into the W20,000-W30,000 range, but they’re pretty cushy, and that’s usually for at least a four-hour ride. It may take forever to get not very far on the trains and local buses (even the express ones; there are lots of mountains to go over and around), but at least ya don’t go broke. Tourist sites, too, are usually really cheap, as in under W2,500, although they occasionally run up to W4,000.

We experienced morning rush-hour subway traffic in Seoul (people just don’t look where they’re going here; it’s really peculiar), got directions from a monk, saw a cool bathroom at the reststop on the bus route, were approached by a man with an eye-patch about his hotel, had a downright awful lunch that included kimchi past its prime and part of a plastic bag in Matt’s soup, I was handed my change lefthandedly (UNHEARD OF!) at a convenience store, and the day just got weirder.

After settling on a hostel-motel combo (3 pals in a hostel room and a motel room for the couple) and our bad lunch, we went to hike Namsan, in the southern part of the city. The mountain trails are loaded with side paths to relics of all kinds: shrines, statues, pagodas…you name it. We were a bit mismatched as a group as far as our enthusiasm to cover territory, but we started off well, enjoying the beauty of the place and the many cultural and natural wonders we discovered. Not too far in, however, one of our guys took a fall crossing some rocks, which was terrifying to watch—and yet could have been MUCH worse. He was a bit banged and scraped up, and our other guy (boyscout!) whipped out his first aid kit. We soldiered on after a rest, but Stu realized that he was worse off than he’d thought and needed to turn back.

So, after some discussion, he, Alex (his girlfriend), and Susan (who was to be leaving EV after the trip and was exhausted from packing and goodbye-ing) headed back, and Matt (who was on his second trip to the area, specifically to do this hike) and I continued on. Fortunately, both Alex and I had cell phones, so we could keep in touch when the signal allowed (Stu felt better later, better the next day, then worse…and back at EV was finally dragged to the doctor, where it was determined that he had indeed cracked a rib. Ouch).

Matt and I saw some great Buddha statues, carvings, and shrines, plus a coupla pagodas, stunning views, and ever-changing landscapes, and we were on the same page of appreciation of it all. We even got to do some climbing and descending via steep rocks using knotted ropes, so we felt all rugged and mountainy. We finished just as dusk was setting in, and were given a ride back to the starting point (to meet our peeps, who had finally arrived at the base and were having dinner across the street) by a woman whom we’d asked if we could catch a taxi at the end of her road. Her son came with us in the van, and it was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to him that week. We’re not too common in the outlying areas, as I’ve mentioned before.

We all taxied back to our lodgings, then went in search of good eats. We passed on our original idea, as Stu wasn’t up for sitting on the floor, and ended up finding a new (“Grand Open!”) brewpub under a hotel across the street from our terrible lunching establishment. En route, we distinctly smelled burning marijuana—which just doesn’t happen in this country. Or so we thought…

So, we’re all psyched to have found this big microbrewery, which looks pretty much as you’d expect one to back home. We order up some pizza and beer, the latter of which arrives in cool big bottles with molded pewter handles and tops. The “live” music kicks in: a guy playing his guitar and singing Korean tunes to backup tracks. When he’s finished with his set, a female vocal trio and a guy on keyboards play, and they’re pretty darned good. They mostly sing western pop songs from the 70’s and 80’s, and we enjoy singing along (more loudly later in the evening when we’re well beer-steeped and they get into the 90’s). The guy, when he solos, has got the BeeGees NAILED. We are blown away. It was hilarious and impressive all at once.

Partway into their first set, a bunch of guys and a woman come in and sit at a table in our section of the restaurant, and it clearly is not their first stop. Soon after, one of the guys goes up to the band to make a request, and I notice that he’s got the quintessential gay man’s walk, which I point out to my table on his return trip. Soon after, two of the other men hit the dance floor and start groping each other. They’re the only two people on the dance floor, so discretion has no role in the scenario, and it only gets worse. Now, this would be a little much in the US, and that’s coming from a gal who’s been in the theatre for a good long while, but here, it was completely unusual. And Alex, our Serbian woman, had never even witnessed a mild example of homosexual behavior, as it just doesn’t exist aboveground in her homeland. She was…awed. And we had a gay man in our party, which added to the fun of our commentary and speculations.

Oh, my. So, we’re pretty much riveted in the train-wreck kind of way, as it’s just so painfully unsexy and randomly weird. And then another party of two sits near us, and one of them is obviously trans-something-or-other, the other is male, and they’re not just friends. Later, another bunch of men come in, but we couldn’t determine much before we left beyond that they were a little too-well dressed for a Monday night out with the guys. And the handsome waiters, who we’d noticed might have been made up a little, had been spotted primping with great care in the bathroom. During all of the repeat episodes on the dance floor, the band really didn’t seem all that phased, although certainly not encouraging. At any rate, we were pretty sure that we’d stumbled upon a full-fledged gay/trans-everything establishment. Matt told me how to ask “Is this a gay bar?” because he didn’t want to do it, so asked the owner on the way out, who without hesitation matter-of-factly said “yes.” I thought he’d at least be surprised that the question came from little ol’ me. Off the random scale.

We finally tore ourselves away from the scene and Matt, Susan and I settled into our slumber party room, where we reviewed the strangeness of the day. We roomed well together, alternating bathroom shifts, sleeping decently, and getting out the next morning 45 minutes after we’d gotten up. We scoped out the bus info for their return trip that afternoon (they were all returning to work on Wed, whereas I had gotten Wed/Thurs off and was staying for further exploration), put our bags in lockers, and went out for a western breakfast at a hotel, fully appreciating that we were having it on the 4th of July.

We started our walking tour (it was raining and continued to do so all day), and Stu and Alex caught up with us around 11am. We wandered through the Noseo-dong tumuli, which are Silla tombs built between the 4th and 5th centuries AD. They are basically gigantic, grass-covered mounds, the largest of which, Bonghwadae, measured 22m high and 200m around. Kings were buried in coffins, with goodies for the afterlife, in a wooden room, covered with literally tons of stones, then earth. Given the value of the riches buried, these tombs would be pretty tempting for thieves—but to try to pillage from the base would mean getting buried by the rocks sliding down, and going in from the top would be awfully conspicuous. Aha.

After a stop at a Buddhist temple where a service was taking place, we crossed yet another street into Tumuli Park for, you guessed it, more tumuli. The greenness of these huge tombs and of the park, and especially in the rain, is quite beautiful. One of the tombs, Cheonmachong, has been excavated and preserved as a cross-sectioned exhibit, which is pretty cool. We wandered through that park, and then Stu and Alex left to find lunch and head back to Paju. Matt, Susan and I had more territory to cover, though, so we continued on to Wolseong Park.

The most notable object of sightseeing lust in the park is Cheomseongdae, the oldest astrological observatory in the Far East. Its design is impressively sophisticated, but it just looks like a big stone chimney. The park was wonderfully peaceful and lush (it was still raining, and our feet were soaked, but it was warm enough that we were comfortable. Once your feet are wet through, they’re not going to get any wetter, so ya may as well aim for the puddles).

On the other side of the park was the site of Banwolseong, which was once a big fortress. Now it’s the site of the former fortress…basically more park, with one remaining fortressy structure: Seokbinggo, or “Stone Ice House,” built into a hillside, which was used for ice and food storage. Nifty.

The next almost-adjacent park was Anapji Pond, which King Munmu constructed in 674. It’s since been rebuilt and the pond drained (they found thousands of relics in 1975) and repaired, but it’s breathtakingly beautiful. We took a leisurely walk around and understood why it is a popular spot for wedding photos—it certainly reminded me of Binney Park at home.

Next on our agenda was the other place Matt was returning to see: the Gyeongju National Museum. It is huge, has lovely outdoor artifacts (including Emille Bell, one of the largest and most resonant in Asia), is well-designed as a whole and exhibit-by-exhibit, had better English signage than most places, and we could have spent far more time there than the hour that we did. Instead, we moved on to our last stop: Bunhwangsa, the oldest datable pagoda in Korea (mid 7thc). It’s made of brick, which is rare, and only 3 of the original 9 tiers remain. Carvings of stone lions and Buddhist guardians are found on each side.

After squeezing in that last sight, we grabbed a taxi back to the express bus terminal, where I left Matt and Susan and caught a bus for what I thought would be a quick ride—turned out to be 45 minutes---to Bugulksa, an amazing temple on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage list. Lonely Planet describes it as “the crowning glory of Silla temple architecture,” and it truly is a magnificent place. The landscapes are gorgeous, the buildings are beautifully painted and constructed, the pagodas are unique and especially revered, and there is a special aura pervading the grounds. Lots of stuff here gets ‘national treasure’ status. LP warned that it gets crazily crowded, but as it was a weekday during rainy season near to closing time, I had it to myself, except for sightings of about 4 other tourists and the monks. It was pouring, POURING rain, but that added to the mystique of the experience. My umbrella’s demise, on the other hand, didn’t add so much mystique…

Not realizing how long the trip to the temple was, I was also going to check out a nearby grotto, also on UNESCO’s WCH list, but I ran out of time and planned to come back the next day. I noted a folk craft village en route and decided that it would be the perfect addition to my itinerary to make the trip back worth the time and effort. So, I caught a bus back near to the terminal, wandered around in search of one restaurant that I couldn’t find and then another that was closed, brought my stuff to eyepatch man’s hotel and checked in. I asked him where I could get a delicious meal, and he pointed me down the block for a W3,000 meal. They had no menu, so I said “W3,000?” which is apparently the password, and I was brought a tray of rice, soup, and 7 side dishes: greens, noodles, kimchi, lotus root, cucumbers, daikon and bean curd. Woohoo!

I grabbed some chocolate chip cookies and beer at a convenience store on the corner, then went to the hotel. My little room had no sink (but a shower setup that works almost as well; it’s as if your sink is on the floor with the shower) but did have a desk fan, which I pointed on full blast on my shoes for the night—which did the trick! Oh, happy dry shoes!

I got up and out early on Wednesday, put my stuff in a locker at the bus terminal, and went back to Seokguram Grotto. I opted for the hike up the mountain instead of the shuttle, as it was a nice day (!) and the shuttle wasn’t due for another 15 minutes. It was magically misty and beautiful, and again not crowded, and I was up, going at a fast pace, in 45 minutes. The grotto is a big deal because the Sakyamuni Buddha and the surrounding guardians/deities are all considered masterpieces (so much so, that now they’re behind glass--rare in Korea), and getting all that rock up the mountain from far-away quarries was quite an accomplishment.

All that said, it was pretty anti-climactic to hike all the way up there, pay W4,000, walk another 15 minutes, look through the glass (the grotto’s entrance is about 3m wide), and go. I rode the shuttle back down and had a good chat with two Koreans who’d been living in California for 40 years; they were back visiting family and hadn’t been to this part of the country in decades.

With a bit of hassle from a bus driver who said he did indeed and would stop at the craft village, but then drove past it and had to be convinced to let me off, which he finally did two far-apart stops later, and then catching another bus back…I made it to the folk craft village. If I had tons of money, that’s where I’d spend it. I bought a bunch of souvenirs, drooled over the pottery and jewelry, watched a guy throw an urn (on the pottery wheel), and finally tore myself away.

Back to the center of Gyeongju for lunch across from the bus terminal (teok beokki—spicy noodles, tofu, egg, veggies), and a stop to buy some unique Gyeongju bread (Hwandang Bang: almost a pastry, filled with a red bean / slightly sweet concoction; barley bread is also famous) to bring back to EVers, then onto an intercity bus to Daegu, an hour west. I took the subway from that bus station to another (this subway system sells little plastic tokens that you purchase according to the distance you’ll be traveling; you swipe it on the way in and then deposit it on the way out—most trains work this way, but with tickets or T-Cards), then caught another bus to go to Haeinsa, an UNESCO World Heritage temple in Gayasan National Park.

It was quite a trip to get there, but worth it. For some reason, my bus didn’t stop at the entrance, but it was a downhill walk in the rain…until the entrance, after which it was more uphill to the site… Trust me when I say that schlepping a big bag of worldly goods up a zillion steps to a temple will make you feel like a schmuck. Especially when you’re planning on spending the night there. Yep. Note to self: do the templestay BEFORE buying a load of souvenir ceramics.

Haeinsa is a temple of the Hwaom (Avatamsaka) sect (don’t ask me what that means), founded in 802, and it is where the Tripitaka Koreana (over 80,000 wooden blocks on which are inscribed the comprehensive written collection of Buddhist scriptures and doctrines) are enshrined. Pretty cool. That part was under construction, but you could see part of it and get the idea.

I found the dorm area (one room for men and one for women) and had just missed dinner (good thing that lunch was filling and late!), but found an English-speaking monk-in-training who got me to the 7pm prayers, which were preceded by awesome outdoor drumming on the huge temple drum (the first time I’d actually seen/heard one played) by the monks (using their full wingspan), and on the wooden fish and gong and bell. Most excellent sounds!

The service was a classical one (like I’d know the difference) in the main hall (of the Vairocana Buddha, dontcha know), and after a few minutes, all the monks filed in and knelt on their mats. I had been helped to place mine properly by the two women who made room for me between them, and I clumsily followed them in the rituals. I still have to figure up how to gracefully get myself up from kneeling without using my hands…they curled their toes under and got their weight back over their feet (up and down, up and down, up and down, repeat endlessly—or so it seemed to my knees and self-consciousness). The monks were out after 15 or 20 minutes, a few layfolks left with them, and I left after half an hour. Several people were still at it, and I’m not sure how long the priest continued.

I wandered the grounds until just after dark, then went back to the dorm to set up my bedding (on the floor) and hit the latrine (a wooden building near the dorms with rows of wooden stalls of squat latrines—the air-freshening system was pretty good) and the washroom (across from the dorms) before lights out and 9pm. I limited my water intake in hopes of not having to trek out in the middle of the night, but was unsuccessful, alas. At least it had stopped raining. I didn’t sleep all that well…partially because of the floor, partially because of noise outside the dorm—which surprised me; I expected holy silence after 9—and partially because of a fly that would not leave me alone. So then I started having deep thoughts about whether or not one ought to kill a fly at a monastery. Ought one? How frowned upon might that, in fact, be? Indeed.

My watch alarm went off at 3:10am, so that I’d wake up for the 3:30 service. No one else was getting up, though (there were about 10 of us), so I thought I might be mistaken about the schedule. I stayed in bed, but one other woman got up, and when I heard the drumming begin, I figured she wasn’t just going to the latrine after all. I opted to try the service in the other building, and I guess it was more contemporary. I got to the hall, and there was no one to be seen, but it was clearly set up for a service, and I had seen people (monks and layprayers) there the day before, so I went in and brought a mat to the far side of the room. When the drumming stopped, the monks filed in from outside, past me and to their mats closer to the altar, and the priest came out from behind a curtained off area. No other anybody, let alone foreigners. Eeeek! They probably got a kick out of blondie in the back. The service lasted about 40 minutes (my knees were keeping time) and I left a few minutes after the monks filed out, even though the priest was still at it.

I was surprised that so few people got up for the service, since, I thought, that was kind of the point (if not a condition) of visiting overnight. Hmmm.

I went back to bed for almost 2 more hours of almost sleep before breakfast. I went to the big dining hall (with shrine), divided for the monks on one side and visitors on the other. We also got our food from a separate line, on metal trays (upon which metal chopsticks make a most institutional racket). I followed everyone else for the (otherwise) silent meal. It was basic, but fresh and good: rice, grits (!), cold soup, kimchi turnips, greens and lentils. I was careful not to take much of anything I wasn’t sure of (mostly in terms of seasoning), since I suspect one should finish one’s meal at that kind of establishment…too bad those beans were undercooked…I figured I (and quite possibly my fellow bus passengers) would be paying for that later…

It seemed to be acceptable to lay down again, so I did for another hour before showering and exploring the the site and its immediate setting for 2 ½ hours. There were many buildings and different shrines and surrounding hermitages (and many gardens, which I’m sure supplied our meal). There were very few tourists, and zero foreigners to be found. I would have loved to have gone hiking, but there weren’t enough people around in general to go it alone, and I didn’t really have enough time, anyway. So I headed back the way I came, intending to stop at the museum I’d passed on the way in, but it was apparently closed on Tuesdays, so I went straight for the bus. I got on at 11:30, and 3 subway lines, 2 more buses and 8 ½ hours later, I was back at EV (on one of the Seoul subway lines I met a Korean-American girl, Edna, who was doing research for her Harvard social anthropology thesis, even).

All in all, a good round of touring! I’ll be happy with what I’ve seen here by the time I leave. Back at EV, nothing to unusual beyond the standard hassles, and everyone wants to know how I’ve gotten so much vacation time. Hah! I’m around for over a week this time, to witness the sinking and sliding of campus, before I leave on Monday…for Thailand! I have 12 days in a row off, so will have a full 11 there…if I’m lucky, I’ll also get to Angor Wat in Cambodia and/or Luang Prabang in Laos. Wheeeeeeee! So it’ll be a while before I write again, in case you’re actually caught up and want more (mom).

Check out the photo links for Jeju and Gyeongju!