The Bruner Family Journey: A Glimpse At Korean History In Gyeongju

Woman checks her cell phone pictures in a field of flowers

We didn't have a lot of time in South Korea, but we wanted to visit at least one place other than Seoul. So we took a high-speed train down to Gyeongju in the southeast of the country.

Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom, which reigned for about 1,000 years. The kingdom was founded in the 1st century BCE and it ruled most of the Korean peninsula from from the 7th to the 9th centuries. In its heyday, Gyeongju was a very prosperous place known as far away as Persia and by some accounts the city's population approached one million. Today, it's a leading tourist destination for South Koreans.

Silla royal tombs

The city of Gyeongju and its surroundings offer a rich array of historic and cultural sights, set amongst a pretty landscape of flowers, forests and mountains. The town itself is dominated by a bizarre landscape of smoothly rounded, grass-covered earthen tombs of the Silla royalty and other important personages. The tombs are holy places, so I had to quell Jeremy's instinct to climb on them, although they did make for a nice game of hide-and-seek. When Jeremy asked why they buried their rulers in this way, I explained that the idea was similar to that of the pyramids in Egypt. Jeremy responded that he liked the pyramids more, because they were bigger and taller.

The Bulguksa Temple in the pouring rain

A short bus ride from town took us to the 8th century Bulguksa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site considered a masterpiece of Buddhist art and architecture from the Silla period. Given its national importance today, it's interesting to note that Bulguksa was not initially intended to be a major temple. The temple was originally founded in the year 535 by King Pob-hung, for the use of his queen to pray for the welfare of the kingdom. Prime Minister Kim Daeseong commenced construction of the present temple in the year 751 and dedicated it to his ancestors. As with many national relics in Korea, the temple was burnt to the ground by the Japanese in 1592. A major restoration project in the 1960s and '70s brought the temple back to its former architectural glory. The temple contains a slew of national artistic treasures and for the art historians in the crowd it's fun to note that the earliest woodblock print in the world was found here during the restoration work. Unfortunately, we visited the temple during a particularly intense wind-and-rain storm.

Seokguram Buddha (photo taken from the internet)

In the thickly wooded hills above the temple, Seokguram Grotto, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains an 8th century Buddha carved in granite. The design of the grotto is apparently based on the Indian tradition of carving Buddha images into, and out of, the walls of cliffs and caves. This practice made its way to China and then Korea. However, Korea's geology, which contains an abundance of hard granite, is not suitable for this type of stone carving. So, the Silla built an artificial grotto at Seokguram and the result is a unique set of Buddha images, in a gorgeous (if utterly blustery) natural setting. The grotto's small size suggests that it was used exclusively by the Silla royalty. Photographs are not allowed inside the grotto, so I pulled one from the internet.

Yangdong Folk Village

The area around Gyeongju also contains a host of lesser Buddhist monuments from the Silla period, including the beautifully restored Anapji Pond, which is great for a visit at sunset, especially if you want to spy on romantic young couples. About an hour outside of town, there is also a well-preserved 500-year old Korean folk village from the Joseon dynasty.

Unfortunately, many Buddhist relics and monuments were destroyed over the centuries, by invading Mongols and Japanese, and by neo-Confucian radicals. (I hate those wacky neo-Confucian radicals.) But there remains so much to see that Gyeongju has been called "the museum without walls." And archeological investigations in the early 20th century unearthed a wide array of artistic treasures, which are now housed in an actual museum with walls - the Gyeongju National Museum, one of the finest museums in Korea.

Sarang Chae Guesthouse

Even with all of the monumental sights of Gyeongju, perhaps our favorite thing about our stay here was the Sarang Chae Guesthouse. The guesthouse offers budget, hostel-like lodgings in a historic Korean house - the owners are incredibly friendly and the common areas are brimming with atmosphere. They only had two nights available, so for the third night we stayed in a mid-range hotel recommended by our Lonely Planet guidebook. Jeremy loved the huge flat screen TV with hundreds of channels and the computer (with free internet) in the room, and I appreciated the faux-Victorian furniture and the deluxe shower with water coming from all directions. But it was a bit of an odd experience - let's just say there were a lot of mirrors, scented lotions and heart-shaped motifs. Although they were very welcoming, it seems families with children are not their primary clientele.

At the end of our stay, Jeremy was glad that we came, but he also was ecstatic to get back to the rest of our family in Hong Kong. So for those of you who have been waiting patiently, there'll be pictures of Eden and Talia (but probably not me) in our next post.