Friday I took advantage of my four hour lunch break and visited Karak Fish Market with the two of them. The fish market is actually part of a larger market which sells wholesale fruits, vegetables, and other goods. The entire market area is probably the dirtiest area I've seen in Seoul; in fact, it was vaguely reminiscent of the village bazaar in Kyrgyzstan. The fish market itself is a veritable aquarium, only remove most of the water and replace it with plastic baskets and ice blocks instead.
One of the old ladies selling fish randomly stopped Jihoon to tell him that she thought I was good-looking. Pretty bizarre.For lunch we decided to have, what else but, fish. Rather than get ripped off by the guy at the fish market, we went across the street to a more reasonably priced restaurant.
On Saturday, we ventured out of Seoul for a daytrip to the famed city of Gyeongju. This meant we had to wake up at 6 am to catch an 8:20 train. (Possible suspect for my stomach flu? Quite possibly.)
Man love (assuming the one on the bottom is, in fact, a man)
As I was ignorant of premodern Korean history, Janice had to inform me that Gyeongju was the capital of Korea for many years while the Silla Kingdom was dominant. Korea underwent a Three Kingdoms phase wherein it was divided into three kingdoms, Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje, until Silla united the three. Apparently the Silla period forms an indelible part of a Korean student's education, one reason why Gyeongju continues to be quite popular.
Our first stop was the Royal Tombs, in particular Chongma Chong. "Chongma Chong" essentially means "tomb of the heavenly horse," although I'm still not sure whether it was just a horse buried there or people as well. I think it's the latter. When our bus driver paid for our admission tickets, he kept insisting that Brian, Jihoon, Janice, Janice's cousin, and I were all high schoolers until we convinced him that we were actually college grads.
Entering Chongma Chong
The tomb was essentially a giant anthill covered in grass. Upon entering, we discovered that Koreans are masters of the replica. All of the artifacts inside were perfectly aged replicas of the actual artifacts which had been excavated in the tomb and taken to a museum.
All that tomb raiding made us hungry, so we stopped off for lunch and ordered some kalbitang (beef soup) and sundubu (first time in Korea, surprisingly). The little old lady working there kept encouraging Jihoon to eat, after all, she told him "you're a growing boy!" Except for the fact that he's twenty four and most likely not growing. Anyway, she brought a free bowl of rice for the "growing boy" and even adjusted the A/C to point directly at us. On our way out, she told Jihoon that she thought I was good-looking. So, in case you're keeping track:
Old ladies who have told me I'm good-looking: 2
Ladies my age (+/- 20 years) who have told me I'm good-looking: 0
I think I was born in the wrong century.
Next up was Cheomseongdae, the oldest observatory in East Asia. It was actually quite short, and seems to have derived its significance from being very old and from being built by Queen Seondeok, a prominent Silla queen. The tour guide tried to convince us that each of the 24 levels of the tower represented one part of each of the four seasons in much the same way he tried to convince us that Korea is currently the most scientifically advanced nation, but we were having none of it. He also told us that the tower was unusually short considering how tall the Silla people were, which might have been noteworthy had the tour guide at Chongma Chong not explained to us that although the Silla people buried large shoes, crowns, and clothes in their tombs, their bodies were actually quite small.
All that tomb raiding made us hungry, so we stopped off for lunch and ordered some kalbitang (beef soup) and sundubu (first time in Korea, surprisingly). The little old lady working there kept encouraging Jihoon to eat, after all, she told him "you're a growing boy!" Except for the fact that he's twenty four and most likely not growing. Anyway, she brought a free bowl of rice for the "growing boy" and even adjusted the A/C to point directly at us. On our way out, she told Jihoon that she thought I was good-looking. So, in case you're keeping track:
Old ladies who have told me I'm good-looking: 2
Ladies my age (+/- 20 years) who have told me I'm good-looking: 0
I think I was born in the wrong century.
Next up was Cheomseongdae, the oldest observatory in East Asia. It was actually quite short, and seems to have derived its significance from being very old and from being built by Queen Seondeok, a prominent Silla queen. The tour guide tried to convince us that each of the 24 levels of the tower represented one part of each of the four seasons in much the same way he tried to convince us that Korea is currently the most scientifically advanced nation, but we were having none of it. He also told us that the tower was unusually short considering how tall the Silla people were, which might have been noteworthy had the tour guide at Chongma Chong not explained to us that although the Silla people buried large shoes, crowns, and clothes in their tombs, their bodies were actually quite small.
For our third stop, we visited a lake whose name I'm not sure I ever learned. Apparently, archaeologists found numerous artifacts preserved within the mud of the lake, which helped them to "reimagine" the former settlement overlooking the lake.
Look again at the structure two pictures up. Surprise! It's a replica too. Apparently the original wood structures burned down, so people were hired to rebuild a few buildings. For the tourists' sake of course.
Following the lake of replicas, we visited a museum... where we found even more replicas! We did manage to find some originals mixed in as well. Take, for instance, the bell below. Apparently, it emits such a pure sound because a young Korean child was melted into the bell. Urban legend? Perhaps.
The antler crown found at Chongma Chong (real, not a replica)
A common Silla symbol for fertility, the embryo... so did they have a knowledge of what an embryo looked like?
The city of Gyeongju in its prime (replica style, of course)
Finally, after a long day of sightseeing, we decided to have some fun for our last stop- by visiting Buddhaland!
The temple's name actually translates to "Land of Buddha" or something, referring back to the days when Korea was a primarily Buddhist nation. Buddhaland was probably the grandest sight of the day.
The temple's name actually translates to "Land of Buddha" or something, referring back to the days when Korea was a primarily Buddhist nation. Buddhaland was probably the grandest sight of the day.
The tower of masculinity
These kids were sliding down the national treasure!
Jihoon, spreading swine flu
The three hour train ride back to Seoul
Janice and her gangsta cuzIn other news, my stomach has returned after a long absence.
nice! man, this is definitely a historian's blog.
ReplyDeleteand w/ cousin kim!
I've been to most of these tourist spots actually... I remember the water in that well being the best water I've ever drank.
ReplyDeleteJihoon being mistaken for a growing boy is the best part, even getting free rice (as if white rice had any nutritional value...). He's the real eggi!!!
1. the tomb is called the "heavenly horse tomb" because of the painting of a flying horse on a saddle that was discovered in that tomb. the tomb was for humans obviously :P we saw the replica of that saddle, and the real one is in the national museum in seoul.
ReplyDelete2. the pond's name was ahnapji
:)