경주 (Gyeongju)

Last weekend we were able to get out of Seoul and head four hours southeast to Gyeongju.

We took a spacious bus and really enjoyed the ride - the scenery was amazing, the enormous reclining seats were unbelievably comfortable, there was a lack of other passengers (5 total including us), and we had two new books in hand.
We arrived at our hotel, The Daemyong Resort (Location:35°50'42.32"N 129°17'5.24"E) and were extremely pleased. The hotel was right on the water of the Bomun Lake. This view is from our hotel window (opposite the lake).
After doing a little touring of the Bomun Lake area we headed to the downtown area to see a few historical sites.
As we have done our entire time in Korea, we took the good old reliable public transportation. In trying to find 첨성대 (Cheomseongdae-more on that to come), we stumbled upon a nice parade certainly worthy of our humble attention.
After watching the parade, we picked up a Gyeongju treat - aptly named Gyeongju bread (or Hwangnam bread). It is basically a small round pastry filled with red bean paste. The ten we purchased were quickly consumed.
We followed the street signs to Cheomseongdae (The 31st National Treasure of Korea). Cheomseongdae is the oldest standing astronomical observatory in east Asia. Being the fans of Astronomy that we are, this was a must see (Loc: 35°50'4.53"N 129°13'8.73"E).

Near the observatory were some ancient tombs which were pretty incredible to see. You can actually see them on Google Earth if you look at the location of Cheomseongdae.
Another stop we made was to Anapji (언압지) Pond (Loc: 35°50'3.69"N 129°13'38.08"E).
This is an artificial pond that was ordered to be built in the 7th century by King Munmu. Interestingly, King Munmu's tomb is an underwater tomb. He asked to be buried underwater in order to become a Dragon and continue to protect his people.

Following some more walking and checking out different sites, we decided it was time to take the bus back to get ready for dinner. Thinking we were on the correct bus, heading the right direction, we sat down and began our longer than expected city tour. This was indeed one of the buses that could eventually take us back to our hotel. However, we basically had to travel the entire route, including the main station where we ended up locked on the bus for 15 minutes because of some awkward communication with the bus driver (He apparently said last stop, and then looked at us strangely through the mirror as he pulled into the main bus station. After showing him our map of where we want to go, he laughed, nodded, then locked the doors to the bus and went inside the main terminal for 15 minutes). As reliable as ever, the bus did get us back to our intended destination.

At the hotel we were able to enjoy a lovely dinner and watch our wedding DVD.
Our favorite place of the trip was the Bulguksa (불국사) Temple (Loc: 35°47'23.76"N 129°19'54.00"E). This is an old Buddhist temple and is home to seven of Korea's National Treasures. It was such a beautiful place especially with all of the fall colors.




This area of the temple we found very interesting. It had thousands and thousands of rocks stacked on top of each other. It is a tradition to make a stack of rocks, or stack on to someone else's pile. Every stack represents a wish or prayer.
Here is our prayer
If someone stacks on top of your stack, legend says it will have a higher probability of coming true (not sure what it means when you knock someone's stack over...yikes).

We then made our way to Baskin Robbins for a snack before our bus ride home.
This memorable trip was the perfect way to celebrate our First Anniversary.