Gyeongju: All journeys have secret destinations....

The sights which we covered in Gyeongju can be classified into three main categories:

1. Buddhism related: Bulguksa, one of South Korea's largest Buddhist temples; and Seokguram, a famed Buddhist shrine.

2. Shilla kingdom related: the Royal Tomb Complex, Cheomseongdae observatory (pictured above), Anapji royal pond garden, Gyerim forest, Gyeongju National Museum, royal tomb of Queen Seon Deok and tomb of General Kim Yu-Shin.

3. Joseon dynasty related: Yangdong Folk Village.

Some of the sights, particularly Bulguksa and Gyeongju National Museum, were packed with students. Bus loads of excited energetic students from all over Korea on their excursions to Gyeongju.

It was at the information booth of Bulguksa that we met YS, a solitary traveler from Singapore. YS has traveled to many countries. Like a walking Wiki, he was able to spew detailed information about the places he had visited or about to visit, off the top of his head. He is also good at reading maps, very helpful when we went to Yangdong Village.

Yangdong Village dates to the Joseon Dynasty, and is a fine example of the yangban (Korean aristocracy) lifestyle and Neo-Confucian traditions. Descendants of the founding Son clan still live here. The size, degree of preservation, numerous cultural assets, traditionalism, beautiful natural setting make this a worth while visit, despite its distance from downtown Gyeongju.

I am biased towards everything related to Shilla because of the TV drama series. A mound of tomb could mean very different when there is a story behind it, fabricated or not.

Many Shilla sites are located in Gyeongju National Park, among them the Royal Tomb Complex, the Cheomseongdae observatory, the Anapji royal pond garden and the Gyerim forest.

The Royal Tomb Complex is dotted with several unexcavated tombs and one open tomb (Cheonma-chong). Inside Cheonma-chong (Tomb of Heavenly Horse) is a small exhibition hall showing replicas of artifacts excavated from the tomb.

For some reason, I never like to visit museums. But I did enjoy the mini-exhibition at Cheonma-chong and the Shilla collection at the Gyeongju National Museum. Why? The guides made a huge difference. They are volunteer guides, most of them at a stage in their lives where they have the choice to do something they enjoy. Their enthusiasm often come through, in the form of additional supplemental information, related stories, or even their own learning and research. Our guide in Gyeongju National Museum is very interested in Shilla history and is a great story teller. As she moved from one exhibit to the next, she led us to make deductions about what the artifacts are trying to tell us, just like a drama unfolding. Now the exhibits are no longer dead objects, they have a good story to tell. YS visited Gyeongju National Museum separately and when we exchanged notes later, I realize that although we may have seen the same exhibits, we took away vastly different experiences.

The Cheomseongdae (meaning star-gazing tower) is an astronomical observatory built during the reign of Queen Seon Deok. The significance of its structure and the events leading to its construction were told in the TV drama. It may not look anything out of the world in this space and age, but the thought that this is an object that connects me with people who lived some thousand years ago, that is unfathomable.

We ran into a group of university students from Daegu as we walked through the forest towards Anapji pond. Among them a Mr. Kim(!), who had spent a year in Xi’an as an exchange student, came up to talk to us. A very friendly decent Mr. Kim, so full of promise and sunshine. My travel-mate Ms. Kim and student Mr. Kim had a long and seemingly interesting exchange in the forest. To this day, he is still referred to as the nice student Kim.

A lot of information is available on the internet for each of the sights which we visited in Gyeongju. It is also possible to do a virtual tour of them. But being physically present, one is able to imbibe, through every pore, all that the moment has to offer.