Ibike Korea People-to-People Program
   
 

   

Photo essay: Ganggu to Gyeongju
    (43mi, 70km) Cycle along the highway, using secondary when practical.
Points of Interest: Paleontology museum, Marine Corps Memorial, folk village / museum near Angang
  Fishing with rod and bait Fishing with rod and bait is a popular past time.
  live crab in an aquarium Live crab in an aquarium.  South of the "squid cost" is the "crab cost".  Here the "hoe" (fresh fish) tanks are filled with crab.
  Korean convenience / package store Korean convenience / package store with drinks and snacks.  Rarely this bright and spacious, this is the most common kind of shop and the country.  In almost every village there is a store selling bags of crisp something's and bottles of carbonated drinks.
  Korean coffee shop Korean coffee bar.  Perhaps the second most common kind of  business around the country is the coffee shop.  These seem to be more common that restaurants.  This is where friends meet and pass the time.  The are often quite smoky.
  Korean fast food restaurant Korean fast food restaurant; soups, stews, rice rolls, noodles.  Restaurants are usually quite specialized: Juk (porridge) restaurants, samgyetang (chicken) restaurants, noodle restaurants, hoe (sliced fish) restaurants, mandu (dumpling) restaurants, grilled meat restaurants, etc.
  United States Marine Corps and Republic of Korea Marine Corps Monument, commemorating the defense, and those lost in the defense  of the Busan Perimeter in 1950.
  Tombs of Naengsu-ri Tombs of Naengsu-riTombs of Naengsu-ri.  These ancient tombs are believed to have been made in the first half of the 6th century.  They are suppose to be the largest tombs south of the Han River (Seoul).  They are 7m in height and 25m in diameter.  In this area there are over 100 tombs.  Archeologists excavated 400 relics from these three tomb in 1990-91, including gold and silver rings, silver belt, earthenware, made between the early 6th and the early 7th century.
  Apple orchard Water reservoirApple orchard.

Water reservoir.
  Yangdong Folk Village

Pre-school students on an outing to learn about their heritage

 Tile roofed house, Yangdong Folk VillageYangdong Folk Village is extensive, well preserved and naturally beautiful.  It was a village of noblemen.  The whole village is a cultural asset.  150 houses have been preserved.  Because it was inside the Busan Perimeter it was not damaged during the invasion by North Korea.  One of unique characteristics of the village is it seem to be more up in the hills than most contemporary villages. Traditionally tile roofed house (upper right) were forThatched house at Yangdong Folk Village the wealthier and thatch roofed house (lower right) were for the lower income.

Koreans are very interested in the folk villages and frequent them as families, school groups and on dates.  On one visit we met pre-school students on an outing to learn about their heritage at Yangdong Folk village.
  Stone cutterThe yard of the stone cutter with examples of lanterns, animal figures, gracefully shaped rocks -- ready for purchase and to be placed in your garden.

On the right is a stone cutter at work.
  lineman works on the telephone lines from trapeze high rise residential apartment blocksA lineman works on the telephone lines from trapeze suspended above the road.

An island of high rise residential apartment blocks in the distance announces that we are nearing Gyeongju.
  Three parallel non-motorized facilities have been built in the flood plain Gyeongju sits next to a river.  Three parallel non-motorized facilities have been built in the flood plain at Gyeongju.  The one near the river is designated for walkers, the path to the right of it is for inline skaters and the third is a bicycle path.  There are also bike/ped facilities at street level.
  Gyeongju City Library Students practicing basketballGyeongju City Library

In the park near the library students practicing basketball
  McDonald's, South Korea KFC and "PC Bank" (Internet Cafe), South KoreaMcDonald's; note the roof line has some character of Korean architecture (left). KFC and "PC Bank" (Internet Cafe) (right)
  Pizza Hut and New Balance Store, South Korea Pizza Hut and New Balance Store.

Fortunately there is more to Gyeongju than its suburbs would indicate.  The next day we spent exploring the roots of Gyeongju.
     
 

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