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Ibike
Korea People-to-People Program
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 Photo essay: Gyeongju Tour
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Explore this ancient capital of
the Silla Empire.
Points of Interest: A bounty of national treasures: Tombs, temples, folk
village, national museum |
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 On the left workers prepare
to place live flowers on the "center piece" in front of the railroad station.
The structure is constructed with a drip irrigation system that goes to each
boxes so that the plants can be easily watered. The finished product is on the
right. |
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Because of protective
tariffs many bikes in Korea are domestically manufactures. Even "low cost"
imported Chinese bicycles are relatively expensive. The domestic bicycle industry produces
a little over a half million units a year (2003), but is expected to decline in
the future. (By comparison, the domestic
automobile industry produces over three million units a year (2003).) The lower
picture features rental bikes, including a tandem (bicycle for two), which are
very popular with young couples on the weekends. For more on
cycling see
www.ibike.org/engineering/kr-mnt/. |
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A woman vendor carrying her inventory
of snack bread on the racks of her bicycle. |
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Students flashing a friendly small
and the ubiquitous peace sign that seems to be required in all pictures for this
age group. It is worth noting the dress code: Besides uniforms for students,
hair is cut to shoulder length or shorter, and skirts are below the knees. |
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This bus shelter, with its extensive
route and system information is indicative of a transportation infrastructure
that make is fairly easy to get by without a car throughout Korea: The big
city like Seoul and Busan, have subway systems. There are commuter,
intercity, express and high speed trains to all regions of the country.
There is even more coverage by the bus system which has city buses, district
buses, regional buses and cross-country buses. On the coast there is an
extensive system of ferries serving hundreds of islands. We a combination
of these you can get to almost every village in the country. |
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Daereungwon Tomb Park: There are 23
large tombs here from the Kim Clan, reflecting the power and wealth of the royal
family of the Silla Dynasty. Each tomb has a story. One of the
engaging aspects of Korea is all along the road are signs and monuments with
legends and history spanning more than 2000 years. |
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 Cheomseongdae Observatory,
established by Queen Seondeok, is believe to be the oldest in the East. Among the fascination features are: the windows in the tower are
oriented perfectly north-south-east-west and the total number of blocks used to
construct the shell of the tower is the same as the number of days in a year on
the calendar of the time. The length of the top stone is half that of the
stylobate stone. |
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Seokbinggo Ice house built during the reign of
Yeongjo, the 21st king of the Joseon Dynasty. Ice has been stored in Korea since
the time of the Three Kingdoms Period. Unfortunately there is no
information on where the ice comes from. Did the workers mine it in the
mountains in winter and haul it to the city for a summer supply? |
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This is the head residence of the
Gyeongju Choe clan. Built around 1700, this residence comprises a gate
house, a "sarangchae" (men's living quarters), an "anchae" (women's living
quarters), a family shine and a storage house. It was around the middle of the
Joseon period that the Choe family moved t this region and enjoyed immense
prosperity. |
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The "anchae" is arranged in a square
with a courtyard at the center. In the foreground are the large
earthenware crocks which are use to store various types of kimchi (preserved
vegetables), ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (soybean paste), gochujang (red
pepper paste) and salt, the basic seasonings of Korean cuisine. |
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Samaso was a house where "saengwon"
and "jinsa" (gentry) taught Confucianism and discussed politics. It is not
certain when it was first built, but during the Japanese invasion (1592-98) it
was burnt down. |
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Inyongsa Temple Site: This site is
actively being excavation. The story is that the people built the temple to
honor Kim In-mun, a warrior and diplomat in the middle of the seventh century.
It is the only Shilla temple on record that was not established by Buddhist
monks or royalty, but by commoners. |
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Inyongsa Temple Site: The structure
of the temple is long gone but the stone relics on the site indicate that it was
a typical Unified Shilla temple with twin pagodas. |
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Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok-wang,
the largest bronze bell of its kind in Asia. The bell is commonly known as the
Emille Bell, a name derived from an ancient Shilla term, pronounced "Em-ee-leh",
which means "mommy". According to legend, the bell would not ring when it
was first cast. It was melted down and a little child thrown into the
molten metal as the head priest of the temple
was told to do in a vision. When the bell was recast and struck, it sounds
like the baby's cries of "Em-ee-leh" when the child was sacrificed. Gyeongju
National Museum |
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 The
hollow tube, which is believed to control the tone, the kneeling apsaras or
heavenly maidens, the four panels, each containing nine nipple-like protrusions,
and the lotus and grass designs are all typical of bells of the Unified Shilla
period. Gyeongju National Museum |
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 This
pagoda, on the grounds of the Gyeongju National Museum was built in 634, out of
andesite cut like brick. It was probably seven or nine stories at the time.
It was destroyed by the Japanese and rebuilt as a three story pagoda. A visit to
the museum is enhanced by multilingual descriptions of objects and diagrams of
the elements of objects, like the Names of Stone Stupa at the right. |
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This Buddha is part of a beautiful
collection of Buddha's, and 3000 other cultural object (gold, bronze,
earthenware, manuscripts, etc.) reflecting the Shilla culture at the Gyeongju
National Museum. It is a lot to take in at one time and deserves several
hours, but there is a snack bar on grounds so you can take a recess in the
middle. |
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 Imhaejeon Palace Site: The
palace was built in the reign of King Munmu who unified the Three Kingdoms.
Anapji Pond (right) is a man-made pond. Since the edges of the pool are
curved, the whole pond can't be seen from any one place. It is said that
the pond was created so as to make a small pond look like a wide sea. |
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Bunhwangsa Temple: The temple was
built in 634 and it is known as one of the seven best temples of the Shilla
Dynasty. The stone well (lower left corner of upper photo) is octagonal on the
outside, symbolizing the eight rightous teaching of Buddha, and cylindrical
inside, representing the truth of One Buddha. It is still used.
There is a legend that emissaries from Tang China visited Shilla in 795.
They changed three dragons who had been protecting the country into small fish
and took them to China. The next day, two women came to the king and
identified themselves as the wives of two dragons. They asked the king to
retrieve a dragon in the Bunhwangsa well and their husbands whom the emissaries
took. The king immediately sent his men to bring back the dragons and let
them live in the well, from where they protect the country. |
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Hwangnyongsa (temple)
was suppose to be a new palace, but while it was under
construction a yellow dragon appeared. Thus the plan for a new palace was changed to
a new temple (AD 553). It took 93 years to be completed. Later
during the Mongolian invasion (AD 1238) it was completely destroyed.
Excavation of the site from 1976-84, unearthed 40,000 relics. |
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 A common weekend activity
is to rent bike with a group of friends and tour the city, or go for a more
rural bike tour. Here a group of young
women (left) and nuns (left) are taking a bike tour of the cultural sites in Gyeongju. |
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 For the more
ambitious, there is a series of paths and sidewalks, or you can brave the roads,
that will get you out to Pulguksa, one of the major temples in the country, and
the royal temple during the Shilla Dynasty. The pagoda on the left is
suppose to have been built in 751. It has very unique architecture and
design elements that are found on pagodas in any other country. |
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 Nighttime is for sweets: This
bakery had a staff of ten on the evening shift and they were selling hwangnam
bread (cookies) hot out of the oven about as fast as they could make them. Hwangnam bread (cookies) are pastry
dough filled with sweet red bean paste. They are a specialty of Gyeongju. |
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On the left workers prepare
to place live flowers on the "center piece" in front of the railroad station.
The structure is constructed with a drip irrigation system that goes to each
boxes so that the plants can be easily watered. The finished product is on the
right.
Cheomseongdae Observatory,
established by Queen Seondeok, is believe to be the oldest in the East. Among the fascination features are: the windows in the tower are
oriented perfectly north-south-east-west and the total number of blocks used to
construct the shell of the tower is the same as the number of days in a year on
the calendar of the time. The length of the top stone is half that of the
stylobate stone.
The
hollow tube, which is believed to control the tone, the kneeling apsaras or
heavenly maidens, the four panels, each containing nine nipple-like protrusions,
and the lotus and grass designs are all typical of bells of the Unified Shilla
period. Gyeongju National Museum
This
pagoda, on the grounds of the Gyeongju National Museum was built in 634, out of
andesite cut like brick. It was probably seven or nine stories at the time.
It was destroyed by the Japanese and rebuilt as a three story pagoda. A visit to
the museum is enhanced by multilingual descriptions of objects and diagrams of
the elements of objects, like the Names of Stone Stupa at the right.
Imhaejeon Palace Site: The
palace was built in the reign of King Munmu who unified the Three Kingdoms.
Anapji Pond (right) is a man-made pond. Since the edges of the pool are
curved, the whole pond can't be seen from any one place. It is said that
the pond was created so as to make a small pond look like a wide sea.
A common weekend activity
is to rent bike with a group of friends and tour the city, or go for a more
rural bike tour. Here a group of young
women (left) and nuns (left) are taking a bike tour of the cultural sites in Gyeongju.
For the more
ambitious, there is a series of paths and sidewalks, or you can brave the roads,
that will get you out to Pulguksa, one of the major temples in the country, and
the royal temple during the Shilla Dynasty. The pagoda on the left is
suppose to have been built in 751. It has very unique architecture and
design elements that are found on pagodas in any other country.
Nighttime is for sweets: This
bakery had a staff of ten on the evening shift and they were selling hwangnam
bread (cookies) hot out of the oven about as fast as they could make them. Hwangnam bread (cookies) are pastry
dough filled with sweet red bean paste. They are a specialty of Gyeongju.