Gyeongju is the ancient capital of the Silla Dynasty and is a very historical Korean city. I went to visit Gyeongju with my friend Walker on the weekend.
I went through a service call Couchsurfing.org, where you can find free accommodation by staying with hosts in that city. Our Couchsurfing host was an American English teacher named Erik. He showed up around all the places to see in Gyeongju. He was an excellent host and took us to some of his favorite places in town.
Eating Paijan- a Korean egg/vegetable/seafood pancake
Pictured (l-r): Erik, Walker, Me
Late night eats - Raw beef with Asian Pears
Gyeongju is known as the museum without walls and has many tombs to honor past royalty. These tombs are done in the style of giant burial mounds
Gyeongju is home to East Asia's oldest observatory: Cheomseongdae. Scientists were looking at stars from Cheomseongdae as far back at the 7th Century.
We cycled around Gyeongju and looked at some more historical places. I brought Gretta (my bike).
An ancient bar of kings. This was said to be a well of constantly running soju (alcohol).
Finally, we finished our visit with a hike to the top of a nearby mountain to overlook the ancient capital of Gyeongju
Seokguram Grotto was completed in 774. Located outside of the ancient capital of the Silla dynasty in Gyeongju, Seokguram Grotto is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Inside the Grotto is a carved stone Buddha. It is 3.5 meters in height and sits on a 1.34 meter tall lotus pedestal. However, it was behind glass and as tourists you are not supposed to take a picture of it. The Buddha itself was quite beautiful. The carving was so detailed you could see the texture of its rippled cloth. It looked so lifelike that it felt like it could just open its eyes at any moment. Unfortunately I don't have any of my own photos but here is a picture from Wikipedia:
Bulguksa Temple was built in year 774. Bulguksa translates
to “The Temple of the Buddha land.” Bulguksa is outside of the historic city of Gyeongju, the ancient capitol of the Silla (pronounced Shilla) Dynasty. Gyeongju is about two hours away from Changwon by bus.
Bulguksa Temple is one of Korea’s most famous attractions and is a designated UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
I found some commissioned graffiti murals in Changwon I thought you might enjoy. This type of art has proved to be pretty rare in Changwon and much of Korea, especially of this quality. Perhaps it shows pushes to join in a with a global culture. Perhaps it it just nice to look at. Either way, enjoy.
The Parysongsan Stone Pagodas are located in the neighboring city of Masan. I will preface this post by saying this entire blogpost and information therein is directly quoted verbatim from a placard outside the Parysongsan Stone Pagodas: Parysongsan (lit, "Eight Dragons Mountain") is a 328-meter mountain located in Yangdeok-dong of Masan spreading towards Bongam-dong. The name of the mountain originated with the legend that eight dragons came down from heaven to the mountain. The mountain was originally called Ballyongsan ("Earthbound Dragon Mountain"), but its current name has gradually gained favor since the liberation of Korea in 1945. The construction of Paryongsan Stone Pagodas was begun on March 23, 1993 by Yi Sam-yong, a resident of Yangdeok-dong, who was moved by pity by the tragic situation of families divided by the Korean War. Since then, he has continued to build stone pagodas to soothe the grief of divided families, praying for family reunions and Korean reunification. His ultimate aim is to build 1,000 pagodas. The story behind the stone pagodas has received extensive media coverage, turning them into a major tourist attraction in the area. Their location has now been designated as one of the Nine Scenic Views of Masan.
Elections in South Korea are loud. Loud, loud, loud. The candidates advertise through blaring mobile and still vehicles that blast loud messages and slogans.
Each Candidate also has a number attributed to their name- offering the convience of not ever having to know a candidates name and only remembering what number they are.
Their were banners all over Changwon for the presidential and gubernatorial candiates.
The presidential front runners were Park Geun Hye and Moon Jae In. Park Geun Hye was the first woman to run for presidential office in South Korea. She is also the daughter of former South Korean president, and later dictator, Park Chung-hee. Park Chung-hee did a lot to develop South Korea but had a less than favorable human rights record. In contrast, Moon Jae In was a human rights lawyer.
Park Geun Hye was the candidate for the conservative party and Moon Jae In ran for the liberal party. I don't know how they differed in most things, but what I do know was that Park Geun Hye believed in taking a harder line with North Korea, whereas Moon Jae In sought to try to begin working toward ammends, or at least would be willing to meet and converse North Korean leaders. They also both sought to low higher education costs an to improve public education, much to a Hagwon owner's chagrin. However, even if school's do get even better, parents will still put their kids in Hagwons.
Election day is December 19th. People have the day off from work to vote. Schools are not in session. Mine was because my work day begins at 2PM.
The election was pretty decisive. Park Geun Hye won. Younger people in South Korea lamented this outcome because they want to a Korea that is moving forward rather than (socially) stagnating and moving backward. Also the official TV results for the national election looked like somebody had just finished a game of Wii Tennis.
Wii Election
Again, I wish I could offer more perspective but, there was too much I didn't understand. Also they didn't do TV attack ads or anything. Just loud blaring music/campaign shouting everywhere for about 4-6 weeks leading up to the election.
Here is a video I took of a Park Geun Hye rally in front of my building. I later found out that she actually made an appearance there a few hours later, but I was at work already (turn down your volume- it's loud).
Like the pro baseball teams in South Korea the team names are based off the corporations that own the team. Some friends and I went to see Changwon's team: the LG Sakers. Their website is here. A "Saker" is a bird of some kind.
Each pro Korean team is allowed 2 foreigners on their team, which are usually big black guys who played college ball. There are two big tall foreign players on the LG Sakers named Ira and Rod Benson . Ira played ball for University of Texas and Rod Benson played ball for Cal.
I have actually hung out with and played darts with Rod Benson. He's 6"10. He's been in Korea playing ball for three years. He's active on Twitter and does professional blogging freelance and has done some work for Yahoo. None of the LG Sakers live in Changwon. They all live in the Jamsil Sports Complex in Seoul and take a bus down for home games. So the times he does come down here he doesn't know about too many places, so there have been a handful of times where I've shown him a few places to go while out on a Friday or Saturday night in Changwon.
Rod Benson
I got into the stadium as the introductions began. The arena corridors were pitch black as I walked into the actual arena the house lights are down and there is just neon and LED lights everywhere. The cheerleaders were wearing LED butterfly wings and there were 2 LED-lit remote control birds flying around the arena. It looked like what basketball intros would look like in the year 3000. It was futuristic and surreal.
Basketball in the year 3000
The game itself was a good game. Sakers pulled off a come from behind victory. Naturally there wasn't any dunking. Also, some of the Korean players had tattoos. Koreans are not into tattoos because they believe their bodies are sacred gift from their parents so they shouldn't alter themselves. That's why in ancient times the men didn't even cut their hair (altering their body). Now, with the prevalence of plastic surgery in Korea, there seems to be a bit of a contradiction going on, but thats a conversation for another day.
The crowd was like a Korean crowd at most sporting events. Spirited and highly group coordinated. Each player had their own songs and chats. Rod's was "Call me Maybe." It sounded like this-- the stereo would be blasting: "I just met you/and this is crazy/but here's my number- and then the stereo cut out and everyone screams: ROH-DUH BEYN-SUN!! (thats a Korean accent).
The halftime entertainment was a Tae-kwon Do class of little kids punching and kicking boards. It was cute but also impressive. There were a lot of high flyers. And of course it ended with the whole class dancing to "Gangnam Style." Also there was a breakdancing bird mascot. He could put a basketball in his open beak.
Here is some video I took of the game:
Also I had to get a picture of the nicest stadium bathroom I've ever seen:
Isn't this the nicest stadium bathroom you've ever seen??
