Gyeongju Part 1

Gyeongju is a small city in the same province as Daegu. It was the capital of the Korean Shilla Dynasty for only 1,000 years or so and is known as the “museum without walls”. On our 2 day trip we only saw some of the sites, but we regard it as (probably) the best place we have visited (so far) and will definitely be returning. Here is the first instalment of our internet monologue (duo-logue?) about Gyeongju.

Nice and clean - just the way we like our Korean cities.

The parks have a unique combination of European-style flower show and market garden.

No, this isn’t Teletubby Land. The hills are actually the tombs of dead kings. So show some respect.

Like a kid in a melon store.

Did someone say Collette? My mistake. I thought someone said Collette.

Having stumps instead of hands must be very frustrating for him.

There is a lot to be proud of in this pic. “Nice urinating Brad!” “Correct!”

Whilst taking a post-dinner walk through the city, we were suddenly rocked by a smooth bass groove, flavourful gat, soulful vocals, and rock-solid beats. Around the corner we found an open-air concert. Somewhat different to Perth, the concert was held directly in front of a royal tomb.

The food was amazing and by far the most Emma/vego/hippie/beatnik/tie-dye/Nimbin/Ken Babbs friendly we have experienced in Korea.
Soybean soup with a side of chilli (yes….as tasty as it sounds!)

Japanese-Korean fusion

Now…what would you expect to get for the equivalent of $8 Au? Half a tub of Greek salad from Freshies? Spanish baked beans from Cantina (if you borrowed $10.90)? A pissy little plate of rice and avocado from Yuzu? Some olives from Clarences (if you were a dick)? A medium-sized banana? Pretentiousness? Snobbery? Wank?

Or perhaps… Korean Sambap!

Of course, it wouldn’t be Korea if we weren’t unpleasantly surprised by some food item. For example, the local specialty of red bean paste dumplings sounded quite nice, but were actually a foul reminder of burped vomit-in-a-bag. (We couldn’t even palm them off to a bus-load of school kids). We opted not to try the cow intestine soup…

We marveled at the market delights… and Emma dry retched repeatedly. It is a shame that the markets are one of the most interesting places to visit in Korea, but are often accompanied by the most vile (seafood and sulphur) stenches known to man. Here are a couple of pics from the markets in Gyeongju.

Dead little fishies...

Alive little fishies...

Dried squid...

And of course...Beondegi! (silk worm larvae)

The museum looked striking against the rural backdrop, located in a city of wonder and delights...and yet it was rather...well...
...there were some old pots. Yippee. And...

...the skeletal remains of an innocent child.

Cheomseongdae Observatory is the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia. Much like Jeff Newman (Mr. Telethon), it was created in ancient times (circa 632) and used to forecast the weather.

This was quite a stone pagoda and a few hundred years old, but the sign on it basically read “This used to be 3 times as tall and much more impressive before those pesky Japs wrecked it. Dirty invaders.” (Interestingly enough, similar signs occur on almost every mediocre-looking historical landmark in Korea. Occasionally Mongolians cop some blame too.)