June 15, 2006
We spent last weekend in Gyeongju, the historical capital of the Silla (신라 pronounced Shil-la) kingdom . Given the longevity of the kingdom (roughly a thousand years, from 57 BCE-935 CE), Gyeongju has lots of burial mounds/tombs, a very nice museum, several temple complexes and ancient Buddha carvings, and, like the rest of Korea, some great National Parks. One of the parks, Namsan, is actually in the middle of the city, and has paths most of the way around it, so hiring bikes is extremely popular. We reinforced all sorts of Western gender stereotypes, since I was given a pink beach cruiser and David got a blue and sliver mountain bike. We had a lot of fun riding around, although I wish we could have gone out for the full day instead of just 3 hours. There are several sites of interest (mostly Buddhas into rocks) off the path and up trails into the mountains. We locked the bikes up and visited a couple of them, but then had to get back due to time.
Because Gyeongju has so much to see in so small an area, it's a huge tourist destination. David was skeptical when he read that fact on the train ride there, but while it's the only place outside of Seoul we've seen so many other non-Asian tourists, it's not peak season, yet, so it wasn't too bad. Peak season starts next month and when we come back from China in August, rumor has it that accommodation prices double and you can't move because there are so many people here. We're hoping to escape to Sulaksan NP, but that may be awfully crowded, too. In the meantime, despite my cold we've had a lovely time in Korea, It really is a lot like traveling in Europe (if you ignore the fact that the language, culture and people are completely different).
