Lucie & Rhys´s Honeymoon Adventure: Week 52 - Gyeongju, Busan, Haeinsa (South Korea)

We left our hostel in Seoul and caught the tube across town to the Express Bus Terminal where we caught the 9:18am bus to Gyeongju. The traffic was horrendous, it’s a holiday week in South Korea for Chuseok (Thanksgiving). Instead of taking 4.5 hours it took 8 hours and we were only that quick because there are bus lanes on the motorways. Still, we arrived in Gyeongju before dark and walked to the hostel we’d booked in the centre of town. We ate instant noodles for dinner and spent the evening drinking with the other backpackers on the roof of the hostel.

The next morning we had a slow start, enjoying the common area and the free breakfast before heading out to the bus stop for the short trip out of town to Bulguk-Sa. The temple, considered the crowing glory of Shilla architecture, was pretty similar to those we’d seen in Seoul but was set in a beautiful pine valley and was still in use with the smell of incense and the lotus lampshades and golden buddha statues filling every corner. Back in the carpark we caught another bus along the winding mountain road to the Seokguram Grotto. At the entrance I had a go at tolling one of the giant bells before we walked the last kilometre through the pine forest looking out for chipmunks, to the grotto. Although crazy busy because of the national holiday, it was still very impressive and more than a little magical. A huge 8th century granite buddha statue sitting inside a cave in the mountain side, surrounded by carvings of other deities and guardians. On a clear day the buddha looks out to the east sea and so is considered the protector of the country. We followed the hiking path back down to Bulguk-Sa, spotting a snake on the way, to catch a bus back into town. That evening wee popped out for food at a little Korean place and sat on cushions on the floor sharing a bowl of sizzling spicey pork ribs.

We had one more day in Gyeongju and after another relaxed start, headed out to move hostels (ours was full that night) and hire bikes to explore the town. The capital of the Shilla dynasty, Gyeongju is known as ‘the museum without walls’ and is littered with temples, tombs, pagodas and rock carvings. Our first stop was at the Tumuli Park in the centre of town. Tumuli are big grass burial mounds, the tombs of Shilla kings and nobility - a bit like the Egyptian pyramids of the temples of Tikal. Although there are lots spread throughout the town, the Park holds 23 and was worth a visit with its pockets of pine trees nestled between the grassy hillocks and peaceful music piped out over the whole park. Next we rode through the wildflower meadow and through fields of lily pads to the Wolseong Park to see the oldest astrological observatory in the Far East which was quite small and unimpressive to look at. We carried on through the parkland of the Banwolseong fortress with it’s ice storage building to the Anapji Pond. Although still pretty I bet the pleasure garden is far more attractive when all the lily’s in the ponds are in bloom. We took a slow ride back to the hostel and had a couple of hours to chill before heading back out to explore the centre of town with all it’s hundreds of shops. We stopped at a little tea shop for orange and lemon tea and incredible cookies before heading back to the hostel again. Just before 7pm we took the bikes back and stopped at another little Korean restaurant for a cheap meal before bed.

We weren’t in any hurry to leave Gyeongju the next day since our next stop, Busan was only an hour away. We had arrived at out hostel by 1pm but couldn’t check in until 3pm so popped out for lunch then sat in the common area playing pool. There was only one thing I really wanted to do in Busan and that was check out Spaland. It was amazing, apparently the largest public bath in Asia set over three floors in the world’s largest department store. Admittedly the naked bath part was a bit weird at the start (imagine a room with 6 or 7 different pools of varying heat, some with jacuzzi jets, surrounded by little tables with mirrors and showers, all experienced totally in the buff) but the 13 different, themed jjimjilbang rooms you went in in your issued PJ’s were great fun. There were rooms for everything, a room where the music vibrated through the floor, one that emitted infra-red, an ice room with fake jellyfish in a tank, then there was the outdoor foot baths and the relaxation room where you could sit in your own little pod and watch TV. I think Rhys’s favourite were the massage chairs for 20 minutes of torture. After the Spa we stopped by the humongous food court to grab a quick lunch and headed home. Strangely the bar at our hostel wasn’t serving beer on a Saturday night so we ended up watching football at ours until midnight (got to love the time diffrence) before bed.

The next day we walked to Igidae Park and spent a couple of hours following the coastal trail winding around the cliffs with little suspension bridges and views back across the city. Back on the tube and we headed to the Jagalchi fish market. We’d never seen anything like it and couldn’t even identify half of the sea creatures on sale, I mean, how many people have even heard of a ‘Sea Squirt’ nevermind know what one looks like?! We walked around for a while pointing at the squid and octopus and the giant fish on offer before choosing a little restaurant for a freshly caught and cooked fish banquet. For dinner that night we braved it in a restaurant without a picture menu and ended up with enough chicken take out to last for lunch the next day.

We woke early and caught a tube across town to the KTX terminal where we caught a fast train to Daegu. Rhys was very excited to go on a bullet train. We didn’t stay in Daegu long, just tubed across town to a bus terminal and caught a bus out to the Haeinsa Temple. The temple is one of Korea’s most significant temples and holds the Tripitaka Koreana, a series of 81,258 woodblock scriptures, over 1,000 years old and one of the largest Buddhist libraries in the world and one of the most important.

From where the bus dropped us off it was a steep 1.2km hike, with our 20kg bags to the temple but it was worth it. The UNESCO temple is located in a pine tree valley tucked in amongst the most beautiful scenery we’ve seen since being in South Korea. We were shown to our dorms (separate male and female rooms with traditional ondol (underfloor) heating) where we chose a spot and laid out out sleeping mats. We just had time for a quick explore and a walk across the valley to the Weondangam temple with stunning views and the most intricately painted woodwork with golden highlights before dinner time. At 6:10pm, after the temple had closed to the public, it was time for the evening ceremony. It started with four monks taking it in turn to play four instruments, a dharma drum, (a huge hanging drum), a wooden fish, a cloud shaped gong and a large brahma bell, while we made our way to the main temple. We took cushions and lined up at the back of the building and before long the chanting and prostrating (full bows) started. Our Korean obviously isn’t good enough to join in with the chanting but we were prostrating along with the monks like no tomorrow, it was all very enchanting. After the ceremony we had a couple of hours before bed, I was a bit ill and turned in for the night while Rhys walked around for a while.

My alarm went off at 3am the next day in time for the ceremony at 3:17am. We dressed and took up our places, feeling a little less like intruders since we knew what to expect and what to do. After the ceremony we headed back to bed for a couple of hours before breakfast at 6:10am. Rhys headed back to bed and I wandered about for an hour admiring the beautiful buildings before I woke him up and we headed out to walk up the steep path to Baekryeonam. The little hermitage we found at the top was very tranquil and well maintained. Back at our dorms we packed up and walked back the 1.2km to the bus stop to head back into Daegu and on to Samcheok. The templestay was a really great experience even for non-Buddhists like us. Although we opted for the freestyle option - without the meditation lessons and lotus flower making and tea with a monk, we did get a taste of what it all entails and I have to say it seems like a rather nice religion, we got quite in to the bowing to Buddha and the monks as you saw them around the temple and all the other little rules. The only shame was they didn’t issue us with PJ’s.