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So up early for our sight seeing tour around gyeongju....started with a full breakfast of rice and curry!!!!! Strange but tasty and kept me going till lunch with no rumbles of hunger. The tour bus picked us up at 9am and we headed off on what would be a fantastic journey!! Our first stop was Bulguksa Temple, an amazing place built in the year 528!! It was home to many kings and queens in the Silla dynasty. We had a walk around the grounds then went up to walk around the buildings. There were lanterns everywhere to celebrate Buddahs birthday coming up on the 12th May. I had a pic taken at the large doorway or gate called Jahamun- the entrance to Buddah land. Seen one of the most famous monuments in korea called the Dabotap, the one with the 4 pillars and the lion and the other is called the Seokgatap! They symbolize many different things about Buddhiasm. We then had a peek in the Hall of Enlightenment or Daeungjeon where a Monk was praying to Buddha and a few other Joe Bloggs joined him. Managed to get a quick pic before noticing the no flash photography sign ooopppssyy!!!! no one noticed tho!...except maybe Buddha!! We visited another hall similar to this one but filled to the brim with lanterns and candles...hhmmm possible fire hazard me thinks hahaha! It was called No Word Hall...not sure about the korean name but apparently its called this because even tho it is used for lecturing on the sutras, the essence of the Buddha's teachings is beyond language and so cannot be lectured!!! EH! Confused??? Me too! Outside one of the halls there was a stone lantern, if you looked through at the right angle it framed buddhas face..pretty snazzy eh!
Our next stop was the Silla Art and Science museum and folk village. A wee bit boring but the scenery was pretty spectacular!! So not much chat about this place!
Next was Bunhwangsa temple which was built in 634, it was apparently originally 9 stories tall but was destroyed by the Mongolians during a war so there are only 3 stories left. All around was string tied to trees and the bulidings...pretty strange but apparently it is to celebrate length for buddha's birthday.
The 4th stop was at Genneral Yusin Kim's tomb. He was a great Hwarang warrrior by the age of 15 and was made general by the time he was 18. Sunny told me a story about how his troops had refused to fight as they saw a large star fall from the sky and took it as a bad omen, so Yusin Kim used a large kite to carry a fire ball in to the sky and so the troops seeing the star return to heaven, rallied and defeated the enemy. The tombs look like a small hill. Got some pretty nice pics here!
Next was the Gyeongju National Museum, about as exciting as ay museum gets but the sights were pretty breathtaking, melting by this point tho 27C! Nice!!! We the went onto visit Cheonmachong, the tomb of an unkown Silla king excavated in 1973. This tomb you could actually go inside, the inside was huge!! There was a wooden chamber where the body and all the possessions would have been and it would have then been covered in layers boulders and earth which you could see from the inside.
As we returned to the hotel we all enjoyed a wee nap before scoffing some Galbi for dinner yummy!!!!! These gals can certainly cook! More beer and laughs followed. I also learned a few new Korean words like Mutchibra (wonderful) and Grotchi (I agree), Krugae (Thats right) Jusayyo (please give me), Chonmanayyo (your welcome), Me-anhamnida (sorry), Odee (where)!!!!
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