Random Korea

Hyundai Ship Yard: They build some massive boats

Little town we stopped and ate lunch at near the Jujeon Seashore. Delicious dumplings and a random egg sandwich

I've never been to the Statue of Liberty, but I found one in Korea!

So the Koreans use these robots dressed up as construction workers to hold the slow down signs and to move a light back and forth instead of real people. It was quite confusing the first time I saw one, but I got a picture! The next guy down the road was not a robot, haha.

Temples, Pagodas, and Landscapes of Korea

These pictures are from the Three-Storied Stone Pagoda of Ganeunsa Site:

Driving back through the mountains to Ulsan we passed this little Buddhist temple. The monk let us go in and take pictures and pray if we wanted to.

Temple Site of Janghang-ri, Gyeong-ju

Beautiful view of the valley between the mountains. The rice fields are tiered and are a beautiful golden yellow this time of year. It's harvest season. Once they harvest the rice, they let it dry anywhere they can find so most of the sidewalks are not for walking these days :) They also grow vegetables almost anywhere they can find, so all the land on the sides of the interstate are used for growing food if the ground is suitable. They also have yards full of gardens, gardens in courtyards, gardens between buildings, gardens everywhere! I love it!

Daewangam Songrim

The following pictures are from Daewangam Songrim (Pine Forest) in Ulsan, South Korea. It was absolutely beautiful. The water was a deep blue and the trees an even deeper green.

This is the Ulgi Lighthouse:

You could climb down the rocks and go fishing and there were little tables with umbrellas set up for you to sit at and eat fresh sea food and unique Korean dishes involving very small snail looking things.

Large jellyfish...they were intense

This was a little market place we walked through to get to the pine forest park. It was interesting. Little shops to get food (including extra large corn dogs) and buckets full of little snails and tanks of fresh fish.

Ulsan Culture and Arts Center and Daldong Culture Park

Korea's Thanksgiving holiday falls on a weekend and most shops and stores are closed during this time. I took the opportunity to walk around Ulsan and explore on this particularly quiet Saturday. I walked over to the Ulsan Culture and Arts Center. Of course it was closed, but the amazing part is there was almost no one there. This gave me the opportunity to view the statues outside and take pictures without hundreds of people swarming around. Seeing some of the statues and trying to feel what they are portraying without anyone else around was a very peaceful and enlightening moment. Below are pictures of some of the outdoor artwork.

The following pictures are from the Daldong Culture Park which is next to the Culture and Arts Center. The fountain is awesome and water is running from all places always at the same time, it rotates. And you can walk around and play on it! There was a weeping willow type sanctuary that you walk 5 or 6 stone steps down into and there is a paved circular path and other steps to sit on and such. It was very beautiful.

These are of a painting that was on the side of a building. The building was a hole-in-the-wall type restaurant, but it had some beautiful hand paintings thats for sure.

Gyeongju, South Korea

Today I ventured away from Ulsan all by my lonesome and visited Gyeongju. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla that ruled during the 7th through 9th centuries. There are many historical sites in this area. A modern "touristy" city has been built in this area but the beautiful history has been preserved as mush as possible. The bus ride from Ulsan to Gyeongju is about 50 minutes and it costs 4600 won which is about 4 dollars, so very inexpensive transportation. The following pictures are from the Daeneungwon Royal Tombs, which includes 23 tombs that stand close together.

Pretty landscaping

This is the tomb of Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb).

More tombs...

This is the Royal Tomb of King Michu of Silla. The tomb is under a heap of earth behind the red doors.

More tombs

Gyerim Forest: this place bears the birth legend of Kim Al-ji, the progenitor of the Kim clan of Gyeongju. The legend goes that people who head a rooster crowling in the woods went in to theck and found a golden box hanging on a branch where he was discovered.

The stele was erected in 1803 and the story of Gim Al-ji's birth is inscribed on it.

The following pictures are from Imhaejeon site (Anapji Pong). This place has Donggung, the palace for the Crown Prince, built in the King Munmu's reign to hold banquets. Samguksagi records that in the 14th year of the King Munmu's reign a pond and mounds were created, and plants and rare animals grown in the palace.

There were pretty birds in the trees (shown below) and there were giant coi (koi) and turtles swimming in the pond.

more pictures...

After hours of walking around I decided it was time to head back. I was walking down the streets and found these beautiful statues of Buddha. I also found this amazing antique type store where I bought an amazing book. It looks like someones journal and it has these beautiful water color paintings in it. The paintings are original (not copies). Its absolutely beautiful.

This type of chili is use in almost all Korean dishes it seems :) I often see it being dried like this on the side of the road.

Overall I had a great trip to Gyeongju. I tried some of their famous barley bread which is delicious. It was a very peaceful place. It was nice walking through Buddhist areas of study (no pictures, didn't know if I was allowed :) ). I could definitely spend much more time there but time is something I do not have a lot of these days. Work is keeping me very busy. Maybe I'll get to go back another time, there is much much more I want to see.