Beautiful Gyeongju

Yay for Spring! The cherry blossom are in bloom and although the weather wavers a bit, it for the most part is just beautiful! So this past weekend we trekked across the country, 4 and 1/2 hours on the bus, to Gyeongju! It is considered "the museum without walls," and I can certainly understand why. It is by far one of the most beautiful cities I've visited in Korea (hmm, perhaps why they dubbed it "beautiful Gyeongju?!) It is just more traditional looking and all of the high rises seem to be on the outskirts of the city.

So on Saturday we met up with some friends who all came up from Busan. We went to Bulguksa Temple, which was much farther out of the city than we anticipated. I'm not going to lie, but some of these Temples are starting to look the same to me, but it was still nice to see and walk around the grounds.

Afterwards, we decided to take a cab up the mountain to see the Seokguram Grotto. We were on a time crunch because it was supposed to close in 45 minutes, but I thought it was worth it! We ran down the winding path, up the crooked stone steps, and into the tiny temple which housed a huge statue of the Buddha. It is made of granite and was made in the 8th century...on the top of the mountain...inside the mountain...where Silla Royalty would go to pray. I was really taken back by the history of it all. But, then we were off, running down the winding road back to the cab.
A photo of Temple Theatre Alumni doing amaaazing things! :)

That night before dinner Colin and I made our way to Anapji Pond, where in the 70s a boat was found along with thousands of artifacts from the Silla dynasty. It was really pretty at night and we got some great photos.

On Sunday we rented bicycles and cycled all over town. There were a lot of people out and it was the first time since being in Korea that I was called a "tourist!" But, it was still a lovely day.

This was a field of pretty yellow flowers. Oddly enough, it was named the "rape flowers complex." ::insert witty joke here::

Our two cute bicycles for the day

We came upon a huge group of professional photographers taking pictures of performers dressed in the traditional outfits. All of a sudden, the photographers dispersed and some came over to Colin and me and started taking a ton of pictures of us! I got really flustered and realized that I could never be a celebrity. I wonder where those photos will end up...This was a park full of the tombs of ancient Kings. Although they are not as massive as the Pyramids, they serve the same purpose. It was really neat walking around and being surrounded by so much royalty!

This photo is for you mom...I hope this blog entry has enough pics of my smiling face for you :)