Candice in Korea
 
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South Koreans love to brag about their beautiful and distinct four seasons, and they have all the reason to. In Autumn Korea is just too beautiful for words!  

One of the cities that Andrew and I have been eager to visit is Gyeongju. The only problem was getting there because it is quite far to travel especially if you are relying on public transport.

With autumn almost over we decided to spend a weekend in Gyeongju to witness it's beauties.

Gyeongju is a historical city~ it is often referred to as the "museum without walls". It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (about 7th-9th century). Many archaeological sites remain along with a rich ... of cultural. Very worthy of the long journey.


So Friday after school we set off to Jecheon (30 mins) where we got a bus to Daegu. Usually this journey takes 2hr 30min but we took just over 3 hrs because of road works and traffic. From Daegu we took a bus to Gyeongju which is luckily only one hour. Arriving in Gyeongju at about ten thirty we found a motel and called it a night.


Unfortunately the weather wasn't complying with our photographic needs, but nevertheless we set off to make the best of it. Luckily getting around the city is easy.

We took a bus from the train station to Bulguk Temple. The temple itself was one of the more realistic one's I've seen. It was dusty and unpolished~ really adding a sense of historic value to it. The scenery around the temple was gorgeous. There are ponds with huge koi in and the surrounding trees were so colourful.

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Outside the main temple area are two pagodas.  


From the temple we took a taxi (although buses do run every 40 mins) to Seokguram grotto. It is part of Bulguksa and classified as the 24th National Treasure.  Seokoguram grotto is a hermitage and symbolic of the journey into Nirvana.
Unfortunately no photos are allowed, but here's a professional one:

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After a hearty meal at an italian restaurant down town we headed back to our motel to throw on a few more layers before continuing the site-seeing.

One of the most famous 'buildings' in Korea is an old observatory. The Cheomseongdae observatory is one of the oldest surviving astronomical observatories in East Asia. I was excited to finally see the real thing ~ and was surprised at how small it was. I just assumed it was bigger but either way it was magnificent.

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Cheomseongdae
From there we walked to Anapji pond. This artificial pond was part of the palace complex, located near the palace of Silla called Banwolseong. It was contructed in 674CE near the palace, but after the fall of Silla it fell into disrepair for many centuries. In 1974 it was rebuilt as part of a renovation project.
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Anapji at night


We decided to get an early start on Sunday morning so we rented bikes from the first place that opened at 8am. (It's was only 7000 for the whole day). We cycled down to Cheomseongdae again and stopped at a nearby scenic park. It was great that the blue skies had opened up for us. While we were taking pictures the weather turned and it started to rain :( which kind of messed up our cycling plans for the day. We made a change to our plans and went to the National Museum of History. There we were able to use audio guides and heard details about the artefacts that were found in the tombs.

The rain had blown over so we cycled back to Anapji pond.

From there we headed back, taking a different route and stopping by the Lotus flower park. (Unfortunately they weren't in bloom~the most beautiful time is in Spring).

Our last stop was Tumuli park. Throughout Gyeongju many mounds or heaps covered in grass can be seen~ these are royal tombs where noble persons were buried with all their belongings. Tumuli park has more than 20 tombs, assumed to be those of Kings and court officials. The tombs range from a height of 1to 23 meters. 

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Tumuli park
Gyeongju is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to and would highly recommend doing some research into the history of it and paying it a visit.
 
My co-teacher informed me about these three facts >.<
So I am really thankful the typhoon is gone, and happy to know that Autumn is now on it's way, the stickiness (humidity) was getting to me!
*Yay* for colourful, cool Autumn!
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