A Short but Meaningful Trip to Gyeongju

Veronica Kovacs
KF Korean Language Fellow (5th level)
ELTE University, Hungary

I anxiously waited for April 14. It was because it was not only my birthday, but also the day of our departure for a spring field trip. I went on the trip thinking of it as my birthday present, because I thought I might not be able to visit those places ever again in my life.
Our first destination was Gaesil Village in Goryeong. There, we experienced various traditional Korean plays in the open yard of the local cultural center. As the first in our group, I got on a swing and rose up in the air, and all my friends looked at me with amazed eyes. Since I had enjoyed swinging for a long time, I was confident, “There would be no one who can play on the swings better than me,” and I felt proud of myself.
After enjoying the plays, we participated in an activity to make traditional Korean confectionary and yeot (a kind of hard taffy). It was so much fun to see the sticky grain syrup turning into hard taffy, which was even tastier because we made it ourselves. Then, we visited an ancient tomb group in Jisan-dong to tour the royal tombs of Great Gaya (42-562) and learn about the history of Korea and customs of ancient Gaya people. After looking around a museum, we climbed up to the top of a mountain and looked down at the tombs. There were so many tombs scattered around that I couldn’t see them all at one glance.
Upon arrival at Gyeongju, I could realize that I was really in the ancient capital of Silla. We first toured Cheomseongdae Observatory, one of Gyeongju’s famous landmarks, which was built of stone under the reign of Queen Seondeok.

I was surprised to hear that the “Star
Gazing Observatory” was the oldest
astronomical observatory in Asia.
While I was walking along the deligh-
tful flower path that connected Cheoms-
eongdae to Anapji, an artificial pond
inside the palace complex of King Mu-
nmu of Silla, I could feel that spring had
come indeed. I couldn’t help admiring
Anapji, which looked so beautiful
with white and pink cherry flowers in
full bloom all around.
We wrapped up the first day of our
trip with a small birthday party for
me. After dinner, we went out to
attend a cherry blossom festival
held along the lakeside near
our hotel and had a great time
listening to the popular Korean trot
music while drinking Korean rice wine
called makgeolli. We were all so excited that my friends got together
and threw a special birthday party for me. I was deeply grateful to all of my friends.

The next morning on April 15, we headed to the Gyeongju National Museum, where we had the chance to see the famous Divine Bell of King Seongdeok, a big bronze bell also called Emile Bell, that we had already learned about during the KF level-4 class. I was so happy to see up close the beautiful decorative patterns of the bell. We could hear the sound of the bell only through a recording, but it was still great. Through the Emile Bell, and other Silla relics excavated from the Anapji royal pond, we could get a vivid glimpse of ancient Silla culture.
Interestingly, during an activity to make various landmarks of Gyeongju out of soap at the Gyeongju Cultural Center, our teacher turned out to be a Hungarian. He spoke a little awkward Hungarian, probably because he has lived in Korea for a long time, but still it was so heartwarming to meet one of my countrymen in an ancient city far away from home.
Then, we dropped by at Mt. Nam, which is famous as a sanctuary for numerous Buddha statues. Regrettably, a big Buddha statue we were so eager to see happened to be undergoing repair work, so we could only see other smaller statues. However, thanks to the kind explanation of our guide, we could visualize the Buddha image even without seeing it.
Lastly, we visited Seokguram grotto and Bulguksa temple, designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. After walking along a beautiful mountain road, we finally arrived at Seokguram. The cave hermitage was really magnificent but its size was a bit smaller than I had imagined. Regrettably, there were so many visitors that we couldn’t see it as much as we wanted. The situation was the same at Bulguksa, which was constructed at a similar time as Seokguram. There were so many middle and high school students, who came on a field strip. Yet, the beautiful appearance of Bulguksa and the two stone pagodas, Seokgatap and Dabotap, remain vivid in my mind.
On April 16, we stopped by at Daereungwon, a complex of tombs of royal and noble families of the Silla Kingdom, and then continued our tour to visit Yangdong Village. Yangdong is a very traditional Korean village, where people live in perfect harmony with nature. Looking around the unique Korean houses, we could imagine how ancient people lived in this village. We also watched students studying at an old village school. While visiting a Confucian academy named Oksan Seowon, which was built during the Joseon Dynasty, I thought: “How great would it be if we could study at such a tranquil and beautiful place as this, as the ancient Korean students did?”
Our spring field trip was so much fun and educational, and we gained a lot of valuable experiences through the trip. I’d like to thank the Korea Foundation for sparing no efforts so we could stay in a luxurious hotel and enjoy delicious food throughout the trip.

Gyeongju Resplendent with a 1,000-year History

Xie Jinghua
KF Korean Language Fellow (6th level)
Qingdao University, China

If you want to understand a country, you should first know its history, an old saying goes. On a balmy spring day, with beautiful flowers in full bloom and splendid sunshine embracing us, KF fellows and instructors went on a trip to Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, to learn about the roots and history of the Korean people.
When we left Sogang University aboard a bus at 8 o’clock in the morning, my heart started pounding with expectation because it was my first trip outside of Seoul since I came to Korea. Looking at all the mountains passing by the window one after another, I could realize once again that Korea is really a mountainous.
After driving for about four hours, we arrived at our first destination, Gaesil Village in Goryeong. Gaesil Village is where the

descendants of Kim Jong-jik (pen name, Jeompiljae), the founder of the local Confucian school, who was killed during the 1498 literati purge (Muo sahwa) in the mid-Joseon Dynasty, have resided for generations. Originally, the village belonged to Hadong-myeon, Goryeong County. The village is also called Gaehwasil, which literally means “a beautiful village where flowers bloom.” As “a loaf of bread is better than the song of many birds,” we were invited first of all to a country-style dining table prepared by the villagers with fresh vegetables. After eating our fill, we played with a hoop, treadmill, and a swing in the yard, just like little children.
Then, we participated in a taffy-making event. I had eaten yeot (hard taffy), a traditional Korean snack, several times before, but I never knew how to make it. Some old ladies at the village taught us how to make taffy. Two people held a chunk of hardened grain syrup and folded it in half before twisting it again and again.
They said the process should be repeated until the yellow grain syrup turned white. Finally, we beat the hardened taffy with a wooden stick to make yeot we all enjoyed.
At a glance, taffy-making looks very simple but working in perfect sync with your partner isn’t that easy though very important. Otherwise, you could merely end up smearing your hands with syrup just like me. My partner and I could make taffy properly only after some of the village women helped us out. The taffy was particularly sweet. But I learned that you have to be very careful when you use the word, yeot, to Koreans. In Korean, the word could mean a curse.
Eating the taffy we made, we headed to our next destination, the ancient tomb group in Jisan-dong. There was the main fortress of the tribal state, Great Gaya, built along the mountain ridge to encircle Goryeong township like a folding screen. On the ridge extending south from the fortress you can find about 200 tombs in varying sizes, including the Tomb of Jisan-ri. Due to a lack of exercise, I barely made it to the mountain top, heavily panting.
Now it was time to visit the Great Gaya Museum. The museum featured a vivid reproduction of the interior of a large-scale burial site, where the practice of human sacrifice was confirmed for the first time in Korea. That day, I learned for the first time that people of Great Gaya produced and used ironware, and Japanese people some 1,500 years ago adored the culture of Great Gaya, as many Japanese are drawn to the hallyu (popularity of Korean culture) today.
After driving for one hour from Goryeong, we arrived at Gyeongju. The city, home to Cheonmachong (Tomb of Heavenly Horse), Cheomseongdae (Star Gazing Observatory), Bulguksa Temple, and Anapji royal resort pond, was a place where history and

future coexisted. Living up to its reputation as an ancient capital, Gyeongju was equipped with rustic elegance which made us feel the scent of the 1,000-year history of the Silla Kingdom.

Cheomseongdae, an astronomical observatory built under the reign of Queen Seondeok, deeply impressed me as a monument conveying the wisdom of Silla people. They said that Anapji, an artificial pond made in a palace complex under the reign of King Munmu, was so named because wild geese and ducks frequently flew into the pond to play on it. Enjoying the scenery around Anapji, adorned with full-bloomed cherry blossoms, I could imagine kings and noblemen of Silla enjoying a banquet at a pond-side pavilion.
We started the next day with a visit to the National Gyeongju Museum. The museum displayed a wide variety of cultural properties dating back to prehistoric times as well as the Silla, Gaya, and Unified Silla periods. We could also see relics excavated from Anapji, where we had visited the previous day. What impressed me the most at the museum was the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok. Known as the biggest extant bell in Korea, it was cast in memory of King Seongdeok of Silla. According to legend, a baby was sacrificed when the bell was being made in an attempt to produce a beautiful sound, so when the bell rings, they say, it sounds like a baby calling out to its mother.
The historian monk Iryeon described wrote in his book, Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), that by the sixth century in Gyeongju and its vicinities, “the golden roofs of temples glittered against the sky like the Milky Way (sasa seongjang) and lotus-crowned pagodas stood in unending lines like flights of wild geese (taptap anhaeng).” Mt. Nam is located in the heart of Gyeongju. We went there to see the Buddha Statue of Sinseonam Hermitage, but regrettably it was under repair work for the first time in decades, so I decided to come back sometime in the future.
On our way up to Seokguram cave temple, we saw a lot of Korean students who were also on a field trip. Seeing us, a group of foreign visitors, they said, “Welcome to Korea!” that warmed our hearts. I could realize once again that Koreans are so kind and sweet.
Lastly, we stopped by at Bulguk Temple, one of the largest temples in Korea. There, I saw in person the famous two stone pagodas, Seokgatap and Dabotap, which I had seen only in books. I also heard the sad story of Asadal, a stonemason who built Seokgatap, or the Pagoda of Sakyamuni, and his wife Asanyeo, and why the pagoda is also called Muyeongtap, meaning the “Pagoda without Shadow.”
On the last day of our trip, we visited Daereungwon (Tumuli Park), Yangdong Village and Oksan Academy. Daereungwon is where many tombs of kings and noblemen of Silla are located. The interior of Cheonmachong, the best-known tomb of them, was open for public viewing, along with replicas of the relics excavated from the burial site.
Yangdong Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site, seemed like a paradise free from urban hustle and bustle, and filled with peace and serenity. From old times, the village was famous for its beautiful mountains and rivers, and men of outstanding talent. Suddenly, it occurred to me: “How great would it be if I lived here?”
Lastly, we headed to Oksan Seowon, which was founded to pay tribute the renowned Neo-Confucian scholar Yi Eon-jeok. Although Mubyeonnu, the pavilion at the ancient Confucian academy surrounded by trees, looked disheveled, I could almost feel the voices of young students reading books were ringing in my ears. I found myself envying them for studying at such a great place amid green mountains and emerald streams.
As I am writing this essay, all the scenes I saw in Gyeongju are crossing my mind. The trip gave me an opportunity to experience the warm hearts of Korean people once again and better understand Korea through its history and nature. After all, I fell in love with Gyeongju. I will visit the city again for sure.