Gyeongju

October 22, 2019-Gyeongju 

We don’t have porterage service which means we have to wrangle our bags to and from our rooms. Today we had to outwit crowded elevators and, despite a fifteen minute wait for one, get ourselves and recalcitrant bags to our bus. We were transferring to the high-speed train and Jinny was stressed. I was struck by the fact that it’s the first time we’ve been on a tour in a city with churches and we hadn’t visited a one.

I can only tell you that the train was somewhat worn looking. I fell asleep as we pulled out of the station and woke up two hours later in Gyeongju. That’s the way to travel. I was told there were many tunnels as we cut through the mountains. The topography here consists of small mountains interspersed with small farms. Autumn is rice harvesting time and they’re busy mowing rice grass for animal feed.

We had our first taste of Korean food here with bulgogi. It’s thinly sliced, grilled meat presented in a broth with mushrooms, cellophane noodles, and sprouts. It was accompanied with several small dishes of pickled vegetables. Dessert was sliced Korean pear. It’s a huge relative of our Bartlett variety. The texture is crisp and the flavor is mildly sweet. David had a chance to try Korean beer. He found it light but flavorful. 

This area of S. Korea was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE-935CE). The landscape is littered with royal tombs hidden under grass covered mounds. Silla rule was during the golden age of Buddhism. 

But this afternoon was devoted to the Yangdong Village. At first, I thought it was a model town for tourists, but soon learned that it is a 500-year-old (1392-1897) UNESCO site of the royal city for the Joseon Kingdom. Enter Confucianism. It is a living town now occupied by descendants of the original families. Built to make the most of the rules of fung shui and Confucianism, the royal homes were higher up the hills than the peasants’ and separation of sexes meant the king and queen slept in separate houses. Servants had to haul the royals up the roads on palanquins. We trekked up hills to check out the royal digs and servant housing. These were no longer occupied nor were they furnished. David thought the threshold for becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site was very low. 

The last “happening” was watching a woman beat the daylights out of plants to retrieve black sesame seeds. Three of us were over it and walked ahead of the group sending Jinny into a panic. She was convinced we were lost and wanted to go back to look for us. David convinced her that we knew our way back. Besides, all we had to do was keep going downhill.

What would an email be without a Jinny tale? Today she decided that the water bottle a man was carrying in his jacket pocket was too heavy for him. She reached into said pocket, removed the bottle, and poured half its contents on the ground. It’s part of the issue we have with her helpfulness bordering on condescension, and lack of boundaries. As to the conversation Duncan had with the travel company representative about Jinny’s poor English speaking ability, evidently, the company knows.

Few meals are included and Jinny is vague on suggestions. I showed her a photo of the sign at the restaurant where we ate last night. She said it specialized in pork dishes. The joke was on us. That’s why we had trouble finding chicken on the menu. 

We’re staying at a Hilton resort hotel well outside the city here. Jinny was again vague about where we could eat dinner. She waved her hand indicating that somewhere out to the right of the hotel were a few shops, a local market, and a 7-11. As for the hotel, the buffet was $90 and the Chinese restaurant ran around $70/person. There was a sweet shop in the lobby and someone said there were sandwiches.  We bought the last two bagel and lox offerings and a friend, Diana, bought the last cheese and salami. 

Tomorrow we walk the city and climb up, up, up to tombs.

Toby 

Yangdong Village

Sesame Beater