We’re in Kyongju, in SW Korea, about 200 miles from Seoul. It was the capital of Korea for a thousand years, most recently in 962. Thus, it resembles in Korean history what Xi’an does in Chinese–the place where the country was unified. The connections are even more tight; the Shilla invited the Tang dynasty to help them unify the peninsula, and defeat their rivals to the North. In return, the Tang promised Manchuria, which was then part of the northern Kingdom of Koreans. Hence, Korea got unified.
The city has some really spectacular Tang era ruins, including the most beautiful Buddha I’ve ever seen. It’s made of granite and sits in a cave atop one of the mountains surrounding the city. If you get to see the Korean movie, “Once upon a time,” you’ll get to see the Buddha without traveling up the 1,900-foot mountain. At the base is the temple, Pulguksa, one of the most unusually structured Buddhist temples I’ve ever seen. These two artifacts are so Korean that they’re usually featured on the “Come to Korea” posters.
There’s a lot more here, but you need more than the 5 hours we had to tour. We did get to see the observatory, built in the 8th century; it has a very unusual shape.
We’re on our way to a monastery, which sounds like Scout camp. We eat like monks, dress like monks, meditate like monks, and sleep like monks–to bed at 10, up at 3.
More later.