Thomas Close: Going to Gyeongju.

Gyeongju, the historical capital of Korea, is often referred to as a museum without walls. It was the capital of the Silla kingdom from 57 BC to 935 AD. Fortunately for me, it is located a mere 20 minute bus ride north of Eonyang (Ulsan). It is kind of funny that is took me nearly seven months to finally visit such a treasure trove of cultural history.

After my recent trip to the city, I realized that future trips were necessary. There is simply too much to see and do in just one day. On the first trip, my friends and I went to the Seokgoram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple.

Bulguksa Buddhist temple is fairly nice and considered to be one of the best in Korea. To be honest, most of the historical temples in this country look nearly identical to me. There might be a few changes in the number of buildings or slight differences in murals, but they predominantly have the same color scheme and layout. Nonetheless, they are great living museums and repositories of religious and cultural history. Their history is was brings me to them. Coming from such a relatively young country, it is nearly unfathomable to me that some of these structures nearly 2,000 years old.

Seokgoram Grotto is about 4 kilometers from Bulguksa and was remarkable. Although the experience is somewhat underwhelming, the art work and craftsmanship of the Buddha statue is incredible. Again, it is so unbelievable that this place was finished being built in 774 and was left relatively exposed to the elements for hundreds of years.

Perhaps I'll return to Gyeongju in a few weeks to see the cherry blossoms...