Gyeongju Namsan mountain
Today I went to the Gyeongju Namsan mountain. Everywhere has a Namsan mountain so I have to be specific.
As mentioned I was not sure if this would be a short or a long hike. I was enjoying myself so much I made sure it was a long hike, so now, the stats.
5 hours and 59 minutes
31k steps
1078m ascent
1390 calories burned
2.7L of sweat loss
etc.
Now for some info about the actual place. Apparently it was the most sacred place of the Silla kingdom. There is a well somewhere where the actual kingdom was formed. Exactly how a kingdom can be formed in a specific spot I do not know, maybe they agreed to stop fighting there?
The place has so many historic relics that the entire mountain range is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is described as an outdoor museum.
Who am I to argue?
Also important news! Gyeongju has preemptively lodged an application to make next years APEC meeting a UNESCO heritage meeting.
Now for way too many photos.
The path up to the start of the hike goes past a hermitage, but they had signs up asking me to not go in, so I did not. The stream was nice though.
I thought this might be a wild unmarked hike. I could not be more wrong. Signs everywhere. Although for most of the day, no other hikers, until an entire school group passed me on the way down.
The path I chose up was great. No staircases, no barriers, but a well kept trail.
There are these signs everywhere explaining that you are standing on something ancient. Most of the time I could not figure out what, it just looked like dirt to me!
A low down view of the farmland below, more on the farmland later...
This being Korea, there were plenty of big rocks. Some had ancient carvings, stay tuned.
I was really enjoying this path up the small mountain.
And then, a driveway of sorts! This was unexpected.
A UNESCO world heritage driveway.
Enjoy the view of the farms below, and a nice big rock.
Here is summit number one of 2, I would actually come back almost to the top of it later. My path today was a big figure 8, so up to here, down, up to the next peak, down, back up to this peak, then down again. A lot of up and down.
Just beyond the summit, a view. Looking away from Gyeongju.
A great path, greenery, purple flowers.
And, more view.
Looking back in the direction I had come from.
And now some ancient relics from between 600 and 800 AD. This is a 3 storey pagoda. They are not very big storeys.
Same view, no pagoda.
And since the pagoda and view were so cool together, another.
Another nice view.
And now for the headless Buddha. The sign mentioned the head was missing and they do not know when it went missing, so it seems unlikely I can get the blame. Note that the whole thing is carved out of a single rock.
Across there would be the second peak of the day, after a bit of down then a lot more up again.
I descended on some stair free paths but then arrived at this bridge in the bottom of the valley.
It was now time to follow a stream down the valley. Thankfully nothing too slippery to worry about.
There were a few places that people probably go swimming in during summer.
Now to start the climb up to the second peak, obviously there is a temple, there was also a public toilet.
Nice paths again, and a bit of sunshine.
More views, so many views today.
Summit #2. Also without a view.
But fear not, there is usually a view nearby.
After descending down from summit #2, a surprise dam.
Descending further into the valley and bamboo appeared, and a muddy path. Unexpected mud.
But not for long, time to go back up again.
Eventually I rejoined another driveway of sorts. It was near here that an entire school group passed me.
And then, finally time to head down again. Here is a different low down view.
Along with the grave mounds there were also rock piles on the way down.
OK, one more view, of the spot where you get the view from. Viewception.
I thought that since I passed 100 or so grave sites, I should post a photo of a grave. So here is one. Most of them do not have the concrete markers.
And just as you finish, another Buddha, this time with his head.
And as threatened, I once again managed to exit a hike in the middle of farmland.
I will not be going far tonight, but I am very hungry!
Gyeongju tombs and tourist area
Tomorrow I am going to Busan. Yes, yes.. on the train. I have not seen that movie and I will not watch it. If you tell anyone you are going to Busan they will ask if you are going on the train to Busan.
For my final evening in Gyeonju I decided to re-take in the tourist cafe / eating area and re-take in the amazing tomb mounds during blue hour, which made for a couple of cool photos.
The tourist area seemed to have more stuff open than Tuesday, I actually think a lot of places open only on weekends. I saw a couple of people playing dress ups but I have read that everyone does, so again, that is probably a weekend thing.
Therefore it is probably best I clear out tomorrow morning before I have to put on a Hanbok.
OK, I found the prime suspect for the place that probably stole the head of the Buddha I photographed earlier.
On my way back to the tourist area, I walked through a traditional street that has not been turned into cafes yet, a rare thing indeed.
A car.
First sighting of some people playing dress ups. I wonder if they have my size?
This used to be the traditional food market in this area. It is now cafes and restaurants.
Bonus photo because sunset.
These appear to be tiny hotel rooms. Also you can get on the roof easily. I was tempted. That is a washing machine sitting there outside.
The tourist information centre.
OK, one last photo of the tourist area.
Now for my dinner. It looked better in pictures. A noodle soup with a galbi (beef rib) and bonus bulgogi. Pretty flavourless like a lot of Korean food.
Now for the two bonus mound shots. This one came out great. Handheld! They have a lot of spotlights.
And for the final pic of Gyeongju other than the journey to the train tomorrow morning, more funeral mounds. Also a handheld shot.