Sun, 28 Sep 2014 01:48:21 +0000 Jayne http://www.bucketlisttraveller.com/?p=59 On Wednesday we docked at Busan, South Korea. As we walked out to the bus the temperature was hot but there was a few drops of rain. We had not packed our umbrella or jackets as the weather here has been really hot and humid on our trip so far. Well, not long after our trip started the rain started bucketing down – it poured rain heavily all day because of the typhoon that was nearby. We both got soaked right through, because the tour we were on was almost all outdoors. An elderly couple took pity on us and gave us one of their umbrellas and after lunch we were able to buy raincoats. But we were still wet underneath. Some people stayed in the bus but there’s no point travelling so far to see something and then worrying about getting wet.
After a week in Japan where everything is so orderly and all the cars are miniature, Korea felt busy, crowded and a bit like driving in Sydney peak hour. It felt odd seeing normal sized cars and trucks jostling for places on the busy highways and doing 100k in the bus felt quite fast after a week of 80k in Japan. Our first stop was Tumuli Park where there are 20 royal tombs dating back to the Silla Dynasty – which started in 325 AD. The tombs were in domed shaped hills all around the park. We went into the ‘Flying Horse’ tomb of one of the kings. The tombs were filled with things they would need in the afterlife, most of it made from gold, and then covered with several meters of rocks and then five meters of earth to prevent grave-robbers. I guess they did a good job because they tombs weren’t discovered until 1921 when a farmer wanted to level some of his land for farming and discovered one of the tombs.
After this we went to the nearby museum to see the contents that have been excavated from the royal tombs. It was amazing! So many objects, so much gold, there was armour for horses, swords,, a huge gold crown that was worn on the shoulders; smaller gold crowns, gold belts, gold jewellery, just gold everywhere as well as all the big earthen ware pots to hold stores of food and all the other items for the household after death. So far six gold crowns have been discovered in different tombs, all from the 4th century. The royal family all wore gold crowns, gold belts that were hung with items they might use on long gold chains and they ate from gold and silver bowls, It was worth getting wet for.
Then we went for a Korean lunch and it was serve yourself which was good for me as there was lots of salad. The food is very similar to Chinese food and general consensus around the table was that it was good. We had a concert of Korean folk dancing which is when someone discovered free wi –fi was accessible so we managed to get a couple of text messages out as well. We got back on our bus and went to visit Bulgaska Buddhist Temple. A lot of people stayed in the bus because it was bucketing down by now and quite windy. There were a lot of steps and it was very muddy. The temple is one of the oldest in Korea, built in the Silla period, but not as old as the tombs as Buddhism was not practised at the time the tombs were built. Buddhism was adopted by the Silla ruling family in 528 AD . The grounds were beautiful, a huge lily pond, waterfalls, wonderful views from the mountain (if it were not raining) and the temple buildings were all colourfully decorated with brightly painted ceilings and eaves. It bucketed down the whole time we were here.
We drove back to ship – it was a long day 7.30 – 3.30. By this time I was freezing cold from being in wet clothes all day and the air conditioning being on in the bus to stop the windows fogging up. We visit South Korea again on this tour so hopefully the weather will be better next time and we’ll get a few more photos. 59 2014-09-28 01:48:21 2014-09-28 01:48:21 open open busan-south-korea publish 0 0 post 0 Diamond Princess Japan _edit_last 1