Hi, everybody. It hardly seems like I’ve been back in Korea for over two weeks. Myung and I have basically been kicking back, first in Seoul for a week then in Gyeongju until now. We’ve done the social circles, taken care of a little business and walked around like tourists. I’m fine with doing nothing. It’s time I rested. One thing I noticed is that my knees were getting really sore almost all the time. With rest, they are returning to their usual mediocre selves, which is tolerable. I’d like to say we’re doing something, but we are really just hanging out. Myung’s still looking into things she might want to do, but nothing is decided. She does feel like there will be more opportunities in China, so it’s likely we’ll go there, likely Chongqing. That may happen in the next few days, in fact. That makes now a good time to blog.
As many of you know, we were in Korea from about May of 2008 till about January of 2009. You can click on those links on the right for pictures from then and what was on our alleged minds. There are pictures in there of Seoul as well as Gyeongju. I really like Gyeongju and could stay here if Myung wanted to. So’s not to repeat myself, I’ll post some different pictures, like of a traditional village near here. There are few of these left. This one’s structures are kept up at government expense, but it’s a regualar place with regular people with regular jobs. It isn’t touristy. There are no souvenir shops or anything like that. It just shows how charming Korea can be.
These are lived in places. It’s very traditional in this part of Korea. These jars are for storing food. The people whose place is in the first picture rent out the room Myung is standing by, if you want to spend the night.
Here is an interesting, gnarly, 600 year old Chinese cypresss tree.
There are, of course, many temples. They are almost always photogenic. I know I loaded up this site with temple pictures last time, but here’s one I like.
And here is a 1500 year old Buddha relief up the hill behind that temple.
Oh, as long as I’m at it, here are a couple of pictures you may have seen before. The first is a random shot of part of the large amount of open space in Gyeongju. One of the things I like about Gyeongju is that there are many kilometers of walking areas like this around. You wander all around burial sites and other historical areas from the 1000 year long Silla period of Korean history. Gyeongju was the Silla capital from the 1st century BC till the 10th century AD.
Here is a royal ice house from about the 8th century.
And here is east Asia’s oldest existing observatory, from the 6th century, I think.
And here is a typical golden Silla crown, which is in the national museum here.
I thought I’d try it and the power on for size. It suits me well, don’t you think?
Um, you may have guessed I didn’t get to put on the real crown. Our guesthouse had some traditinal clothes and a tin hat for the tourists to put on and pose for pictures.
We’ve spent a faiar amount of time hanging out with Myung’s friends. She’s from around here and knows people. Her best friends are Young He…
…and Gyung Ja. She’s known them since high school.
Let’s see, what else have uploaded. Here’s me at an ancient site,
There’s a bronze hand in the water of the beach in Pohang.
That’s about it. It’s not unlikely that the next time I write, it will be from China. I’m hoping we settle in one place there for a while. I’m for being a homebody. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do. I think, for one, I will really knuckle down and learn whatever language is used where we setle. Mandarin would be the language in China. I don’t know if my tired old brain can handle it, but at least it’s easier than Korean. I may even write that book I’ve been mulling over for a couple of years, even though it would be unpublishable. Maybe we’ll think of an occupation together. Who knows? The story of my life, eh?
Be well, all of you.
