Culture Tour Number One

On Saturday we took a 1.5 hour bus trip into the Korean countryside and visited three unique cultural sites. The first was Bulguska Temple. UNESCO designated this a world cultural heritage site and it is also Korea’s official No. 1 Historic Place. It was originally built in the 700’s, burned in various wars and rebuilt. Completely restored in the 1970’s it is the most complete depository of Silla art and Buddhist culture in Korea. Interestingly all of the wooden structures were built with no fasteners, similar to a Lincoln log house. This method allowed the structure to flex in the event of earthquakes. Getting up to the temple involved a steep trail climb, along which there were numerous corn dog stands. In addition to the corn dogs, you could buy cooked beetle larvae, which tasted about like you would expect. 

Following Bulguska we visited the Seokguram Grotto, which is considered by Koreans to be the greatest piece of Buddhist art in the world. It is built into the side of a mountain, and contains a large and elaborate statue of Buddha. In the forehead is large ruby, which used to reflect the suns light before the grotto was covered. Originally there was a stream running through the grotto, but this was blocked off during the Japanese occupation. Pictures were not allowed inside the grotto because it violates Buddhist beliefs. We were able to purchase a roof tile, and paint it with our own design. In the next year or two this tile will be used to restore the roof of the grotto. Apparently, the ancient monks calculated the exact curvature of tile necessary to optimize rainwater drainage. I was interested to see the calculation, but no one seemed to understand my request.  The tile to the right of the UM tile was prepared by our University of Ulsan counterparts. We took a group picture with the two tiles together that I will post as soon as I get it. 

We ate lunch at a Korean restaurant, which gave us our first real taste of Korean food. Up to this point we have been eating HHI cafeteria and dorm food, which is comparable in quality to American cafeteria and dorm food. There were single propane burner stoves on each table, like a nice camp stove, and a special pan. We cooked our own food right on the spot. In addition to the beef, onion, carrot and bean sprouts that we cooked, there were many traditional Korean side dishes, and some Hite beer or corn tea, which we like to call “liquid popcorn.”

After we lunch we re boarded the bus and went to Yangdong Folk Village. The bus ride put some of us to sleep, but Mr. Jeong’s liberal distribution of ice cream at Yangdong seemed to have a restorative effect. This village was likely populated as early as 400 B.C., and the houses that we saw were built in the 1700’s. This is still a populated village as evidenced by Al’s careful inspection of a satellite dish. We saw a snake in the road, and were quite careful to avoid it. The consensus among the group was triangular head = poisonous and I had no desire to verify this with personal experience. We stopped in at a small house where we were served more food, and traditional Korean rice wine. Everyone was enjoying himself or herself thoroughly.

A nice nap on the bus ride home prepared us for a night of celebration on the Ulsan beach. We bought some roman candles, bottle rockets, a smidge more Hite and celebrated the 4^th of July in style. Our singing of the national anthem coupled with the roman candles elicited some strange looks from fellow beach goers, but we felt it was a necessary exercise.