After lunch, we headed to Seokguram Grotto, built by the same person who built Bulguksa Temple. It was approximately 30 minutes away from the temple, and from the parking lot it is 1/2 km walk up a winding mountain path. Once you get to the temple, you walk up a stone path to the grotto - which is a large dome built into the edge of the mountain side, once open so the Buddha faced outwards toward the sun. There is a now a building covering the opening of the dome, and glass covers the Buddha to protect it from tourists. The statue is absolutely gorgeous. It is, according to all sources, a classic example of Silla art. (Silla being one of the three kingdoms of Korea, from approx. 50 B.C.E to almost 700 C.E.) Legend has it that in the center of the Buddha's forehead there once was a diamond which perfectly reflected the sunlight during the soltice as it came int through the center of the dome. There is another jewel in the third eye now. We were not allowed to take photos anywhere inside the grotto, so the only photos I have are from the walk to and from the grotto and the views from the top. The following photo is from http://www.visitkorea.or.kr.
The new building that you enter in order to go "inside the dome" to see the Buddha.
On the way home, O. fell asleep and we were all so stuffed from dinner that we ended up playing the traditional Korean game yut, drinking soju, and snacking on peanuts and fruit.
The next morning, a trip to the Gyeongju National Museum, then off to the coast, complete with trip to seaport town, amazing king crab for lunch, and lots of playing on the actual beach. Lots of pretty sea glass for me to pick up - which G. just did not understand. He kept telling me that it was just soju bottles and making fun of me for cleaning up trash on the beach. Now I guess I have to do something with the sea glass just to show him that I picked it up for a reason.
We got to help "park" a boat coming in to dock...
shop for a very fresh lunch...
walk around the local market while we wait for our seafood to be cooked...
come back to already cut apart amazing king crab...yummy!!!....
along with many other lovely side dishes (some like the oysters, lovely, others like the orange squishy, chewy things - not so lovely)...
and a spicy fish stew to end the meal...only in Korea is this the end of the meal...
then off to the beach, very rocky because of all the mountains close by...
he could have spent all day here, throwing rocks into the waves, digging holes, and looking for shells...
then back to the house for pork barbeque, complete with introducing the Koreans to the wonders of roasted marshmallows and make-shift s'mores. So funny, they had seen people in movies roasting marshmallows over campfires, but couldn't understand why anyone would want to do that since they don't especially like the taste of marshmallows. At least they didn't until we got them brown and caramelized and gooey and wonderful. Then they understood. And ate almost the whole bag.
More trip tomorrow.
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