Browsing the blog archives for April, 2010
One of the cool things about Gyeongu is that it’s literally covered with ancient stone Buddhas from the Unified Shilla Dynasty (통일 신라), most dating back to around the 7th or 8th centuries C.E. Very little is generally known about the sculptors who chiseled out these masterpieces way back when, though they were probably carved [...]
We’re almost to the end of April which means we’re just a month away from my favorite Korean Holiday: Buddha’s Birthday, or Seokgatanssinil (석가탄신일). This year Buddha’s Birthday falls on Friday, May 21st and all of the temples around town are getting ready to hang their lanterns. As a Buddhist school, Dongguk University is preparing [...]
It’s Thursday morning which means that we’re down to the final day of the Gyeongju Liquor & Ddeok Festival (경주술과떡잔치) in Hwangseong Park. Unfortunately I missed the Festival’s kickoff Saturday, though I hear it was packed with people and the weather was gorgeous. By the time I got down there on Monday, this week-long [...]
Okay, so it looks like my predictions about the cherry blossoms being over this weekend were (thankfully) bogus. The cherries have survived our nasty bout of snow and cold Wednesday night and it looks like they’re still going strong. Barring any freak windstorms or rogue typhoons, the cherry flowers should still be in full bloom [...]
Over the last week or so the cherry blossoms (벚꽃) here in Gyeongju have just exploded. Hopefully,you got out to see them last weekend as we’ve been in for a bit of nasty weather lately. The temperature’s really dropped and we even had some snow mixed in with the rain tonight, which is not going to [...]
Back at the start of March I posted on this year’s Daeboreum (대보름), or Great Full Moon Bon Fire Festival, in Gyeongju. As promised, I finally got around to editing the video and I’ve whittled it down to about 2 minutes. Most of the video is of the Ganggang Sullae (강강술래) folk dancing around the [...]
Like a lot of posts on this blog, I’d meant to get something up on San-shin.org ages ago. If you’re at all interested in traditional Korean culture, this site’s an awesome resource. It’s a treasure trove of info on everything from Korean Shamanism and Buddhist culture to folk art, feng shui, hiking and green tea.
As I’ve been trying to get the word out about events before they actually happen, I’m pleased as puddin’ to announce that it’s that time of year again for the Gyeongju Soju (소 주) & Ddeok (떡) , or Liquor and Rice Cake Festival. As always, the festival’s in Hwanseong Park. The official word is [...]
One of my few complaints about Gyeongju is that there just aren’t many foreign restaurants here. Sure, Gyeongju has all your usual greasy fast food joints, but you’ve got to go all the way to Daegu to find a TGI Fridays or Outback Steak House. And if you’re itching for Thai or Mexican, just forget it. Luckily we [...]
I know it’s all the trend these days, but I figured it was about time I sat down and wrote out my personal top ten “to do” list for Gyeongju. Some of these I’ve posted on already, and if I haven’t yet, I hope to soon. So here they are in brief; counting down from 10 [...]
