Browsing the archives for the hiking tag

Itinerary: 10 Days in Gyeongju

Not to become a broken record or anything, but most tourists just bounce down to Gyeongju for a long weekend, hit up the big tourist sites, and head home Sunday night. It’s a shame really. You can barely even scratch the surface of what Gyeonju has to offer in 2 days. [...]

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Restaurant Review #12: 100 Years Tea House (백년찻집)

Perched on the ridge of Mt. Tohamsan (토함산) , looking East over the Churyeong (추령) Pass is one of the best kept secrets of Gyeongju:  the Beak Nyeon Cha Jip (백년찻집) or “100 Years Tea House”.  Whether you’re a dedicated  tea aficionado or you need a break on the trip over to the East Sea [...]

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Top 10 Ancient Stone Buddhas (석불) of Gyeongju: Part 2 of 2

Continued from Part 1:
5.  The Buddha Boulder (부처바위) of Tapgol Valley (탑골): Tucked behind the quaint beauty of Oknyeongam Hermitage (옥룡암) in Tapgol (pagoda) Valley is a large rock outcropping covered with Buddhist carvings.  There are dozens of cryptic images including meditating Buddhas, flying Devas, pagodas, and even winged lions!  The quiet magic of [...]

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Top 10 Ancient Stone Buddhas (석불) of Gyeongju: Part 1 of 2

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 [...]

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Links: San-shin.org

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.
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My Gyeongju Top 10

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 [...]

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Hiking Route: Chilbulam Hermitage (칠불암)

 I’ve been running this blog now for almost 3 months and it’s nearly criminal I’ve not said anything yet about Mt. Namsan (남산) as I think it’s one of the coolest things about Gyeongju. Mt. Namsan’s not nearly as tall as some of the mountains around here (just under 500 meters actually) but what makes [...]

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More Links

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the links, so here’s a run down of a few websites and blogs I’ve dug up in the last month or so.
If you’re new to Korea or want to learn more about Korean food, my friend Pete hooked me up with a link to TriFood.com. It’s focus [...]

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