Browsing the archives for the Spring tag
I have to apologize to the regular readers of this blog (if indeed they exist beyond my lovely wife ) for being slack in posting lately. I had not one, but two, presentations to prepare for my masters program this last week. As my creative efforts have been going elsewhere, I don’t actually have any [...]
It’s finally beginning to feel a bit like spring around Gyeongju, which means we’re just days away from that magical season when the cherry trees begin to bud and then blossom. Entire streets in Gyeongju turn into marshmallow wonderlands and romantic couples stroll through flurries of pink petals. I already posted last spring on some [...]
In the eastern shadow of Mt. Namsan (남산), just a few minutes up the road from Tongiljeon Shrine (통일전), is one of the more unique tourist attractions in the area: the Gyeongsangbuk-do Botanical Gardens (경상북도산림환경연구소). Even though it has nothing to do with ancient tombs, stone Buddhas or the Shilla Dynasty, the Botanical Gardens are [...]
I mentioned a few weeks ago Dongguk University held it’s lantern-lighting ceremony in honor of Buddha’s Birthday on April 29th. As it turned out, the 29th was also declared a National Day or Mourning in honor of the 46 sailors who died in the sinking of the “Cheonan” on March 26th. Unfortunately this meant all [...]
The other Sunday the sun was finally shining after a solid week of rain. My wife and I hopped in the car and took off to explore the countryside determined to enjoy some of the hard-earned Spring weather. As luck would have it, we drifted back some country roads going west out of town, and [...]
Coming up in about a week and a half is my absolute favorite holiday in Korea: Seokga Tanshinil (석가탄신일), or Buddha’s Birthday. Every temple in Korea celebrates Buddha’s Birthday one way or another. Most hang lanterns, have special ceremonies and serve a special group lunch or dinner for parishioners. A few of the larger or [...]
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 [...]
