This report should have been focused on the museum in the title – but, as you’ll see further on, I was momentarily distracted by the transportation infrastructure I employed to reach it. What can I say: I’m a railway enthusiast through and through. But read on chaps, and I promise you that we’ll end upContinue reading “Field (and a bit of Rail) Report: Suwon Hwaseong Museum, South Korea (18 February 2018)”
Category Archives: Korea
Rail Report: Gyeongju to Seoul on the Mugunghwa and KTX, South Korea (17 February 2018)
Travelling across Korea during the Seollal holiday rush is no picnic; not when trains are filled to bursting with hordes of people flooding back into the big urban centres from their hometowns. Fortunately, the KORAIL network’s efficient intercity services can help take some of the pain out of the annual migration … provided one isContinue reading “Rail Report: Gyeongju to Seoul on the Mugunghwa and KTX, South Korea (17 February 2018)”
Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 2 (17 February 2018)
During the last few hours of my first visit to Gyeongju, I explored the ruins of what had once been amongst Silla’s greatest temples – now reduced to a grassy field littered with weathered stones and the ghostly outlines of long-lost buildings. Empty, silent, desolate … and for all that, a fitting canvas upon whichContinue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 2 (17 February 2018)”
Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 1 (17 February 2018)
In my last few posts (here, here, and here), we’ve seen some of the remarkable architectural relics of the long-lost Kingdom of Silla. Now we’re off to visit one of Korea’s finest museums, where we can admire and appreciate other historic treasures that might be far smaller in size, but are the equal of anyContinue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 1 (17 February 2018)”
Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 3 (16 February 2018)
Evening light-ups can be a hit-or-miss affair, especially where historic sites are concerned. That said, I’ll admit that it’s interesting to reflect on how the kings and exalted personages of Silla, with all of their untold wealth and unbridled power, could never have enjoyed the nighttime vistas (courtesy of modern-day electric lighting) that we simpleContinue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 3 (16 February 2018)”
Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 2 (16 February 2018)
Earlier in the day, I’d seen how the ruling class of Silla once lived in settings of unparalleled luxury over a thousand years ago, as epitomised by the remains of their gardens and palaces. As I walked amongst the silent mounds of earth marking their graves, it became clear to me that they died surroundedContinue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 2 (16 February 2018)”
Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 1 (16 February 2018)
Some places grow on you after more than one visit. Others, you fall in love with at first sight. In the case of Gyeongju, where the remnants of a long-lost empire lie upon the ground so thickly that the very act of taking a step feels like turning a page in a history book, IContinue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 1 (16 February 2018)”
Rail Report: Seoul to Gyeongju on the KTX and Mugunghwa, South Korea (16 February 2018)
On a freezing winter’s day in Seoul, I set off on a long journey to the historic city of Gyeongju, about 300 kilometres to the southeast as the crow flies (even farther than that on the ground, of course). Let’s see what it’s like to travel from one to the other on Korea’s extensive railwayContinue reading “Rail Report: Seoul to Gyeongju on the KTX and Mugunghwa, South Korea (16 February 2018)”
(Mini-)Food Report: A Return Visit to Myeongdong Kyoja (Seoul, South Korea)
I love food, but I’m not a foodie. I’m not the sort of chap who would spend hours scouring the streets of Tōkyō or the back-alleys of Seoul in search of new, unique, quirky, pop-up, or Michelin-starred establishments of the sort that critics love to rave about. No, my friend – when I’m hungry, anythingContinue reading “(Mini-)Food Report: A Return Visit to Myeongdong Kyoja (Seoul, South Korea)”
Field Report: Reconstruction of Heungbokjeon at Gyeongbokgung, Seoul, South Korea (15 February 2018)
I’ve been to Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung so many times, I can’t even say off-hand how many times I’ve gone there. And one of the things that keep drawing me back to this vast Joseon-era complex is the ongoing, almost mind-bogglingly colossal effort to rebuild the many palace structures destroyed in the early 20th century – aContinue reading “Field Report: Reconstruction of Heungbokjeon at Gyeongbokgung, Seoul, South Korea (15 February 2018)”
Within striking distance 