I like travelling alone. That way, I've only got one idiot to worry about.
I’m stuck at home with the flu as I type this post, but I’ve found a way to cope with the fever: replaying memories of one bitterly, bitterly cold February night in Seoul, when I went for a nighttime walk across the Korean capital’s slick new linear park.
On a chilly winter’s day this past February, I returned to Suwon in order to take care of some long-unfinished business: namely, completing my trek around the city’s massive Joseon-era fortress wall.
Some have confessed to being puzzled by my habit of visiting Japan and Korea with (what might be viewed as) unusual, perhaps even alarming frequency. But what can I say: every time I swing by, I discover something new to pique my interest, and that bears with it the promise of yet more new discoveries the next time I’m in the area. Take, for example, my recent midday stroll along Jeongjo-ro in Suwon, during which I came across some achingly beautiful expressions of traditional Korean architecture that I didn’t see the last time I pounded the pavements of this very same street.
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 up talking about that museum I visited. (Eventually.)
Qui mortem nostram moriéndo destrúxit et vitam resurgéndo reparávit.
Friend and reader: I wish you, your family, and all your loved ones a very happy Easter.
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 is sensible enough to reserve seats far, far in advance.
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 which to let my imagination run riot, filling the void with mental images of the magnificent structures that stood here all those centuries ago.
Continue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 2 (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 any Silla ruin or landmark in terms of grandeur and craftsmanship.
Continue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 2 Part 1 (17 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 simple commoners throng to see today.
Continue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 3 (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 surrounded with no less splendour.
Continue reading “Field Report: Two Days in Gyeongju, South Korea – Day 1 Part 2 (16 February 2018)”
Within striking distance