Chuseok Adventures: Of Tombs and Corn Dogs
“Live your life by a compass, not a clock.” – Stephen Covey
How did I end up spending my first Korean Thanksgiving in one of the most historic cities of South Korea? Well, it wasn't entirely by accident, and it wasn't entirely on purpose. It was entirely Tharek Teacher, and that's really all that can be said. My plans for the five day holiday had mostly consisted of watching dramas (Chinese or Korean was TBD), continuing with my rice and dumpling diet, and maybe possibly going out for pizza towards the end to finish it all in a style that all my previous roommates will attest to being very Shayla-esque.
So when Tharek texted me asking if I had any plans for Chuseok, I wanted to say yes. But I also knew that while Tharek would be polite about it, he'd still call me out my lameness. So I said no, and he presented me with this proposition to go traveling over the break. Immediately the part of Shayla that GETS REALLY NERVOUS ABOUT GOING PLACES jumped forward to remind me of the fact (just in case you know, I'd forgotten or something). But I'm no chicken, and knew from experience that exploring with Tharek likely promised to be a good time.
So I heard him out. Then kept hearing him out as the plans started to get meat on their bones. Until suddenly I found myself with plans that were very decidedly not centered around my TV and a pizza.
There were a lot of nerves involved in getting ready for the trip. Going to the bank twice to get a functioning debit card (with most Korean names having a total of three syllables, my 7 syllable, 16 letter name creates learning opportunities for lots of people), to figuring out how to reserve bus tickets online and figuring out which of the three bus stations I'd lead from? Insanity. Needless to say the days leading up to the trip were somewhat anxiety riddled. Especially considering we were traveling from different cities and so getting there was 99.98% on me.
But that's part of the fun of being friends with Tharek. He confidently walked me through the process of getting a bus ticket, and I was convinced he knew exactly what was going on. Then I got a message from him the morning we were supposed to leave saying "just getting to the bus station...going to find out if the reservation worked."
What.
The fact it made me relieved that we were both in the same clueless boat does little to boost faith in my common sense. But somehow we both got on our busses, no problem, no hitches, and with some flawless planning (and stupid luck) we both arrived at the Gyeongju intercity bus station within five minutes of each other.
And just in case you were wondering, I got there first. ;)
We rushed to our hotel, dropped our bags into our rooms, and met in the lobby where our host set us up with a map and a recommended travel itinerary. Then we were out and ready to start our adventure.
Which is where the pictures start to come in, and a theme for our budding friendship - taking the long way to get everywhere because asking for directions is passé. The true miracle of this trip is that we consistently were only a block or two off from our destinations and didn't end up stranded off somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Then the wandering started after a quick detour back to the motel for jackets. Being October Eve, fall weather had began to settle in and the night temperatures were beginning to drop.
We worked our way toward the more historic parts of Gyeongju, admiring the towering mountain lumps that are the tombs of great kings from the Silla era (1st to 7th centuries), and walked down what Tharek was convinced were walking trails and I suspected were really service walkways. But when other people (i.e. Koreans who should know what the rules are) started walking down around us, I began to stop worrying that we'd get yelled at, and started to contemplate my chances of escape if a zombie king were to pop up at me from one of the nearby graves.
But there were no zombies, and thanks to our map we found ourselves walking down the sidewalk in the general direction of Donggung Palace. Along the way we saw we saw Cheomseongdae which we were informed was an astronomical observatory. It was small, and didn't seem very impressive (as you can tell from my Instagram caption), I've seen kilns that looks bigger. It wasn't until later that a Korean friend(s) of Tharek's responded to my question and we learned that this is not only the oldest observatory in Asia, but likely in the whole world. Learning we'd been in the presence of something that had survived wars and natural disasters since the early 7th century, our opinions of it did a 180.
When we finally got to the gates to Donggung Palace it was 9PM and with an hour to closing time. That wasn't a lot of time, and we didn't want to go in and then have to come back in the morning because we'd only gotten to see half of it. Lets be honest, it was me who was worried. I was telling Tharek I wasn't sure about going in, when a voice coming from behind me said,
"There is time enough."
It felt like Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda was speaking, and I started and turning around. I didn't see anyone except an older Korean gentleman who was dressed in a uniform marking him as one of the workers there. He wasn't looking directly at us, but from the way he was smiling I was pretty sure he was the one who said it.
So with shrugs Tharek and I headed to the ticket booth to buy our tickets. We were behind a group of visiting academics and thanks to them, we learned that if you're 65 or older, you can get in free. Something Tharek told me I should take advantage of considering my advanced years (I guess being two years older than him makes me ancient).
But Master Oogway was right, there was time enough, and it was entirely worth it.
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| A mock up of the original palace as it was when it was intact. |
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| Makes me wonder what typos I'd find in the Spanish or Korean translations at US monuments. Things to look for next time I'm back in the States. |
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| The contrasts in these pictures...still looking back at these pictures I can't get enough of how clear that reflection is. Some of these photos if you flipped upside down would be almost impossible to tell which side is up. While most of the palace isn't intact, several of the outside villas are still intact, and being able to wander through them and see their lights shine in the water made the whole place come alive. (For those concerned about the status of my common sense, I gave Tharek a hard no on wandering the ghost infested bamboo forest that neighbored the palace. I've seen the movies, foreign tourists are HIGH on ghost hit lists. No thank you.) |
Vendors were all over the place there, and Koreans have a thing for corn dogs. Enough so I didn't to ragged by Tharek for getting one when we'd said "Korean only" food. The outside was perfect, the hot dog was cold. :'(
After getting our late night snack we slowly made our way towards the more modern parts of Gyeongju. The streets were starting to get a new kind of life as the families were heading home and the younger crowds raced their rented vespas down the empty roads and stopped to get selfies with the moon.
Deciding renting a vespa wasn't wise, we instead took a detour through a traditional village and let our imaginations go wild, pretending to be co-conspirators plotting the downfall of some ancient Silla king. The moon was bright, the laughter was deep, and our feet were sore by the time we made it back to our motel and waved goodnight at each other before retreating into our rooms for a much needed rest.
I settled in comfortably and finished the evening with part of my original vacation plans - curled in bed watching a drama. And so ended the beginning of my first Chuseok.
-Shayla
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