Young, a Korean American, living in California saw Globetrotter Kevin’s
\n Korean itinerary in March’s Globetrotter e-newsletter whilst visiting
\n Korea for a week with his wife and daughter after a trip to Tibet and
\n Sichuan, China.<\/p>\n
Young has a few hints and tips he’d like to pass on to us, particularly
\n more interesting as Korea will see a massive influx of tourists as a result
\n of co-hosting the next Football (Soccer) World Cup with Japan in a few
\n weeks’ time:<\/p>\n
1) Gyeongbokgung is a fine introduction to Korean “old palaces”,
\n a significant part of Korean cultural heritage. An advantage is that there
\n are museums on the grounds as you say. But if I were to pick a single
\n palace for someone with limited time, it would be Changdukgung Palace,
\n which is a beautiful place, especially the Piwon (Secret Garden) part.
\n There are also regularly scheduled guided tours in English. 2) In Gyeongju,
\n most Koreans would consider Sokuram (Stone Grotto) a must see. Last year
\n I had a privilege of seeing it up close (beyond the glass barrier) thorough
\n some contact, and it was a great experience to see the details of the
\n stone carvings. Certainly not as extensive or imposing as the relief in
\n Angkor Wat which came later, but they offer subtle and balanced beauty
\n that you see commonly in Korean art.<\/p>\n
3) We took a 3-day side trip from Seoul to Busuksa Temple and Andong
\n in Kyungsangbuk-Do (the province where Gyeongju and also Taegu, one of
\n the World cup sites are located), made easier with the recent opening
\n of “Central Highway”. Busuksa is an old Buddhist temple dating
\n back to the 7th century, and contains the second oldest wooden structure
\n in Korea. Some people consider this temple to be in the most beautiful
\n mountainside setting in Korea. Andong is a traditional town with well-preserved
\n Korean style houses. At the nearby hamlet of Hahoe, we attended the annual
\n festival commemorating the visit by Queen Elizabeth II 3 years ago. The
\n highlight is the mask dance that started as a parody on the ruling class
\n 600 years ago. From spring to fall, there is a performance of the dance
\n every Saturday and Sunday. We also visited the most celebrated of the
\n old private schools for Confucian scholars, Dosan Seowon, dating back
\n to 16th century.<\/p>\n
4) For me, the fascination of the Korean landscape and culture can be
\n found in one setting – Buddhist temples. They are typically located
\n deep in mountains, and many of them have survived the ravage of war throughout
\n centuries. They are still the central repository of Korean Buddhistic
\n practice where meditation in the serene setting is an integral part. Try
\n to visit at least one Korean temple – it is vastly different from a Thai
\n temple, typically gaudy and metropolitan. The most famous is Bulkuksa
\n (often overrun with tourists), mentioned in Kevin's itinerary, not
\n far from Daegu and Ulsan where World Cup matches are to be held. Haeinsa
\n and Tongdosa in Kyonsangnamdo, near Busan are also well-known.<\/p>\n
5) Visitors will find it difficult to communicate in English in Korea,
\n especially in the countryside, even though we saw the whole country gearing
\n up for co-hosting of the World Cup. Organized tours will be convenient
\n but expensive. Independent travellers will need patience and spirit of
\n adventure, but rewarded with memories of a unique culture, neither Chinese
\n nor Japanese. Korea is much cheaper than Japan, but significantly more
\n expensive than most third-world countries, especially in the world-class
\n city of Seoul.<\/p>\n
Young, a Korean American, living in California saw Globetrotter Kevin’s Korean itinerary in March’s Globetrotter e-newsletter whilst visiting Korea for a week with his wife and daughter after a trip…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-may-2002"],"yoast_head":"\n