A jacket

BUS, CAR, WALK

On December 10th I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a one-day tour of Yeongju with Fun Day Korea Networks covering two UNESCO heritage sites located in the rural, historical city. Meeting at Yangjae station at 8am, we took a bus to the city located in north Gyeongsang province, which took around three hours including a short rest stop. The scenery on the journey was beautiful, with lots of mountains and countryside surrounding our bus. We first visited a Korean buffet restaurant for lunch before embarking on a guided tour of Buseoksa Temple that included various cultural experiences, and ended our day with a tour of Sosuseowon confucian academy. This was my first time visiting Yeongju and I found it to be a very beautiful and interesting place. As well as getting to meet new people and participate in fun activities and new experiences, I also got to learn a lot of interesting things about Korea’s history thanks to this tour, which I will share the highlights of with you in the blog below! After eating a delicious lunch upon our arrival in Yeongju, we took a short drive to the Buseoksa temple site to begin our day of exploring important UNESCO cultural sites. A tour guide from the temple greeted us at its entrance as we exited the bus, from which we began the short hike up to the temple in the mountains. Although there are many steps to climb it is worth it for the amazing panoramic views you can see from the temple’s grounds. Built in 676 during the Silla kingdom period by a monk named Uisang-daesa, this temple’s name means “floating stone” in its original Hanji characters. One of the things that has stuck in my memory most since the tour’s end is the romantic legend behind this name. Uisang-daesa went to study in China before constructing this temple, and there he met and fell in love with a woman with whom he was unable to confess his feelings to or pursue a relationship with due to his faith. Because of this pain the woman walked into the ocean where she drowned, and upon her death transformed into a dragon. During Uisang-daesa’s return to Korea to begin constructing Buseoksa, the dragon of his lover would appear to scare away those that opposed its construction, and she also helped to lift a stone on its grounds. This stone can be seen today next to the central, most ancient building in the temple, where it lies as a rememberance of the love that aided its construction.