The Ancient Shilla Capital



Entrance to the inn



John in our room

John and I are staying at a traditional inn in the historic city of Kyeongju. It reminds me of some of the nicer inns I stayed in 30 years ago except this one has flush toilets!  





We went to see a famous temple called Bulguksa. It was built in the 9th century. I visited it the last time I was here and at that time it had just been restored. The paint has faded now; I think it is time for another restoration. It makes me feel old. I did the bows I learned at the temple--a bow from the waist and then three bows with your head on the floor and another bow from the waist. The temple lady gave me a stick of inscense to place in front of the Buddha, so I must have done the bows right.

We hiked up to a grotto called Seokguram that has a famous Buddha statute. It was a long hike in the rain, but the cuckoos were calling (the birds that is) and we saw numerous interesting frogs.  At the top John got the chance to ring a Buddhist bell. The bell makes a wonderful deep sound that echos through the mountain. We heard it serveral times during our hike.
click to hear bell
 

John rings the bell



One of the stranger things we encountered on the hike was an exercise area. There were various things set up for situps and the usual kinds of exercise, but included in the equipment were three heavy duty hula hoops. What a great idea!

On the hike was an exercise area including a hula hoop.