When I first met "Korea"

Kyŏngju, Korea’s Museum Without Walls
Text by Suzanne Crowder Han

It’s been around 7 years since I am really into Korea and recently I have just kept thinking what make me really love this country in the beginning. Then, I realized that it was because of a book!

Back in 2011, my dad showed me one of his book with title “Kyŏngju, Korea’s Museum Without Walls” (aka Gyeongju). It is an old book with a lot of pictures that was firstly published in 1988. My dad showed me this book and told me that he’d stayed in Korea for around 3 months to get some workshops from his company. He liked the country, bought this book to know the country better, and finally he let me met Korea for first time through a book. Unlike many of people (or at least a lot of my friends) get in touch with Korea through soap operas or K-Pop, I got it through a book even from my dad. 

After I read this book, I started to fall in love with Korea especially its tourism as the books really explain on how beautiful the city of Gyeongju with its historic places and monuments until it is eligible to be called “Korea’s Museum Without Wall”. What I had in mind at that time, it was a very well-maintained historical sites that would make you really comfortable enjoying them. Even though until now historical soap operas (사극) like in the Joseon era is not my cup of tea, this book made me really want to visit the Gyeongju to see it by myself especially The Bulguksa Temple and The Royal Tumuli Park. 

• The Bulguksa Temple 

I really wanted to visit this place after looking at the picture. It looks really beautiful especially since it was built with stones and woods with artistic pattern on the roof part. Besides, it was also representative relic of Gyeongju and designated as a World Cultural Asset by UNESCO in 1995. 

• The Royal Tumuli Park

This one amazed me the most because I have never seen a tourism object like this before even through pictures. According to this book, as Gyeongju used to be home for 56 Shilla kings and queens, it is natural that it because the place where royal tombs are. Only 20 of them are visible with variety of sizes. This 152,000 square-meter park looks so unique for me. 

Actually I have visited Korea in 2014 but in a very short time that made me unable to enjoy Korea really well. Hopefully, I can revisit Korea again someday for a longer time so that I can enjoy the country especially Gyeongju better. 

Kimcheers!