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Start
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Daereungwon Ancient Tombs
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Cheomseongdae
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Gyochon Village
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Gyeongju National Museum
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Bulguksa Temple
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Bomun Tourist Complex
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Gyeongju Tower
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Bunhwangsa Temple
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Food
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Finish
Bulguksa Temple 불국사
If all the people of our country gathered up and had a reminding quiz, maybe everyone will answer 'Bulguksa Temple' at the word of 'Gyeongju'. Bulguksa Temple sure is a representative tourist site of Gyeongju.
Also, there are many restaurants and accommodations with the name Bulguksa Temple near the temple and even the train station's name has changed to Bulguksa Temple station. The temple's affect on the local economic is sure huge.
Bulguksa Temple is located at the foot of Tohamsan mountain, the south east side of Gyeongju. Bulguksa Temple is made by Kim Daeseong, a premier of king Gyeongdeok in United Silla. Bulguksa Temple became a World Cultural Heritage, along with Seokguram Grotto in 1995.
By the public transportation from Gyeongju terminal it is able to arrive at the parking lot in 30~40 minutes. Right in front of the bus stop, there is the tourist information booth of Bulguksa Temple .
On the left side of the information booth there is the low uphill road entrance. And there is the main entrance with the temple gate dedicated to the Four Devas on the right side, which a bit longer.
The main entrance side isn't a high uphill road, so I recommend to enter through the main entrance where you can see the the temple gate dedicated to the Four Devas and the temple from the front.
But those who anticipated a quiet temple must be disappointed, because there are many street vendors, as Bulguksa Temple is a famous tourist site.
But as life is, if you stand the hardness and go up the way, a beautiful scene comes in your eyes. At both sides of the uphill there are big cherry flowers that goes longer than cherry flowers, bloomed all around the place in pink.
When we went through the pink tunnel and pink carpet made by the big cherry flowers, the entrance of Bulguksa Temple came in soon.
On the right side of the ticket booth there is a small trail, a way up to Seokguram Grotto, the hermitage of Bulguksa Temple.
From Bulguksa Temple to Seokguram Grotto it takes 20 minutes by car, 50 minutes by walk. You can also use the bus(no 12) that leaves from the parking lot on 40 minute of every hour.
After passing the entrance of Bulguksa Temple, a small moat comes out first where people were taking photos. Ah~ this moat reminds me when I visited here back in my school days.
Beyond the bridge that crosses the moat, there is the temple gate dedicated to the Four Devas, the entrance of the temple. And as Buddha's Birthday is a week ahead, there are colorful Lotus Lanterns hanging around Bulguksa Temple .
As other temples are, there are Fourguardian statues at the temple gate dedicated to the Four Devas and the thick dust on the Fourguardian statues show us how many people had came to Bulguksa Temple .
Flagpole Support (3.6m) is standing firmly at the left side of the temple gate dedicated to the Four Devas, which had been used in events or rituals at the temple.
Flagpole Support of Bulguksa Temple are both estimated to be old, but the furrow and the size are different from each other, so they are assumed to be those of different eras.
The back side of Flagpole Support is the popular spot of group photos. The stone steps connected to Jaamun. The stairs are 2 sets, the upperside is Chungwoonkyo, and the down side is called Baegungyo. they are national treasure no. 23.
Bulguksa Temple is a temple that is the world of Buddha. Under Chungwoonkyo and Baegungyo means the world of ordinary people, and the upper side means Buddha land, the world of Buddha. That's why people should pass the Chungwoonkyo and Baegungyo and Jaamun, to get in the world of Siddhartha Buddha in the north.
It's to prohibited to get on, to protect the cultural site, instead we went up the trail on right to the Daeungjeon Hall side. Then a large stone pagoda came out.
Near the tower, we heard many people buzzing “10 won~ 10 won”. As most people already know, Dabotap(National Treasure no.20), the main of 10 won is showing it's greatness in front of us.
In the middle of the tower, there is a lion sculpture, there used to be 4 lions at each side. But all the other lions were gone, the last one is left because it has no worth, as it's nose part is broken. I felt we need to protect our cultural heritages desperately.
Another stone pagoda Seokgatap(National Treasure no.21) which is next to Bulguksa Temple was unfortunately under dismantlement and repair(from 2011 to December 2014), so there was a big guard around it.
Dabotap has a fancy beauty and Seokgatap also called as Muyeongtap has a pleasant beauty, the feeling will be much bigger if we saw them together. So I was disappointed that Seokgatap is under construction.
Musiljeon that is behind Daeungjeon Hall(treasure no. 1744) was also under repairment construction.
Just like Chungwoonkyo and Baegungyo on the way up to Daeungjeon Hall, Geungnakjeon is on the left side of Daeungjeon Hall and has to come up Yeonhwagyo and Chilbogyo(national treasure no. 22) to reach the building.
Bulguksa Temple Geungnakjeon was popular especially on 2007, the year of golden pig. gilt bronze statue of sitting Amitabha(national treasure no. 27), which is one of the 3 Giltbronze Buddhist Statue of United Silla is in Geungnakjeon.
It's prohibited to take photos inside, we had another fun finding the golden pig that was hidden behing Geungnakjeon's signboard.
Behind Geungnakjeon is Nahanjeon Hall, where Buddha's followers are placed in. On the left side of Nahanjeon Hall is the little rock piles which are even more famous than Nahanjeon Hall.
There is the rock pile place where visitors come and pile rocks along with their wishes. Although I am not a Buddhism believers, I also wished a small wish and piled a rock.
When you go into Birojeon, there is Sarira Pagoda(treasure no. 61) which went to Japan on 1905 and was returned to Korea on 1933, standing lonely on one side without people's attention.
And there is Birojeon, where Vairocana Buddha, the highest Buddha and statue of the gilt-bronze statue of sitting Buddha (national treasure no. 26), another Giltbronze Buddhist Statue during United Silla era are kept.
In the most inner side of Bulguksa Temple is Gwaneumjeon Hall, where Avalokiteśvara, the Buddhist saint who resque the mankind. But Gwaneumjeon Hall was also under construction…
On the way coming down from Bulguksa Temple there is Beomjonggak on the right side, it tells when morning comes to all the temples.
Bulguksa Temple is a temple which expressed the wish of the 3 kinds of Buddha land. It has the main temple which is the the world of suffering of Sakyamuni according to the the Sutra of the Lotus, and Geungnakjeon which is a Land of Happiness of Amita Buddha according to Amitagyeong. And Geungnakjeon, the world of Yeonhwajang of Vairocana Buddha according to the Avatamsaka Sutra is in Bulguksa Temple .
Because of that, the temple was opened and rebuilded very often from Silla era to Joseon era. And many princes of royalty and many kings from every era had offered their devotion at Bulguksa Temple .
After looking around Bulguksa Temple, the wish of Silla people who dreamed of the world of Buddha, we came down through the back gate written 'Toham mountain Bulguksa Temple ' and moved to the parking lot.
We met a ascetic who wore Buddhist monk's robe with white hair in the parking lot. The look of him smiling looking down the mountain with his baggage in a cloth seems to have some kind of a meaning. Bulguksa Temple really allows us to see such scene…
The entering hours of Bulguksa Temple is 07:00~18:00 and the entry fee is 4,000 won for one adult, a bit more expensive than other tourist sites.
What's more, Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple is separated and the same entry fee should be paid again. I think this is a wrong policy.
And the lines that are all over the place due to the construction is a great disturb to the tourists, and the fact that we couldn't even take a look at Seokgatap was a poor thing of this Bulguksa Temple tour.
Address : Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do jinhyeondong 15 (경상북도 경주시 진현동 15)
Phone Number : 054-746-9913
Opening hours : 07:00 to 18:00
Homepage : http://www.bulguksa.or.kr/
Yu Su Jeong Ssambap 유수정 쌈밥
When you come down from Bulguksa Temple , there are restaurants gathered around the gas station on the right side on the way to Bomun Tourist Complex.
We headed to Yu Su Jeong Ssambap, right behind the gas station. Usually Ssambap restaurants in Gyeongju are gathered around Daereungwon, but we decided to taste them at a restaurant near Bulguksa Temple .
There is a main building and annex past the parking lot. We went in the main building. The restaurant had an atmosphere like a live café near Seoul, with 70~80's music coming out from the parking lot.
Past the counter and in the inner side is a yard and in the yard there were an old turntable like a DJ BOX, with hundreds of LP plates. The old feeing was good but the dust weren't good….
Reed organ and textbooks that are not easy to find nowadays. But what's funny is that the books that are placed at the Music Sheet place are Nature and Ethics, not Music~~!
Dolls that are wearing 7~80's school uniforms causing nostalgia to aged people and a figure of Cheomseongdae that shows we are in Gyeongju were on the reed organ.
On the crock in the yard, there was a face pot with an atmosphere of the Latin. In the center of the yard, there was a table and a bungalow around.
I worried if my feet will smell bad, because we walked all day long today, but went into a Bangalo that has consent to charge my camera. Whew… As I thought… It's spicy.
The bangalo's walls were decorated with log and as a restaurant near Bulguksa Temple , the interior was made to have a traditional Korean taste.
As the name of the restaurant is Ssambap, the main menu is Ssambap. There are gridiron Bulgogi Ssambap and Beef Bulgogi Ssambap basically, and if you pay 4,000 won more, the meal will be served as Hot Pot Rice.
There are alcohols like Dongdongju and pajeon, acorn jelly are sold along with tea and drinks. But the prices doesn't seem that cheap.
We ordered 2 servings of gridiron Bulgogi Ssambap that smells like fire, with a spicier taste than Beef Bulgogi. And all the food came out on our table within 5 minutes while we were resting, drinking cool water.
Gridiron Bulgogi with the smell of briquet fire. There wasn't any special decoration, but the non-greasy spicy taste was good.
There are many kinds of Ssam vegetables including kelp and hot pepper in a basket. There was no unique kind of vegetable, but there were various kinds of them. The quantity was just enough, so we didn't need to call for more vegetables during our meal.
I placed kelp and meat and several vegetables on 2 sheets of Ssam vegetable and put it in my mouth. As hunger is the best spice, I felt so happy to put food in my mouth, never minding the taste. When you are starving, Ssambap is the best to fill your mouth~!
Jelly Salad, that several vegetables are sliced with Acorn Jelly and other seasonings. The sour and sweet taste was fine but only two jellies in this big bowl?? And I wished if the shape was more pretty in here…
Gyeongju soft tofu(bomun lake side) is also famous, although it's not a speciality. I decided to visit later when I have time, and filled my stpmach with this soft tofu.
A mountain Spiced vegetables that I don't know it's name. It had a bit bittersweet taste and the Savory taste of the soybean sauce blended together, making a good taste.
Grilled Mackerel comes out in these kind of restaurants every time, but it' hard to find a baked fish that fits right in my taste, unless it is a specialty store. The taste wasn't bad, but the skin was a bit dry because there wasn't shine left.
Usually Gyeongsang district food are mostly spicy and salty, rather than the taste of the ingredients itself, so the restaurants of Gyeongju can't be called great.
But, Ssambap has the fresh taste of the vegetables and keeps the natural taste and fragrance. And it fills our stomach easily, Ssambap is a great food.
We finished the Ssambap with two bottles of cool water and sat down on the outside tables in front of the restaurant with sweet coffee in our hands.
We checked our next schedule while relaxing in the late afternoon's sunlight and then headed to our next spot.
Address: 193-6 madong Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do (경상북도 경주시 마동 193-6)
Phone Number: 054-771-0786
Opening hours: 09:00 to 18:00 (19:00 on weekends) / March to December Saturday 21:00
Homepage: http://www.matket.kr/usoojung
