More KyeongJu
This post is a miscellany. First one is leaving Seokguram. (This is the same pagoda someone (posing as our late family pet) commented looked like it was flying.)
Next we have some burial mounds. One of them was excavated and is now a museum. It is called Cheon-ma tomb or sometimes Cheonmachong or Heavenly Horse Tomb. I didn't get any photos inside, but this guy did.
Next we have the Cheomseongdae, which is believed to be an old observatory. SH thought it looked more like a jail for political prisoners. I thought it looked like one of those glasses from the old 7Up "Uncola" commercials. (But did not attampt explain that bit of Americana to my companions.)
This one I'm not sure what it was, but it looks like an archaeological site to me. Anyway it was also a big open space with the mountains in the background.
This has a name. It is Gyerim. The legend is that a certain king of Silla was found in this forest, suspended from a tree in a golden box. A certain other king of Silla supposedly hatched from an egg.
Did I explain before that Silla is the name of the ancient kingdom that KyeongJu was the capital of? That might be necessary context.
Very short history of Korea as put forth by SH while walking up the path to Seokguram.
Three ancient kingdoms. Silla and two others I forgot.
Silla unifies them. (Which presumably means "conquers the other two.")
Fall of Silla. Name of the next big thing sounds indistinguishable from "Korea." Needless to say I could not cheating and turned to Wikipedia. What I was hearing was "Goryeo," and is where the English word "Korea" comes from.
After Goryeo was Choson, which fell only in 1910, to the Japanese.
Japanese rule lasted until the end of WW2, and then of course the was the Korean War, and what may be termed the "Present Set-up."
Inaccuracies should be attributed to me and not SH. Needless to say there's a lot to be filled in.
Next we have some burial mounds. One of them was excavated and is now a museum. It is called Cheon-ma tomb or sometimes Cheonmachong or Heavenly Horse Tomb. I didn't get any photos inside, but this guy did.
Next we have the Cheomseongdae, which is believed to be an old observatory. SH thought it looked more like a jail for political prisoners. I thought it looked like one of those glasses from the old 7Up "Uncola" commercials. (But did not attampt explain that bit of Americana to my companions.)
This one I'm not sure what it was, but it looks like an archaeological site to me. Anyway it was also a big open space with the mountains in the background.
This has a name. It is Gyerim. The legend is that a certain king of Silla was found in this forest, suspended from a tree in a golden box. A certain other king of Silla supposedly hatched from an egg.
Did I explain before that Silla is the name of the ancient kingdom that KyeongJu was the capital of? That might be necessary context.
Very short history of Korea as put forth by SH while walking up the path to Seokguram.
Three ancient kingdoms. Silla and two others I forgot.
Silla unifies them. (Which presumably means "conquers the other two.")
Fall of Silla. Name of the next big thing sounds indistinguishable from "Korea." Needless to say I could not cheating and turned to Wikipedia. What I was hearing was "Goryeo," and is where the English word "Korea" comes from.
After Goryeo was Choson, which fell only in 1910, to the Japanese.
Japanese rule lasted until the end of WW2, and then of course the was the Korean War, and what may be termed the "Present Set-up."
Inaccuracies should be attributed to me and not SH. Needless to say there's a lot to be filled in.
posted by GB at 6:21 PM
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