Travel Log Korea from the begining and onward
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| Well, yes, I talked all about the mounds and forget
to mention what was in them which was rather foolish. We were visiting Chemonseongdae Observatory, first of all, which for those among you who are link followers you can get some interesting picutres at this link: http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/kyongju/geumcheokindex.htm. From what I am given to understand this rivals lots of the oldest scientific observatory's. Considering it's age, it's amazing that it has never been knocked over and rebuilt in Korea which, as one finds after awhile, is true of many things. The mounds are in fact large tombs, similar to those built in Illinois. Since I haven't visited the Chokia mounds (sic) I can't be sure if they are as impressive, but these are some pretty big mounds. The mounds in the tomb ground that accompany's King Muyeol's tomb, do not have signs, but since the entire area is surrounded by very large walls and entry gates, I imagine it would be difficult to get in an off road vehicle. The first mounds we spotted, however, were the mounds that were on the same grounds as the observatory and these were not protected by gates. From where we were standing we could see what looked to be signs, that I guessed probably said "don't tread on me" but I cannot be sure. Korea, though, being the strange mix of ancient and modern that it is, probably doesn't really need the signs. When we left the observatory to walk towards the forest we were crossing a short bridge and stopped to watch and hajuma working her in her garden plot, right in the middle of this vast and protected tourist attration, a little old lady was picking weeds out of her garden. Near the mound of another king (Sam knows the story, so he needs to tell it) we were trying to read the sign when we bumped into the Korean Reverand who was a Bush fan and who greatly encouraged us to join the Sunday Service festivities, complete with an electric piano, and band, only about 20 feet from one of the lower burial mounds. As we were walking around the Confuecian Academy and back towards the entrence to the observatory park we stopped to snap some pictures of one mound, which had gardends and rice paddies planted almost to the base of it. No farmers in the garden that day, but they were well maintained. Korean culture being what it is, many of the people here have such an ingrained sense of their cultural history that I don't think it would have even occured to them that they could drive a bike on the mounds, and this is probably a good thing. For some nice pictures of the King's Tomb park you can go to this link: http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/kyongju/geumcheokindex.htm And for further history on the Three Kingdom's Period: http://scienceview.berkeley.edu/VI/handbooks_archaeology.html Sam is also a wealth of knowlege, so I'll twist his arm to put in an appearance on interesting historical facts. Cheers, Sara |