Gyeongju-Busan-Seoul Day 2 (Part 4) – Visit to the Daereung-won Tumuli Park, Gyerim Forest, Cheomseongdae Observatory and Seokbinggo

4 May 2012 

The Daereungwon Tumuli Park, located at the center of the city, is one of the most interesting feature of Gyeongju. Scattered all over Gyeongju city and, in particular at the Tumuli Park, are these hugh, round mounds of grass-covered earth. They are the ancient tombs of Kings, Queens and noblemen of the Silla Dynasty. At the Tumuli Park, there are 23 large tombs, including one called the Cheonmachong Tomb that are opened for visitors to enter.

After our lunch at the Sampo Ssambap restaurant, we bought a box of the famous Gyeongju bread from one of the many shops that is near the Daereungwon Tumuli Park. This would be for our supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow.

Then we headed for the Daereungwon Tumuli Park and bought our tickets to enter.

Picture above is found on the back of our ticket - showing the overview of Gyeongju and the Tumuli park.

It was amazing to walk around the park and see these ancient tombs that are so well preserved and maintained.

Heavenly Horse Tomb or Cheonmachong.

The Cheonmachong tomb is opened for visitors to go in and see the relics buried under the tomb. “Cheonma” literally means Heavenly Horse, based on a painting of a mounted horse discovered inside the tomb.

Photography was not allowed inside the Cheonmachong tomb, for good reasons.

Outside the Tumuli Park, there is a sign with a symbol of the heavenly horse.

After looking at the relics inside the Cheonmachong tomb, we continued on the footpath round the park By now we were feeling a little tired with all the walking. So after a short rest on the park bench, enjoying the shade of trees planted around the park, we headed for the exit. Crossing the road, we came to a open grassy park. Many local families and tourists were out and about, enjoying the Spring weather.

More tombs can be seen outside the Tumuli Park, on the path leading to the Cheongseongdae Observatory and Gyerim forest.

The place was well signposted and after a few minutes stroll, we came to the oldest observatory in Asia, the Cheomseongdae.

Cheomseongdae Observatory. Asia’s oldest observatory, used to observed stars and calculate the equinox and solstice. 362 stones were used to build Cheomseongdae and represented the 362 days in the lunar calendar.

This observatory was constructed during the reign of Queen Seondeok (AD661 to 681) so it is about 1400 years old. The observatory was fenced off and to enter, we needed to buy a ticket. It was good enough for us to just view the structure from outside the low fence. I am still wondering how this structure could help the ancient astronomers view the stars. Probably it acts to shield all stray light from the city (Gyeongju could have been brightly lit in those days)  from the eyes of the observer inside the tower.

Path leading to Gyerim Forest. On the left, there are fields of yellow flowers!

Many families and couples were venturing into the fields for a photo-shoot. So we joined in the fun.

Field of yellow flowers in Spring. The observatory in the background.

Close-up of the yellow flowers and a bee.

Gyerim Forest – literally translated as Chicken Forest.

From the Gyerim forest, it was a short walk to our next point of interest – the Seokbinggo (Stone Ice Storage).

Entrance to the underground stone ice storage.

Ventilation ducts and vents on the ice storage. This interesting stone structure demonstrates how Koreans historically stored ice underground.

After viewing the Seokbinggo, the next stop would have been the National Museum. It had been a long day and we had been doing a lot of walking. Something gave way. It was my shoes! My relatively under-used pair of shoes had suddenly been called to do a lot of work today and decided to split open at the front. So a last minute change of plan for us. 

From the Seokbinggo, I limped along the path to the main road and flagged down a taxi to take us for a impromptu shopping break. Communicating with the driver was interesting. I pointed my broken shoes to him and say “shopping”. He understood. 10 minutes later, we were in the middle of Gyeongju’s modern shopping district, with shops selling all sort of modern goods.

Gyeongju city – a place where we could transit from ancient to modern in minutes.