Richard Flynn :: no comment

I'm very aware of the fact that I haven't written anything for the site for more than two weeks now. To those who have been on tenterhooks waiting for word of what I've been up to, I'm sorry. I think I was so occupied in Hong Kong and Singapore that I just didn't get the time to sit down and finish off the description of my time in Korea. Also, I suspect that I didn't really want to write about my time there because I didn't want to dredge up the memories of a time which was at times quite boring (with relatively little to captivate a tourist in any one place) and at others unpleasant (dealing with difficult people).

One drawback, or possibly a benefit, of having delayed so long in writing this entry is that things aren't so fresh in my mind, so I apologise if my description is in places a little flaky.

Daejeon

Daejeon is billed as the 'science and technology capital' of Korea. It was the home of 'Expo '93'. In spite of careful research, I'm still not entirely certain what the point of these 'World's Fairs' really is. As far as I can tell, it's an opportunity for a country to invite all the other countries to come and set up stalls to advertise themselves. Big deal. Also, there are rides and things so that people actually come to the thing.

So, I went to the Expo Park, which is still open fifteen years later. The place was almost entirely deserted. The whole experience was somewhat surreal — there I was, wandering around a place that had clearly been designed to accommodate thousands of people, but I was almost always alone. I kept expecting a huge dust-ball to blow in front of me, but sadly, that didn't happen.

When I say the place was deserted, I should say that all of the staff were there, mostly reading the newspaper or doing their knitting (really). There were also a few other visitors, but they could probably be counted on two hands. I wanted to get my money's worth, so went to all the attractions that are still open. The staff all rigidly stuck to the published schedule; so, when I turned up at 11.40 for something that was supposed to start every half hour, I would just have to sit there reading my book until the appointed time — all in spite of the fact that the ride/attraction wasn't currently running from the previous slot, and it was unlikely that anyone would be turning up to join me.

At the time I was reading A Tale of Two Cities, which I haven't read before. Memories of my course on 'The Victorian Novel' for A-level English came flooding back as I ploughed through Dickens' prose — well-written, but I do still think that it's slightly turgid; not so much because it's a product of its era, but rather I think that Dickens actively chose to obfuscate his meaning through the quality of his writing. Sydney Carton at the end proves himself to be something of a Maximilian Kolbe figure. I couldn't help but feel that the editor of the Penguin edition didn't know the text very much: in a few of his notes on the text I couldn't help but feel that he'd barely read the book more than twice!

But I'm supposed to be talking about Korea, not about Dickens. After stretching the amount of time I could spend at Expo Park to the very limit, I left and went over the road to go to the National Science Museum. It was closed.

It turns out that there's not much more to Daejeon to excite the foreign tourist. In case you're wondering, at no point was I moved to pull out my camera to capture the scene, which is why there are no photos of Daejeon on the website. I took no photos of Daejeon.

Gyeongju

Gyeongju is pushed as being a great tourist attraction in Korea. While it's true that it has a greater collection of things to attract foreign tourists, I still managed to see nearly all that there was on offer within the space of a day. Somehow I was staying about fifteen miles outside the city, so I had the added fun of trying to negotiate the bus system to get anywhere — it was fine going in, but getting back to my hotel was confusing because I never worked out which stop I should use.

Anyway, here's a list of the things I saw in Gyeongju, with links to photographs where there are any:

• 
  Tumuli Park — I always felt that it should really be called Tumulorum Park, but it isn't. The park contains more than 20 tombs from the 'Three Kingdoms' period, when Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom. The tumuli are little hillocks covered with brown grass. One is open to the public; however, photography inside is prohibited. Inside, there is a representation of the way bodies were laid in the tomb (including the requisite jewellery and other treasures).
• 
  Cheomsongdae — Chemosongdae is an observatory built during the Silla period, in the 7th Century. There is a window half-way up the structure into which astronomers would have climbed from ladders outside the tower (inside there was a layer of rock and rubble to provide a floor at the level of the window). The whole tower isn't much to look at, in spite of the fact that the Lonely Planet guidebook waxes lyrical about certain mathematical niceties related to the structure of the tower (the number of stones used, etc.).
• 
  Anapji — this artificial pond, together with various open pavilions, formed part of the original Silla palace-complex in Gyeongju. It fell into disrepair, and was rebuilt in 1974.
• 
  Gyeongju National Museum — this is a museum which displays various artefacts recovered during the excavation of the various Silla sites in Gyeongju. Some of the Iron-Age stuff is a little dull, but there is also some pretty impressive gold jewellery and headdresses for use by Silla royalty. There is also a great, big bell outside, which people aren't allowed to sound (funny, that). Instead, there's a recording of the bell which sounds every thirty seconds or so. Of course, the recording isn't nearly as impressively resonant as the bell itself would be.
• 
  Bulguksa Temple — this Buddhist temple was built in 528, then abandoned, and rebuilt during the years 751-774. It's quite large, and quite well-preserved, considering that the structure is almost entirely of wood.

Busan

I felt quite rough in Busan, which rather prevented me from doing too much sightseeing. That was a pity, since what I saw of the city I quite liked — it seemed to be quite a vibrant place (it's the largest port in Korea, on the south-west coast) with people who weren't quite as generally unfriendly as those I'd encountered previously.

I did manage to get to the cinema to see Munich, which I enjoyed. Thankfully, Steve (no, not that one, but this one) seems to have moved on from his recent spate of slightly second-rate films. During the film, I have to say, I thought, "Those guns sound quite good," and later, "This score reminds me of Star Wars". Sure enough, the score was written by John Williams, and the supervising sound editor was good ole' Ben Burtt.

I did get to Hyundae beach, which is the most popular beach in Korea — when I went the wind was blowing and clouds filled the sky, so the sand wasn't covered with sunbathers. Just off the beach is Busan Aquarium, which I visited to compare to the previous aquaria I'd visited on this trip. While better than the one in Seoul, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the one in Osaka. So there.