Maisan

Maisan Provincial Park is the only place in the WORLD you can see this. A couple mountain. Mountains have characteristic's that will label them either male or female. Maisan is translated roughly to "horse ear mountain". Because from a fair distance you can see the similarity.

Steve very quickly took this picture while the bus we were in stopped for gas.
From a different angle. The black stuff on the bottom of the pic is rows of protective mesh so that whatever they grow only gets so much sun and is sheltered from the wind.
Just off the bus and getting ready for the hike.



This was part of a larger, tackier display. Yes tacky at a Buddhist temple. Who'd have thunk it?

A lake near the start of the trek up the mountain.
This was super cool!! This is Tapsa, or Pagoda Temple. This is super famous because all of the pagodas are made from small to medium stones and are still standing without the aid of cement.......what makes it even more amazing is that this was constructed in the late 19th century.

This is a better picture to see how tall these pagodas are and without cement.........Steve was suspicious....and to be fair not on the pagoda's that we saw but on the stones at the top of ledges (such as the one my hand is resting close to) there is a layer of cement so tourist don't push a rock and make the pagodas fall by accident.

As we travelled up we came across a cave.

Apparently if a woman drinks the water from this cave she will bare a son. I say let the men drink the water, it's them that decide anyway!!

Steve with a lantern that they made for Buddha's birthday.

Gyeongju take 2

Ellen and I had the day off for "Teachers Day" the week after Steve and I came to Gyeongju. I was so impressed with this place I had to see what I had missed from the weekend before. Ellen and I walked around the city center of Gyeongju and this is what we saw.

Very first thing we saw were these large burial mounds of past important people. Kings and also other important figures like generals and administrators.

In this picture you can see the difference in size of these burial mounds.

On the banner it says "happy birthday Buddha".

This should tell you a bit about the burial mounds from above.

This area was part of Noseodong Tombs park. This is an area between the tombs.
Ellen and I decided to have parasol fun. Hey cheaper than a hat, and it covered the shoulders!
See I am funny!

Looking at the fishies.

Ok Ellen's funny to. Don't know what the blue one is doing.
Ellen and I took this cart ride through one of the other parks across the road from the tomb park. If that was comfort in the old days then yikes I'd rather walk!!
Crazy fun on the ride. Lets have a silent moment for another pair of sunglasses Ellen lost on this trip. They will be missed.


This is about the observatory below. Which is the oldest one in Asia. I've also read the world, but it only claims Asia here.

Here it is in all it's glory!!!
We grabbed a nice lady who actually turned out to speak rather good English.........no doubt helped by the fact that she married an American and were on holidays in Korea to visit family.

This is a "famous" park that has a lot of trees. So Ellen decided to hug a tree that day.
I decided to climb one.....

Next we went to Anapji Pond. Which is suppose to be a utopia. It is deliberately constructed so at any point you cannot see the entire pond.

This is what the entire structures would have looked like.

The site is also called Imhaejeon Site which is translated to Ocean facing pavilion. Apparently they had an idea to create a small miniature of the East Sea.

The next stop was the National Museum.........there seem to be many National museums actually. This is a look at many statues that were relocated here.

Inside.......this was a huge no no......and yet I do it.
The headless trio.

This is about the statue below.

Hey I found one of the heads!!!!