Three Juggling Monkeys and a Cup of Tea: Acting Tourist

21 April 2012

Acting Tourist

Last weekend we had the opportunity to really play tourist for the first time and see some of the sights South Korea has to offer. We traveled about 2.5 hours south to the city of Gyeongju. Before arriving in Korea if we had been allowed to choose one city within our province to live, it would have been this one. Our assumptions were correct. It is a perfect sized city with beautiful parks and surrounding areas. We had a great time visiting friends and enjoying cherry blossom season. It was incredibly crowded-- Gyeongju is known for its cherry blossoms and they only last for a few weeks once a year and it seemed that the whole of South Korea decided to come and take it all in. While this type of crowd usually turns me off, everyone was so happy and having such a great time, and the sights to see were often quite spread out, the mass amounts of tourists didn't detract from having a wonderful time. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Bomun Park

Paddle Boats

Riding bikes around the outside of the park

we all love our Toms

we stayed all day, until after sunset

have NO idea what these are... art, I suppose...

these mounds are tombs for members of the Silla dynasty

We weren't sure what was happening here, but it seems like a good photo opportunity!

Cheomseongdae-- a World Heritage Site, this is the Far East's oldest astrological observatory! Constructed between AD 632 and 646 (Lonely Planet, South Korea).

Anapji Pond

Traveling Thoughts

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”-Maya Angelou

"We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one." -John Updike

"We shall not cease from exploration And at the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." -T.S. Eliot

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” -Freya Stark

"Somewhere, all stories are real, all songs are true." -Terry Pratchett

"In the face of uncertainty, there is nothing wrong with hope." -Bernie Siegel

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” -Miriam Beard

"Some luck lies not in getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see it's what you would have wanted had you known." -Garrison Keillor

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” -Aldous Huxley

“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” -William Least Heat Moon

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” -Aldous Huxley

TIT

21 April 2012

Acting Tourist