Ibike Korea People-to-People Program
Photo essay: Ganggu to
Gyeongju
Points of Interest: Paleontology museum, Marine Corps Memorial, folk village / museum near Angang
There
is an about ten kilometer section through Namjeong-myeon where there aren't any
practical alternative route along the coast so the bicycling is back on the
shoulder of highway 7. There are sections that are good, but these are
only intermittent. There are many cases of the shoulder being roughly
patched, poorly paved, over grown with vegetation from the side, narrowing and
disappearing completely, and covered with dirt and debris that has been washed
down from the hills.
In
Songra-myeon is a United States Marine Corps
and Republic of Korea Marine Corps Monument, commemorating the defense, and
those lost in the defense of the Busan Perimeter in 1950.
Tombs of Naengsu-ri. These
ancient tombs are believed to have been made in the first half of the 6th
century. They are suppose to be the largest tombs south of the Han River
(Seoul). They are 7m in height and 25m in diameter. In this area
there are over 100 tombs. Archeologists excavated 400 relics from these
three tomb in 1990-91, including gold and silver rings, silver belt,
earthenware, made between the early 6th and the early 7th century.
Apple orchard.Water reservoir.
Yangdong Folk Village is extensive,
well preserved and naturally beautiful. It was a village of noblemen.
The whole village is a cultural asset. 150 houses have been preserved.
Because it was inside the Busan Perimeter it was not damaged during the invasion
by North Korea. One of unique characteristics of the village is it seem to
be more up in the hills than most contemporary villages. Traditionally tile
roofed house (upper right) were for the wealthier and thatch roofed house (lower
right) were for the lower income.
Koreans are very interested in the folk
villages and frequent them as families, school groups and on dates. On one
visit we met pre-school students on an outing to learn about their heritage at Yangdong Folk village.
The yard of the stone cutter with
examples of lanterns, animal figures, gracefully shaped rocks -- ready for
purchase and to be placed in your garden.On the right is a stone cutter at work.
A
lineman works on the telephone lines from trapeze suspended above the road.An island of high rise residential apartment blocks in the distance announces that we are nearing Gyeongju.
Gyeongju sits next to a
river. Three parallel non-motorized facilities have been
built in the flood plain at Gyeongju. The one near the river is designated
for walkers, the path to the right of it is for inline skaters and the third is
a bicycle path. There are also bike/ped facilities at street level.A large pavilion sits on the hill across the river.
Gyeongju City LibraryIn the park near the library students practicing basketball
McDonald's; note the roof line has
some character of Korean architecture (left). KFC and "PC Bank" (Internet Cafe)
(right), and multi-story Starbucks (far right).
Pizza Hut, New Balance
(left), Sleepless In Seattle (right) and shopping street in downtown Gyeongju
(far right).Fortunately there is more to Gyeongju than its commercial district and suburbs would indicate. The next day we spent exploring the roots of Gyeongju.
Gyeongju Town
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