04 Jun 2024

Experiencing the beauty of South Korea

As Heritage Adventurer arrived at the port of Ulsan, we learned why Ulsan is ‘Hyundai City’, with acres of new cars and thousands of pieces of heavy equipment awaiting export. For a change of scenery, we left the busy industrial area and many clusters of high-rise apartment buildings behind, arriving at the forested mountains.

Our first stop was at Tumuli Park to visit the tombs of the Kingdom of the Heavenly Horse - the burial mounds for the rulers of the Silla Kingdom dated from the 5th or 6th century. We entered a tomb that had been excavated and saw the burial chamber with replicas of the golden crowns and artefacts that were unearthed. Luckily, we had the place almost to ourselves and enjoyed quality time with our local guides and got a real appreciation for the treasures found and the work to unearth them.

To see the actual golden items, we made a short trip to the Gyeongju National Museum. The beautiful items were displayed along with many other historic remains from that kingdom. Especially impressive was the huge bronze Bell of King Seongdeok the Great.

We enjoyed a buffet lunch with seemingly endless choices at a local hotel, then headed to the Bulguksa Buddhist Temple. The temple complex is large with several plazas and pavilions housing statues of the Buddha in various incarnations. Originally built in the 8th century but destroyed, it has been faithfully restored with detailed paintings and decorative motifs throughout. A few of the plazas were decorated with paper lanterns left over from Buddha’s birthday which created a festive feeling.
After a hot and busy day, we returned to Ulsan for a refreshing walk at the Taehwagang River Bamboo Forest. 

For those who had missed the entry to the port, the exit was a chance to see the true might of this industrial city. Heritage Adventurer took her place in the queue of departing vessels as we passed bridges and ships and shipyards and wharves and tugboats and more than just seemed to go on and on. After yet another pastel sunset we saw the lights from the many squid boats in the Sea of Japan and departed South Korea.

Images © E Bell, Heritage Expeditions