23 May 2023

A Whirlwind of Wonders at South Korea's Ulsan

What a day! Our visit to South Korea had absolutely no shortage of activity beginning with the arrival of Heritage Adventurer at Ulsan to thousands of new Hyundai cars and hundreds of giant new diggers, followed by a transit of the industrial city and the towering residential high rises.

Shortly after we travelled to Tumili Park in Gyeongju to the 6^th century burial mound tombs of the Silla Kingdom. The excellent Gyeongju National Museum displayed artefacts from the that kingdom which ruled the area from 50BCE to 700CE, as well as some from the paleolithic era. These include the gold crowns and other royal trappings as well as the saddle piece showing the flying - or heavenly - horse, which the royal tomb is named after.

Lunch was a delectable 15(!) courses where the dishes just kept coming, followed by a visit to the beautiful Bulguksa Temple with superb colourful paper lanterns everywhere in preparation for the celebration of the Buddha's birthday. The temple, with golden statues of various incarnations of the Buddha, and the grounds, were wonderful- made doubly so by the spectacular decorations and floral displays. All this under sunny 20°C weather and aboard the Disco Bus! Wow.

Back on board we were greeted with cool ice tea and then cakes and coffee for afternoon tea. As we started our journey back to Japan, Phil gave us a talk on the Silk Road and before reliving the day's events over another incredible dining experience on board Heritage Adventurer.

Image by © T.Todd