South Korea Day 7: Anapji Pond / Tumuli Park / Busan

Assalamualaikum. 안녕.

Sambil mencekik Gyeongju Bread kami tunggu bas...and it arrived not long after. Frequency bas ni memang kerap, sepanjang kami berjalan & singgah beli bread tadi sudah ada 2 buah yang datang. 

We hopped the bus #10 & the journey from Bulguksa Temple to Anapji Pond took about approximately 10 minutes. Sempat tidur on the way tu ok. Nasib lah before naik bas aku sempat bagitau driver Ahjussi yang kami mau turun di Anapji Pond. Else, memang sampai stesen bas terminal lah kami terlajak. Baik hati sungguh driver tu, ingat pula dia which stop aku mau turun. 

Tapi yang haru sebab kami duduk agak ke belakang, Ahjussi terpaksa menjerit panggil kami. And maybe kami lena diulit mimpi sangat, terpaksalah Ahjussi & Ahjumma sebelah depan belakang kami yang tolong kejutkan. Memang part paling hampagas. 

Dalam mamai aku bangun, kejut cousin aku & berambus dari bas. Siap buat stunt melompat turun tu. Ntah apa jaklah gaya. Nasib kan ndak tersadung. Kalau ndak another drama jatuh tergolek dog di South Korea. As if jatuh dalam bas balik dari Everland tu ndak cukup memalukan. Ish!!

Eh, tapi dalam kelam kelibut turun aku sempat bow (banyak kali!) minta maaf & say thank you sama yang tolong kejut kami. Bingai bertingkek si Bibie ni. 

Anapji Pond upon entering. Admission fee is 1,500₩ (Adult) & 700₩ (Youth). Nasiblah cousin aku still under youth category. Jimat berganda.

"Anapji Pond was built during the 14th year of King Munmu (in power 661-681 AD) of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC-935 AD). Small mountains were created inside the palace walls, beautiful flowers were planted, and rare animals were brought in to create an exquisitely exotic garden fit for royalty" 

source here.

The pond which is originally built in Wolseung Fortress but now lies in ruins after the fortress was destroyed. 

At one of the pavilion, they displayed historical findings & records about Anapji Pond. Memang tempat ni sangat gah dulu. Based on the replica model (refer pic above) pun sudah boleh imagine how this place looked like during its former glory era. 

Based on the findings, the excavation team project managed to restored Anapji Pond nearly similar to its original structure. 

Frozen man-made lake. Tasik ni memang dominate almost 70% of Anapji. 

Tujuan asal adalah untuk datang di kala sunset sebab tengok gambar di google & taken by other travel-bloggers, memang terbaik view Anapji Pond di kala senja. Closely reflect what it may looked like back then. However, ndak tertunai impian sebab kami sampai awal di Anapji. And rasa ndak larat untuk stay lama untuk tunggu sunset.

Winter or autumn? Regardless the dropping temperature, matahari tetap memancar hanya haba nan ado. 

Betapa dekat bus stop sama jalan raya. Silap hari bulan boleh jadi korban while waiting for the bus. Nauzubillah.

We crossed the road & walked towards the area where the ice house is located. 

Nampak landai but trust me, it's another hilly terrain we had to climb in order to reach the stone ice storage.

Also a drama shooting location of Queen Seondok. 

We were drained out of energy so we skipped the plan to stroll around the park near the stone ice storage. It would have been a great idea to jalan cuci mata at that area if we stay overnight at Gyeongju. Next time perhaps. Partner in crime sudah mula buka bicara pasal mau travelling to South Korea once more. Dengan syarat, she wants to cover the rural area. Gyeongju is a good start I told her. Because the city itself is an open museum. It is the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom.

Patah balik pigi jalan utama & kami ikut jalan ke arah Cheomsongdae Observatory & Tumuli Park.

Ndak jauh berjalan sudah nampak Cheomgsongdae Observatory. The oldest existing astronomical observatory in the Orient. This located in the Tumuli Park vicinity. 

Local spending their evening playing kites at the park. Gembira jak tengok cara diorang ni spent time with family; specially the kids.

Exiting the park, ada 2 biji kereta kuda. 

Wah tripping princess sangat kalau aku ada hati mau sewa kereta kuda ni keliling Gyeongju city kan. I asked the kuda "Sudah mandi?" Pastu dia tengok aku sambil batting his eyelashes. Faham Melayu kah? Wah maju, multilingual kuda ni.

For those ikut walking/cycling course suggested by the Information Centre, memang diorang akan jumpa entrance ni dulu dari Gyeongju Terminal. 

Royal Tombs. The Tumuli Park is the most popular among the many royal tombs in Gyeongju. And tempat ni juga paling senang untuk diakses from downtown.

We walked from the park to Gyeongju Bus Terminal. It took us nearly 20 minutes to reach the terminal. Thanks sama 2 budak local yang kami tanya arah untuk ke terminal. Mula tu diorang sangsi kami mau walkertapaki so they suggested us to take the bus. 

Dalam pelat Korean yang pekat "U can take bus from there. Many bus". Sambil tunjuk arah bus stop.

"Gwaenchana. We walk." Ceh mengasah skill ka Bie? Tetap bunyi slang Sabah kau dominasi kan. Uhuk.

Sungguh exercise paling kaw untuk hari tu. Walau lapar tapi semangkit gila kami superwalkertapaki. Luckily juga walau temperature dropped a bit, we could still endured the cold. My cousin jalan jauh ke depan, laju gila budak tu jalan & tinggalkan aku yang terkedek² jalan sebab sibuk snap gambar. 

Journey from Gyeongju to Busan Bus Terminal took about one hour.  

Actually beli tiket untuk slot 1845 tapi agenda kami di Gyeongju habis awal. Masa tu pula memang ada bas di platform ready for departure. Tanya counter Eonnie kalau ada kosong kami mau menyelit. Alhamdulillah tanpa banyak songeh dia tukarkan tiket kami. 

The bus has a 2+1 seater. Since kami beli tiket tu last minute, maka dapat seat pun terpisah. Cousin aku duduk sebelah minah while aku duduk solo. Ala sebelah menyebelah jak; terpisah sama aisle. Kecoh! Siap aku susun atur beg di position paling comfy supaya senang aku membuta...bas pun gerak. And aku pun belayar ke alam mimpi sepanjang perjalanan. Sampai Busan Terminal, aku lah paling last turun. Macam penat sangat. 

I booked the same hotel yang kami stayed at on the first day we arrived from Malaysia. Senang kerja, lagipun aku suka hotel tu. Dekat dengan almost everything. Facilities pun cukup.

From Busan Bus Terminal kami jalan ikut signage to subway station. Nopo-dong Station (Line 1) is connected with the bus terminal building. Nasiblah ndak payah bertukar line train bagai; direct journey to Jagalchi Station. 

Kami memang super lembik sudah masa tu. Busan somehow sangat sejuk pula that night. Orang dalam train pun sungguh bertoleransi. Whenever we stood up to give our seat to the elderly they told us to just sit down. Maybe muka kami tahap penat gaban, campur lagi beg saiz gajah kan. Terharu!

Lepas check-in & letak bag; terus kami zoom pi Jagalchi Market. By foot jak sebab hostel kami memang situated at one of the alley right in front of the market. 

Kami just beli 2 ekor ikan bakar, pastu Ahjussi bagi service few pieces of isi ikan. Rezeki bertimpa di kala lapar Alhamdulillah. Balik bilik, masak nasi. Lepas mandi, kami mencekik. 6 bungkus nasi himpit mini (aku keluarkan beras dari pelestik hence jadilah nasi instead of nasi himpit) lesap dalam sekelip mata. Sejuk² makan nasi panas + ikan bakar super yummy; memang asyik! Sudah kenyang, layan tv & online kejap (wifi di Busan adalah super duper laju!) pastu kami pun zzZzzZZz. 

The next morning kami plan untuk join Busan Tour Bus. Kena bangun awal supaya ndak bazir masa. Yang tu nanti aku cerita. Next entry gitu. Till then, annyeong.

eryantierdabdulkarim

South Korea Day 7: Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju

Assalamualaikum. 안녕!

As promised in the latest entry of my Winter Trip, journey to Bulguksa Temple. 

Lost of idea on what to scribble for intro. Lets jump to isi straight away.

The bus stopped opposite the road of this I-kiosk.

At first I thought this is the ticket counter. Turned out it's only a room that houses information about Bulguksa.

We had no idea where to go but later decided to follow few people yang baru turun dari kereta. Mesti diorang ni mau pigi the same destination; so I thought. Turned out I was right. But! Rupanya kena menapak. See the hilly terrain on the right side of the picture above. Bermulalah aktiviti perah tenaga & strengthen muscles kaki. Nangis!

Let's walk. And walk. And walk. Or was it more to climb, climb, climb.

It is also said that because this temple keep many important cultural relics from the past, it has become a target for robberies as well. 

After few minutes of good exercise for the body *cough*, we finally reached the ticket booth. Jimat 1,000₩ as the cousin falls under Youth category. 

 Kena menapak lagi ok! Another frozen lake we encountered on our way to the temple after the entrance gate. Through our experiences in Gyeongbuk & Chuncheon, I learned that whenever there is frozen lake nearby or snowfall coming; the temperature will dropped suddenly. Hence, akan rasa sejuk dari biasa. No wonder rasa sejuk lain macam before approaching the lake. 

The tile reception booth. Siapa mau buat offering or donation to the temple, they can do so here. Purchase the tiles & write ur wishes/prayers on it. I'm not sure whether the tiles are to be left to displayed at the temple or one can bring them back. 

From the tile reception, we walked towards the left side of the temple which lead us to another steep path. Nasiblah badan. Memang exercise sungguh datang temple ni. Masa memanjat 

Guardian angels at each side of the entrance? They look rather scary for me. Datang malam, harus aku ndak pusing kiri kanan tengok diorang ni.

It was built in 528 during the Silla Kingdom therefore explained the fading colours. Nampak lusuh tapi masih utuh & teguh berdiri. Construction orang dulu kala sangat jujur unlike zaman sekarang. Banyak campur bahan tipu dari yang original. Enough said.

The artistic touch of the stone relics of this temple are known throughout the world. 

The Dabotap (Many Treasure Pagoda) with 10.4 metres tall is one of the two most valued pagodas in Korea. It stand on the west of the yard separating Daengjeon & Jahamun.  

Seokgatap (Sakyamuni Pagoda) with 8.2 metres tall stands on the east side just opposite the Dabotap. It was supposed a 3-stories pagoda that has two stones foundation level crafted in traditional Korean style.

Unfortunaely, the three-stories pagoda is undergoing some major restoration when we were there. A crack was found in 2010 & immediately the Restoration Committee of Bulguksa Temple initiate the restoration project. 

What displayed is the disassemble pieces of each level of the pagoda. It is expected to be assembled back to its original structure Dec this year. 

Daengjeon is a hall housing the Sakyamuni Buddha. 

I remembered an old Ahjumma shooing people who got near the temple intended to take picture. Kami adalah antara yang dihalau. However, orang degil macam aku memang ndak makan saman. I got to take picture of the buddha but decided to keep it just for myself. Mesti ada sebab Ahjumma tu halang sebab hall lain yang ada patung buddha, Ahjumma(s) the Keeper ndak marah pun.

Kami jalan lebih kurang jak dalam temple ni. Ndak lah beria lawat semua hall or tempat pemujaan diorang. Masjid pun ndak lawat berabisan kan, ni lagi mau study habis pasal temple. Malu ok. Teringat ayat si Lily regarding this. Sungguh.

Stone-carved Buddha. 

I'd say almost every temple/palaces in Korea have this similar constructions, designs & colours.

Wishing stones. Loads of them! And one unique tree trunk. Sebab sudah beratus tahun usia kali pokok dalam tu menumpang. Ambik kau. Memang menumpang sungguh, habis perumah tu dia kerjakan.

Ring the bell with that red thing three times to 'awake' the Kingdom of Heaven. Say ur prayer(s) & God's willing ur prayer(s) will be fulfilled. That's the the Buddhist beliefs. So janganlah tanya adakah aku pigi try ketuk bell tu. Oh by the way, kena donate 1,000₩ untuk masuk & ketuk bell ni ya. 

Last view of the most-known stairs of Bulguksa Temple before we made our way out.

Putar² the temple area lebih kurang 2 hours with photo sessions in between, not to forget duduk rehat lepaskan lelah. Nasiblah datang during winter, else memang berpeluh gaban. 

A friend of mine; Ms F loves this kinda view. Pokok togel as we called it. She enjoyed this pokok togel view immensely during her trip to Paris autumn last year. 

We followed a different path to exit the temple area. Arrived quite distant from where we entered the temple earlier. Menapak sikit untuk sampai area kedai near the bus stop. 

Masa turun dari bas tadi, hati sungguh lega when we saw there are quite a numbers of shops/restaurant across the street. Terus pasang niat untuk singgah bila keluar dari Bulguksa. Sekadar untuk melepas kering di tekak jadilah. Dari kebuluran kan. Spaghetti goreng kami makan di Singyeongju Station pagi tu macam sudah habis digested & transformed to energy. That's why kaki pun macam lembik jak mau berjalan. 

Rupa autumn pun ada juga kan. Since I never experienced autumn before, I considered this as one lah. Weather pun ndak berapa sejuk, I survived strolling without gloves. Scarf pun takat lilit di leher, ndak sampai jadi ninja tutup mulut hidung tinggal mata jak. 

Sikit ragu untuk makan di restoran so we opted to entered the bakery instead. Ndak lepak, just beli bun & hot coffee. Sejuk² adalah best untuk pekena hot drink. While on the go pula tu, oh sungguh poyo rasanya.

Mari jamu perut with the famous Gyeongju Red Bean Bread (Gyeongju Ppang) while waiting for the bus.

The cousin dislike red bean hence explained her reaction in the pic above. Bersungguh beli sekotak (minimum purchase is 10 pieces if I'm not mistaken) untuk cover lapar. Forgot the price though. It would have been great if it was served hot. Yang ni sudahlah sejuk, keras some more. Tapi telan juga 3 biji sebab lapar.

Kami skipped plan untuk ke Seokguram Grotto due to time constraint. Also, the idea to climb the Tohamsan Mountain (approximately an hour walking) where the temple is located was quite harsh for both of us. Sejuk, lapar (walau ada roti as bekalan kan?!?). Combo yang sangat bagus untuk tempah si Gastrik datang. 

To those who wish to go, u can reach Seokguram Grotto by taking the bus #12 from Bulguksa Temple. Bus frequency is every 30 minutes. Entrance is 4,000₩ for adult. 

Anyway, we rode the bus #10 from Bulguksa to Anapji Pond. One can also take the bus #11. A mere 10 minutes ride. Yang tu nanti aku sambung next entry. 

On another note, let us together pray for the success of the R&S for MH370. It's been more than 24 hours since it was reported missing. Yet no sign of the aircraft has been found. Be it good or not, at least knowing its whereabouts will change how things take course. 

Insha Allah, semua perancangan dari Nya maka hanya dengan Dia tempat kita mengadu & memohon. Amin ya Rabbul Alamin.

eryantierdabdulkarim