Gongju: an interesting town. For about three hours.

First of all: sorry I'm so abysmally behind on my updates!  And this week is my summer vacation, too, so I've been doing lots of blog-worthy things.  Of course, that also means I've been too busy having adventures to update you guys.  Sorry.  :c)

Backing up to Tuesday now!  As I mentioned earlier, I went to Gongju for the day.  (Which is not to be confused with Gwangju, a much cooler-sounding town.  Gwangju used to be the capital of the ancient Silla kingdom, and it's got a bunch of super-old and super-awesome stuff.  Or so it sounds.)  I called 1330, a wonderful Seoul phone number which foreigners can call to ask any question about anything: bus schedules, museum hours, restaurant recommendations, or whatever.  In this case, my inquiry regarded the express bus system.  The helpful lady on the other end told me a list of bus stations I could use, and off I went.

The express bus terminal (on the orange line--my line--about 8 stops from me) was a wonder to behold.  It looked more like an airport than a bus station.  In what I'm coming to recognize as the uniquely Korean kind of vigor, there were buses scheduled to depart for Gongju every thirty minutes throughout the day.  Keep in mind that a) Gongju isn't very big, b) there are at least two other bus terminals in Seoul also sending regular buses to Gongju, and c) these buses were direct, even though there are a couple big cities that are closer to Gongju than Seoul is.  Such a schedule seemed a wee bit like overkill, but...oh man.  I reaped the benefits.

My ticket cost W7600 ($7.60) each way, and for that measly price I was treated to nice air conditioning and seats that rivaled those in first class air travel.  (They reclined waaaay back and had kick-out footrests, and there were only one-and-two seats in each row, allowing for a wider aisle and wider seats than the standard two-and-two bus seat arrangement.)  And, thanks to the frequency of the bus routes, there were only about four of us on the bus!  So I dozed comfortably for the 1.5-hour ride, occasionally stirring and marveling at the beautiful Korean landscape.

Once I got to Gongju, I took a taxi to a little hotel Lonely Planet recommended.  I got my room key and went upstairs to check out the room.  To my shock/delight/disgust, the upstairs hallway contained a vending machine stocked with supplies (for only W1,000!) to make your stay more pleasant.  Obviously I took pictures...but I'll spare y'all the close-up.  (However, if you're curious, you can click on the picture--or any of these pictures--to make it bigger.)
I took my key and headed off to "Gongsangseong Fortress, shrouded by the silky waters of the Geumgang River!!" (according to my map of said fortress).  I hoofed it up the mountain.

Then, I saw a bunch of interesting little pagodas, like the one that was built to commemorate King Injo's brief stay duing an invasion.  There were also four gates and a handful of other structures, almost all of which had been reconstructed sometime in the last 100 years or so (even though the fortress was first built about 1500 years ago...if I remember correctly).  They all were in the Joseon dynasty style of architecture.  And unfortunately for me....they all looked almost exactly alike.

Cool, yes.  But after clomping all over a mountain in the 95-degree heat and billion-percent humidity, I was in no mood to appreciate the subtle differences in their stories and structure.  Sorry, Gongsangseong.

Grouchy as I was, I was determined to make Gongju worth my while.  I consulted the brochure that Madame Gatekeeper had given me and found out that the tomb of King Muryeong was located in Gongju.  Thinking that sounded pretty spiffy, I hailed a taxi.  (Sidenote: my ten-minute ride cost $2.  I love this country.)

The tombs ended up being pretty cool.  In the 1970s, an excavation of a couple tombs in this burial ground accidentally found a king's tomb, and there were over two thousand objects in it that have been really interesting to historians and archaeologists.  (The find was especially important because the other tombs had already been robbed.)  King Muryeong died in 523 AD, so it was a slightly big find.  It's still inconceivable to me how old this country is.

The burial grounds had a nifty little museum built into one of the hills, as you'll see above.  Seven of the 13 (I think?) tombs have been excavated, but you can't actually go into any of them.  There are exact replicas, though, which are built into the museum.  And you can look through glass at portions of the real tombs.

A diorama in the museum showed workers arduously building the king's tomb.  So arduous, those workers!  Plus, who doesn't love a good diorama?  (Tip: click on the picture to enlarge it and get a good view of the dude working/doing the running man dance in the front.)
This is the replica of tomb number five, but it looked nearly identical to King Muryeong's tomb.  Not a bad place to chill for eternity.
This picture is from the king's tomb.  The little alcove is one of five; they originally held lamps, which were lit in the hopes that the dearly departed would be reincarnated before the lamps went out.  (After all, wouldn't it suck to be reincarnated and wake up in the dark?)  You can also see little lotus flower symbols in the bricks; those represent....something.  Heaven, I think.  Dang....I knew I should have been taking notes!

So the tombs were pretty cool, actually, and the museum was well done.  That said, you KNOW I didn't go walking around the burial grounds; I'd already gotten enough sweaty beflipflopped exercise for one day.

At that point, I'd been in Gongju for about three hours.....and decided I'd had enough.  So I cabbed it back to my hotel, gave the key and an apologetic smile to the man there (I hadn't yet paid), and went back to the bus terminal.  (In Korean: "bosu toh-mee-nol."  Awesome.)

I ended up eating both lunch and dinner in Seoul, so it was a short trip, but any longer and I think I might have wrung someone's neck.  Gongju was interesting, although I'm not sure I would recommend it to someone--unless they were in Korea long enough to see Gongju in addition to the cooler/more important places, such as Gwangju.  Or unless they really, really like tombs.  Or humidity.  Or x-rated vending machines.