Bulguksa Temple (불국사)

     Another story of my adventure in South Korea! This time I'd tell you about a temple that is considered as a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist art in the Silla kingdom. It is currently the head temple of the 11th district of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Yup, it is none other than Bulguksa Temple. It's located in Jinheon-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do.

Gate of Bulguksa Temple

     I've initially planned to visit Bulguksa since it's written on my must-visit list, but I was not sure if I could manage to visit it because I didn't have much time left. So I decided to go to Busan instead of Gyeongju because BUSAN! But God didn't want me to ditch my initial plan so I ended up visiting them both! For FREE!!! You hear me? FOR fucking FREE! Someone I know in Seoul invited me to join her trip with her husband (who lives in Busan as a legislative) to Gyeongju. Look at the lucky charm I carried all the way to Korea~~ hihihi.

Bulguksa Temple is open from 7AM ~ 5:30PM

Admission ticket is ₩4000/adult

     So yeah, back to the holy temple. Bulguksa Temple was built in 535AD during Silla dynasty and was originally called ‘Hwaeom Bulguksa Temple’. The construction was led by King Pobhung for his queen’s sanctuary or room to pray for the welfare of their kingdom. It was rebuilt around 700-774AD by Kim Daeseong that also lead the designing of the temple by adding shrines and pagodas in honor of his ancestors, and was then renamed ‘Bulguksa’.

The lotus pond inside the temple

National Treasure No.22 Lotus Flower Bridge (연화교)

     Once you pass the main entrance, you'd be able to see a lotus pond for an eye feast. The view is soothing your soul, makes you want to stay a little longer. But we need to move forward to see what more this temple could offer.

 

Beautiful scenery welcome us as soon as we enter the gate

Information center

Koreans believe this as holy water

     It underwent renovations during the Goryeo dynasty and was burned during the Japanese invasion in the 1500s. It was then reconstructed during Joseon dynasty in the 1600s. Finally, it was fully restored under President Park Chunghee’s reign during the 1960s.

Symbol of prosperity

Drum

     One of the most picturesque points of Bulguksa’s architecture – the Bulguksa’s stairways which is also considered as one of the official treasures of Bulguksa. The lower portion is Cheongungyo (청운교, Blue Cloud Bridge). The upper portion is called Baegungyo (백운교, White Cloud Bridge). The stairway leads to Jahamun (자하문, Purple Mist Gate), which then goes to the main hall.

the Bulguksa's stairways

     These stairways symbolize a person’s path from the worldly desires to the spiritual realm of Buddha. A lot of tourists were taking pictures of these stairs and unfortunately you can’t go up to the main hall using these stairs.

Dabotap

Seokgatap (under reconstruction)

Sarira pagoda

    You'd soon enter the main courtyard of Bulguksa that houses two twin pagodas called the ‘Dabotap’ (Pagoda of Many Treasures) and ‘Seokgatap’ (Pagoda of the Historical Buddha) that are also both national treasures. When I arrived, the Seokgatap was being re-constructed though. Another national treasure called Sarira pagoda (사리탑), is a container for the relics or remains of famous priests or royalty. It is said that this sarira contained the remains of eight priests or a queen. The hallway in the courtyard is very pretty too.

You can see there were reconstructions here and there in the temple

Toilets in Silla Dynasty

     There are tons of rock-stackings in Korea, they are especially evident at temples and on hiking trails – definitely there are lots at Bulguksa as well. It is said that rock stacks would make your wishes come true. Most of these symbolizes prayer and wishes for their family's health and wellness.

Rock-stackings

More rock-stackings

Rock-stackings, rock-stackings everywhere

Here's me stacking my rocks on not-so-stable spot~
Hope no one would destroy it! :)

     If I have to recommend only one temple that you must visit during your trip to South Korea, it will be this temple. I’d say that is imperative that everyone visiting Gyeongju go to Bulguksa and it is definitely not to be missed! The beautiful garden, meticulous set-up of the temple’s architecture, the nature that surrounds the whole temple, overwhelming views, and the serenity of the place are the points I absolutely loved. This was summer when I first visited them, but I suggest you to go there in the autumn because the scenery would be quadruple beautiful!

Signature statues of Bulguksa Temple.

     These are four huge statues in the temple that you can see as soon as you enter the entrance gate or when you make your way out of the temple through the gate. They're the guarding gods, making sure the temple remains safe from the evil spirits.

Soon-to-be Bulguksa Museum

     From Bulguksa Temple, you can actually visit another beautiful place nearby named Seokkulam Grotto. How to get there:

1. Shuttle Bus: every 40 minutes of each hour (weekends start from 10:40 AM), take the bus No.12 from Bus Terminal (Information Center down there) or Front Gate (wait at the road side for the shuttle bus to come)
2. Private car: follow the climb road until you arrive at the parking road
3. By walk: at the Front Gate beside the ticket office, follow the walking road. It takes about 50 minutes.

South Korea, Arrival: Incheon - Ansan - Seongnam

     Here I'm writing what I've promised you restizens earlier, days in the life in South Korea. This happened last year when I got my scholarship in The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) which is located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi province. There were two students from my university who actually got picked by the AKS, me and Ayum. Ayum was from Korean Literature Department ("was" because she's graduated and at the moment is working in Samsung Electronics). The grantees of this program mostly majored Korean Literature, only less than 5 students majored other studies (including me). There were 28 grantees from around the world in total. Early warning: this post is gonna be kinda long because I actually had a very long yet exciting day even in the first day I arrived in South Korea. Thank you for staying still~^^

***

Incheon

me at Incheon airport (excuse my bed face)

     After the not-so-long flight from Kuala Lumpur (6 hours), me and Ayum finally touched down in Incheon airport. As you see at the picture above, it was around 8AM. We were sleeping like beggars at the plane since our flight departure was at 2AM ㅠㅜ Once we arrived we were like, "oh so this is one of the best airports in the world... definitely deserves the title!" Everything is so fancy, well-managed, and sophisticated in Incheon (well compared to the airports in my country lol). We were picked up by Jinho (read: Jino) oppa (was a student of Hanseo University). We talked a lot inside the car whilst our car passing thru Incheon bridge. As a Korean, Jinho oppa speaks good English. Maybe that's why he could pass his pilot academy. My Korean ability was not so good that time, so meeting Koreans who speak English was such a relief.

     This might be personal, but there was this sweet moment when Jinho oppa asked, "you wanna listen to any song?" then Ayum answered, "어떤 노래도 괜찮아요 (any song is alright)," since we couldn't think of any song in head due to tiredness. Jinho oppa started to scroll down his playlist and then Seoul Song was played. Omg Jinho oppa got so much sense! Once I stepped my feet onto the Land of Morning Calm, the first song I listened to was a nice song that describes dynamic Seoul very well. Frankly, I'd never listened to that song before, but now every time Seoul Song is heard somewhere my brains abruptly think of that sweet moment.

it was raining in the infamous Incheon Bridge

Ansan

     Jinho oppa lives in chilly Ansan. A little trivia about this city, it lies south of Seoul, not so far from Incheon. But since our university is in Seongnam, it's nearer if we go from Incheon to Seongnam thru Ansan.

Incheon - Ansan - Seoul - Seongnam all in one map

      Jinho oppa is Ayum's friend who was an exchanged student in our university. He is now a pilot of Asiana Airlines. He was sooo nice, spent his time to pick us up, brought us to his house and meeting his parents, bought us lunch in Ashley, and brought us to watch movies in CGV. Couldn't ask for more ㅜㅠ His kindness was over the top. His family was superb! His mom was sooo pretty!!! This is not a compliment, this is a fact~ xD

     Unfortunately Jinho oppa couldn't accompany us to watch the movie due to his class schedule. He asked his younger brother Jinkyu to "substitute his presence" though! xD So me, Ayum, and Jinkyu headed to a mall in Ansan. Jinkyu also showed us his campus (Hanyang University) in the middle of journey to the mall. Oh btw, Jinkyu is two years younger than me and Ayum, so we banmal-ed* him. Lol.

CGV (and a slight of Jinkyu's face xD)

      We lined up for the ticket but the movie started in 2 hours so we decided to grab some lunch in Ashley. Ashley is a very nice restaurant (one of my favorites!) in South Korea. Its franchises are spread all over South Korea, I guess. If not, then probably only around Gyeonggi province.

Ashley!

     After loaded my belly with delicious food in Ashley, we went back to CGV to watch the movie and spent couple hours there until Jinkyu ringed us saying that he needed to do alba (part-time working) so his relative would pick us up in CGV. We waited in CGV lounge around half hour until a guy with plain white tee and wide smile approached us. This guy was none other than Seungyong oppa, our other angel. He was the one who then drove us all the way to Seongnam.

Ps. in case you restizens are curious on what movie that we watched that time, this is the answer...

The Amazing Spiderman ticket

Pps. it was kinda weird because that was technically the first time of me watching an English-spoken movie with Korean subtitle in a huge screen.

Seongnam

     The stupidest thing we've done when we were in South Korea was we forgot to change our USDs to KRWs because we had no time. Everything was in hurry. We wanted to change it once we arrived in Incheon but that was Saturday so most of money changers were closed. That led us to get treated by everyone and made us feel so bad for them. Even when we arrived in our university, we were so worn out and hungry. It was 9PM when we were planning to borrow some money to Shoghik, a participant from Armenia (whom I got close even before the program started), but I guess Seungyong oppa saw the hungry faces and pitied us (what a shame ㅜㅜ) so he offered us to grab dinner with him.

ddalkkalbi for the first dinner

    We had tasty dalkkalbi near our university and nice chitchat time. I learned that Seungyong oppa is a very shy yet sweet guy. He talked a little but smiled a lot! xD We headed back to the dorm and handed some gifts for Seungyong oppa before he drove back to Ansan. He looked so happy that he couldn't stop thanking us. This guy is so cute~^^

*banmal: casual/informal ways of speaking like you would with a friend or those younger than you

***

     So yeah that was how my first day in South Korea, more or less. I think it was the most intense first day you restizens ever read. Lol. This post only talked about the first day, based on the duration I've spent my life in South Korea, means I still have gazilion stories to write. Please anticipate it a lot!^^*

Reason why I learn Korean language

Seems you guys are curious about why do I spend my precious time learning Korean language, which some of you might be thinking that I better go shopping or browse some legit bands to listen or gorgeous models to spazz like I always do every single day. And no, I won't answer, "Because... YOLO man YOLFO!". YOLO or YOLFO (You Only Live Fuckin Once)? It's an answer for those skeptical people who don't want to think before doing something. Even Rene, my German daddy, asked me why don't I study other language? For example; German, Japanese, or Chinese.  He thinks that Japan and China are more developed than South Korea, which is wrong. Plus, these languages are hard as shit. I mean, look at those finger-teaser fonts! I gave up before even officially touching the book.

Not only my daddy, some of my friends (and maybe you?) had their own opinions. They thought that I learn Korean because of...

Super Junior

..... because you naughty naughty.. hey mister simple!
*Super Junior's Mr. Simple is faintly heard upon the other side ㅋㅋㅋㅋ*
or

2PM

or

Boys Before Flowers (drama)

or whatever Korean pop boybands and melancholic dramas out there. It's also wrong. I had my first level of Korean language before even knowing those Korean pop boybands existence. Those talented yet best-looking American and British band dudes are enough for me.

The reason why I learn Korean language is actually related to my previous study. As you know, I major Social Development and Welfare in University of Gadjah Mada with high hope that I can give something great for the development of my country, thus, I have to study harder and enrich my knowledge with social development and welfare studies as much as my brain can impound. Until that day, my lecturer told me about Saemaul Undong, a social development program that originally comes from South Korea.

Saemaul Undong

I was so curious about that program so I decided to take Politic and Economy of South Korea class, faculty-crossing course at the Faculty of Cultural Studies because, frankly, I've been very interested on learning about social, politic, and economic developments in Korea. I pledged myself to develop my Korean language ability so I could read Korean books and interact with Korean natives properly. There was a lot of lessons I could take from the experience of South Korea: success of Saemaul Undong, South Korea's efforts to maintain its relationship with North Korea, economic policies such as the Sunshine Policy, the Economic Planning Board (EPB), Export-Oriented Industrialization (EOI), Heavy Chemical Industry (HCI), the implication of creative economic policies with Hallyu and other extraordinary culture, and so much more. These economic policies ultimately led South Korea to be a developed country as it is today only within 50 years. It is very necessary to be learned by developing countries such as Indonesia.

The next couple days I randomly browsed the best universities in the world which offer Social Development and Welfare studies because I always want to continue my study after my graduation, and I got one awesome university of all which was none other than Seoul National University. Why is it awesome? Because they offer amazing courses. Why amazing? Because I don't find those courses everywhere. What courses? Have a look..

Seoul National University

 It's just a few, you can find the rest of the courses list here Seoul National University

Other reason, South Korea is now (June, 2012) the third of the biggest investors in Indonesia, after Singapore and Japan. That means, shitloads Korean companies have been gradually, slowly but sure, invading Indonesia and they need more local workers. From Miwon to Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Etude House, shit and more shit. Standing ovation for bilateral relation between Indonesia and South Korea.

And now you're still wondering why I learn Korean language? Pffttt.


Fingers are always crossed. Hope is always high.
Amen.

Kisah Negeri Toilet

Korea Selatan tidak hanya terkenal sebagai negeri Ginseng. Tetapi juga dikenal sebagai negeri toilet. Lho. mengapa julukan yang aneh tersebut melekat erat di negeri sungai Han itu. Julukan negeri toilet itu pantas diberikan kepada negara yang berlambang harimau itu. Karena, negeri itu mempunyai kepedulian terhadap teknologi dan sarana toilet lebih baik dibandingkan negara manapun. Bahkan negara. Cina saat menghadapi tuan rumah pesta olahraga terbesar di dunia sempat mengirimkan para ahlinya ke Korea Selatan untuk belajar teknologi dan pembangunan sarana toilet yang baik.

Hampir di setiap tempat yang dikunjungi di ibukota Seoul selalu terdapat toilet umum yang bersih, canggih, harum dan sebagian berteknologi tinggi. Bahkan di tempat ekslusif khususnya tempat seperti hotel bintang lima menggunakan toilet “smartlet”. Teknologi “smarlet” atau toilet pintar itu dapat menyiram khusus untuk membersihkan bagian bawah manusia setelah buang air besar dengan canggih. Bisa dibedakan membershikan bagian bawah “anus” atau bagian tempat buang kecil khusus wanita

PBB memperkirakan dalam 50 tahun mendatang hampir separuh dari populasi dunia akan menghadapi krisis air bersih. Saat ini Asia adalah benua dengan persediaan air paling sedikit. Para ahli lingkungan mengatakan penghematan air harus dimulai dari rumah, lebih khusus lagi kamar mandi.

Dalam kehidupan modern masalah pemenuhan kebutuhan air, sanitasi dan energi menjadi indikator utama pengukuran kesejahteraan suatu bangsa. Makin sejahtera suatu bangsa, makin tinggi tingkat konsumsinya terhadap kedua hal tersebut. Di tengah fenomena kelangkaan air bersih yang terjadi di beberapa daerah di Indonesia, upaya penghematan air tentu perlu dilakukan. Segala aktivitas yang membutuhkan air bersih sepatutnya dilakukan dengan bijaksana agar di masa yang akan datang air bersih tetap terjaga. Memang ada aktivitas yang mutlak membutuhkan air bersih dan tidak bisa begitu saja dikurangi, seperti memasak, mencuci perabotan dapur atau mandi-cuci-kakus (MCK).

Toilet memainkan peranan utama dalam hidup setiap orang, itu sebabnya ia menjadikan kamar mandi sebagai pusat rumah tersebut. Saat piala dunia 2002, Korea Selatan mengutamakan memperindah dan meningkatkan kebersihan toilet umum. Negara lain bisa belajar mengenai sanitasi dari Korea. Korea Selatan merupakan negara pertama di dunia yang memiliki hukum yang secara khusus mengatur tentang kamar mandi. Negara lain bisa mengadaptasi sebuah standar untuk semua tolet.

Kepedulian negara-negara di dunia masih kurang, dianggap memiliki gambaran terbatas tentang kamar mandi. Negara maju harus mengubah cara berpikir tentang toilet. Ternyata pertimbangan pengetahuan dan teknologi toilet bukan hanya dilatar belakangi oleh kepentingan kesehatan tetapi juga harus dipikirkan penghematan air. Kesehatan pribadi penunjang dalam pembangunan negara, di mana jutaan orang tidak memilki akses terhadap kamar mandi yang bersih.

Korea Selatan sudah mulai melakukan revolusi toilet untuk meghemat air dan meningkatkan sanitasi global.

Dengan dukungan kuat dari pemerintah Seoul didirikan Asosiasi Toilet Dunia (WTA). Korea Selatan akan menjadi pemimipin revolusi toilet di seluruh dunia. Tujuan WTA lainnya adalah membuat kamar mandi yang ramah lingkungan dan hemat air. WHO memperkirakan hampir 92 triliyun rupiah biaya yang dibutuhkan setiap tahun untuk membangun sarana sanitasi dasar di seluruh dunia.

Korea Selatan telah melakukan terobosan dalam penemuan teknologi canggih toilet di masa depan. Di antaranya, toilet dengan dua mekanisme penyiraman, satu untuk cairan dan yang lain untuk benda padat. Model yang lain dilengkapi dengan kipas angin yang didesain untuk menghilangkan bau tidak sedap. Toilet ini dinamakan toilet sopan.

Berbagai teknologi canggih telah diciptakan untuk menggantikan generasi toliet konvensional yang sangat boros air. Tidak disadari ternyata hampir 60 persen konsumsi air manusia untuk toilet. Padahal kebutuhan air mininal 10 liter air untuk sistem toliet konvensional tapi dalam sistem yang baru kurang dari empat liter. Sebenarnya sangat janggal pada aktifitas sehati-hari ketika manusia membuang air bersih saat membuang limbah kotor.

Teknologi inovatif lainnya adalah desain toilet yang hemat air karya dari Jang WooSeok. Prinsip dasarnya adalah memanfaatkan air secara maksimal, sehingga tidak ada air yang terbuang percuma. Ide ini bermula dari keprihatinan Jang akan semakin berkurangnya sumber air di dunia, serta untuk mengajak kita agar tidak menggunakan air secara berlebihan. Cara kerja toilet ini cukup sederhana, yaitu dengan memanfaatkan air pembuangan dari wastafel, untuk kemudian disalurkan kedalam tanki toilet.

credit: https://mediaanakindonesia.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/korea-selatan-si-negeri-toilet/