By Yi Woo-won
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Ju-hyeok, who is their only child and my grandson, studied two years for his graduate course at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in Daejeon. Although he had been provided with a dormitory room by the institute, my devoted but overprotective daughter moved with him down from Seoul. She reasoned that she could support him better if she lived nearby and she would be less lonely. Now that Ju-hyeok has earned his Master of Science in AI degree, I gave him a big hug when I met him, congratulating him on his academic achievement and hard work.
Buyeo, the destination of our journey, is the last capital of the Baekje Kingdom, one of the three Kingdoms of Korea (57 B.C. to 668 A.D.). Baekje is noted for its handicrafts, architecture and old Buddhist temples. I felt shameful that I had never been there once in my whole life. The weather turned out gorgeous and balmy for early spring and I could enjoy fully the incredible rustic beauty of the great outdoors for the first time in two years.
In a little over a two hour ride from my home, we arrived in Gongju, which is an earlier capital of the Baekje Kingdom. Here is the famous Magoksa Temple, one of the top 10 temples of over 900 traditional Buddhist temples scattered around the country. But we were starved, as the Korean saying goes, "Even if Mt. Geumgang is in front of the eyes, eating always comes first."
There were small restaurants alongside a little street. My son-in-law knew a few places famed for their excellent cuisine. We walked into one of them. I noticed the name of the restaurant on the front door: "The Fragrance of Pines." The interior was clean and the tables were socially-distanced. Our table was soon piled up with over a dozen different dishes and bowls of healthy, appetizing foods, including steamed lotus leaves for rice wraps. It was a really delicious meal that I could remember for a long time.
Magoksa Temple was within walking distance of the restaurant. With the support of my grandson, I gasped for breath while walking up the steep stone steps. Quite a few people were bustling about to go in and out of the main temple, where the Buddha statue was enshrined. I crawled over the threshold to go in and sat in front of a Buddha. I looked up and was surprised to see he was my favorite Vairocana Buddha who is revered as "the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of Emptiness." We walked around the temple grounds to look at the 5-story stone pagoda and other historic buildings and structures. Then we left for Buyeo to check into the Lotte Resort Buyeo for a night.
The next day, we were in Buyeo all day to explore the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. First, we went to see Buyeo Naseong Fortress, an outer fortress wall to guard the kingdom from enemy attacks. The scale of the wall provided some insights into how large Buyeo City was in 538 A.D., when it was built by piling up soil, not rocks. It is the oldest fortress in Korea.
Regrettably, the Buyeo National Museum was closed because it was Monday. Instead, we walked to look at the Seven Royal Tombs. The graves were arranged in orderly rows on the gentle slope of a hill. Comparing these tombs with those of the Silla Kingdom in Gyeongju, they were so small, but they looked so snug, happy and peaceful. They are presumed to be part of the royal family.
We had to skip many attractions and sites because of time. While heading back home, we stopped to see Gungnamji Pond. It is Korea's first artificial pond with a pavilion in the center connecting to a bridge. It was stunningly beautiful. According to the "Samguksagi," a historical record of Korea's Three Kingdoms, it was created by King Mu of the Baekje Kingdom for Princess Seonhwa, whom he was in love with and eventually married.
Yi Woo-won (yiwoowon1988@gmail.com) lives in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province, and has been writing since 1986.
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