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Saturday, August 24, 2013

Gyeongju City Tour Bus (part 2): Tumuli Park (천마총)

The 2nd place we went to is the famous Tumuli Park or 천마총 (Cheonmachong). My kids referred them as Teletubbies park. ^^ Well, that's how they learned about it...
Take a picture before heading into the park...
Most of the time, I was the one who took the picture.^^ 
See? That's the first impression that any first timers would get. What are those? 
These green hills are actually tombs, royal tombs of Shilla. Quite unique, right? 
There are hundreds of these in Gyeongju. But, this one at Tumuli Park is considered to be the largest concentration of such kind. 
Take a shelter in the shades before continuing our tour... 
Indeed, it was a okay-let's-do-this-kind-of-tour..since we're like being succumbed to the blistering heat of summer in Gyeongju. It was 37 degrees Celsius....:(( 
But, Eyra and her sister found a must-do list, i.e. stamping on each picture that matches the site of the spot we visited. This is the kind of activities that --I was pretty sure--surely agitated 'the competitive trait' in hers. 
She liked showing it off..that she did stamp the Tumuli Park mark.^^
Now let's go inside the tomb... 
Wait..I want to have a pic,too. 
Inside the tomb were the royal belongings which used to be incorporated into the tomb. All of the kings, nobles, families' belongings were preserved inside the tomb. and oh my..some were gold plated. 
This is the interior within the tomb. What a sight, though. 
Surprisingly, it was cool inside. So cool that people preferred staying longer, despite the contracted-time-limit of the tour... 
At least I came to learn a few facts...
Cheonmachong means 'Heavenly Horse Tomb' . er...what? heavenly? horse?
Well, the guide told us that it was called so because it is the representative of the wooden chamber tomb with stone mound in the Shilla period. But..why the horse??
Okay..it was built in 5th or 6th century. hmmm almost as old as Borobudur Temple in Indonesia.
It's around 13 meters in height...and...I don't know how large they are.
Thousands of historical objects or...artifacts were retrieved from the tombswhen they were dug out. 
and..one of the artifacts WAS a saddle with a painting of a flying horse on it.
AhA>...AHA>..that's why it is now called Cheonmachong..the what was that?
yes...Heavenly Horse Tomb.
Okay...I take it in. 
now..we're out of the tomb. Let's take a family picture before going back to the bus. 
Now..a complete family picture. Mama, put that umbrella for a while...:) 
The landscape view of the Tumuli Park. 
Once again, it would've been nice, had we had the trip in Spring or Autumn.^^
But then, what would my daughters call the hills if they're not green, then?
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

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