Such an ornate structure to hold a bell… The locals sit in the parking lot and sell souvenirs and local produce to the tourists.

One of the major temples in the Gyeongju region is Seokguram where a large statue of Buddha is carved from a single piece of stone. Photography is prohibited inside the temple, but the intricate roof details shown here were quite interesting.  I just love all the colour they put into everything!  The attention to detail is incredible and I can only imagine how much effort they must have put in to construct these temples, and even modern structures.

This ancient Korean observatory is apparently the oldest in Eastern Asia. I’m not entirely sure why they needed to build a massive stone structure to sit approximately ten to fifteen feet off the ground (couldn’t they make a treehouse of sorts and save a lot of effort?) but they did.

I was really lucky to snap a shot of this traditional Korean warrior. While waiting for my Korean tour guide to finish her Korean spiel on the site, I turned around to see this warrior on horseback riding past. Apparently I had just missed some reenactment of some sort and they were leaving. Luckily I had camera in hand and was able to snap a few quick shots!

These hills are actually royal tombs where the ancient rulers of Korea are buried. These are located right in the middle of the city of Gyeongju where I was staying. As this was taken in winter, the grass was brown, but still makes for a scenic landscape. In total there are 35 royal tombs in this area and plenty of others. In fact, one can see recent burial mounds located throughout the country, on road sides, in woods, and in fields.