November 06, 2009. A few hours drive north of Busan is the city of Gyeongju, once the capital of Silla, one of Korea’s ancient three-kingdoms. With a long and rich history spanning over a thousand years and more than a handful of impressive structures dating back hundreds of years, it has been designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage city.

Leaving Busan at past 10 in the morning, we arrived in Gyeongju right in time for lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant. It was my formal introduction to Korean food and eating practices. We had a room in a courtyard style home with warm elevated flooring. We were served the entries in batches, every quarter of an hour or so. I don’t remember everything that was served, as most of them were terribly unfamiliar. It might take a longer stay in Korea for one to truly appreciate the food. Many of them were pickled, spicy vegetables, cold cuts of raw fish and other sea creatures, and some beef soup. The servings aren’t big, but since there were a lot of dishes, it was more than enough to fill us up. Formal lunches like this are meant for long afternoons with conversations among friends and colleagues.

Silla Millenium Park in Gyeongju is a modern theme park that seeks to recreate an ancient Silla city. Since we only had an hour or so to spend in the park, we were not able to go around much. We were only able to see a show in the park’s Jang Bo-Go Performance Stage, depicting a battle between Koreans and Chinese invaders trying to occupy a Silla city. The Koreans win and thwart the invasion, of course.