This review is made after my second visit to one of most outstanding temples in South Korea, Bulguksa Temple and its nearby Seokguram Grotto which in my opinion one of the must-see World Heritage Site in this country. I still remember my first visit in late spring 2008, Mount Tohamsan, where the temple complex is located, was in full bloom of spring color with hundreds of paper lantern decorating for the upcoming Lord Buddha's Birthday festival. I visited Seokguram by taxi from the city of Gyeongju, the tiny grotto was very popular for tourists, and I had to queue to see the famous Buddha statue. The statue claimed to be the best for Korean art, but it was behind the glass scene with some bad light reflection, so hardly to admire this great work.

After Seokguram I decided to hike down to Bulguksa Temple, the hiking path was lovely, highly recommended, the forest was full of maple trees, the autumn must be very gorgeous, I even told my friend that one day I want to come back to see autumn foliage at Bulguksa Temple. When I reached the temple, which is considered as one of the three most important temple in the country representing the Lord Buddha, I was quite shocked to see hundreds of tourists in the temple, I hardly had time to appreciate the temple, that why I much preferred Haeinsa, another WHS temple of Korea.

But in late summer 2011, I had a chance to revisit Bulguksa, and this time the atmosphere was totally different, the temple was much less crowded; maybe most of locals went to see the Cultural Expo which hold in nearby Bomunho Lake. I had more time to appreciate the art of the temple and agreed that Bulguksa was in the same league of other famous East Asia Buddhist temple in China or Japan. The highlights of the temple were its unique stone stairway and two lovely pagodas, both were built during Silla Kingdom. Although the authenticity of the temple is quite disputable, as the temple had been destroyed many times, and the current structure is the result of archeologists' imagination forty years ago. But I have to admit that the restoration did really good, and the temple became a masterpiece of architecture with countless details for admiration and made me curious what Gyeongju looked like during its peak time. All in all, I really enjoyed my second time in Bulguksa Temple; it is the place to fascinate the Korean art better than any other temple in South Korea. As I mentioned I hope one day I will have a chance to see the temple during autumn foliage, revisit Bulguksa for the third time is still a welcome idea for me.