Korea, Day 7
We left Busan for Gyeongju, a small town on the way back to Seoul. It used to be the capital of the Silla kingdom, which lasted almost 1000 years and eventually unified the Korean peninsula for a time. IMHO, this was one of the better days because the rural feeling was a very different sense than the rest of the trip.
Maybe my impression was colored by Chuseok, but I was glad to leave Busan; I was kind of bored and unlike Seoul, the city smelled a bit.
Like Japan, Korea has a high speed rail system, and like Japan, there's an all-you-can-travel pass only available to foreigners. The KR pass comes in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 day variants; we opted for the 3-day version. We had picked up our passes and booked seats the previous day, and this was the first day of actual use.
As a side note, we had a hard time finding KTX schedules when planning the trip. E eventually found this site, which finally let us figure things out.
Gyeongju was a short hop away by KTX, on the order of 25 minutes. There isn't any good accommodations in the city itself, so we stayed at a pension (like a bed and breakfast) further out. B and E had booked earlier than A and me, so we were in a different but nearby pension - in fact, the neighborhood was full of them, maybe on the order of 10 or 20. We arrived at Shin Gyeongu station (the closest KTX stop) and taxied over to Gyeongju station (only standard, slow trains), where B and E's landlady met us to pick up our luggage. We were hopeful she would be willing to take A and my luggage as well, and she was, after some brief confusion over where we were staying.
Luggage taken care of, we stopped at a few sites clustered nearby. It was pleasantly overcast, a nice change from the warm and slightly humid weather on the trip so far. The tombs (or rather, the single open tomb) was neat, but not much to see beyond that. Anapji pond was nice, though it only had a few reconstructed buildings. The observatory was IMHO skippable, as you can't go inside it. The last stop was the museum, though I don't remember much about it. I think there wasn't much in English, so while there was a bunch of things to look at, none of it really sunk in.
As we finished with the museum, it started to rain. A and I had brought umbrellas, but E and B hadn't. We waited around to see if the rain would let up, but eventually decided to just take a taxi back to our pensions, shower off, and wait it out there.
In the afternoon the rain tapered off, and we set out again. This time around, B brought along her umbrella, but E still needed one, so we were on the lookout for shops that might sell one. We stopped for a late lunch at a random restaurant at the bottom of the hill from the pensions. The prices turned out to be a little higher than what it seemed like other nearby places were charging (₩46,000 for the four of us), but they threw in a free cold udon dish. It might also have been the late time of day, perhaps it was extra from lunch.
On our way out, we asked if there was any place that sold umbrellas, but they said no. A few moments later, as we were walking down the street, a waiter ran out after us and shoved an umbrella at us. Through broken English and pantomime, it seemed like they had done a promotion a while back about the opening of the restaurant, and this was left over, and we could have it. Nice! Now we were all set for rain.
We took the bus to Bulguksa, another temple. As an aside, Korean drivers accept some things that seem really aggressive to us. I've never been in a bus before that was weaving through traffic, for example. Or avoided a red light by turning right at the intersection, doing a quick U-turn (not really even that, as it implies that we had completed the right turn), and taking another right, effectively running around the traffic light.
Getting back was another small adventure. The bus stop on the other side of the street was closed, directing us back to the one we got off at. We weren't sure how to read the bus map, but it looked like it might be a loop, so not a big deal. Instead, there was an end of the line at a bus terminal, and after walking past a block of parked buses, there was no sign of any that were leaving. We wandered back towards the center of town, but got tired and eventually just took another taxi. Cheap taxis + 4 people = sure, why not.
Dinner was in the same area as lunch. B and E's landlady had given us some ₩1,000 coupons to one of the restaurants, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to specialize in octopus (there were maybe 4-6 choices, all featuring octopus), which you got to cook yourself in a wok at your table. Add in sides of carbohydrates (various noodles or rice), and it was pretty tasty. With the coupons, it came out to ₩17,000 for the four of us. Would definitely munch again.
The beds in our pension were a little strange - there seemed to be no sheets, just a slightly thick mat between the comforter and the mattress. Later, when we compared notes, B and E noticed the same thing. Maybe it's a regional difference? Somewhere along the way, I picked up a slight cough, so that night was a little more uncomfortable than usual - I'm not sure whether it was completely attributable to the cough or how much was the unfamiliar bedding or louder than usual air conditioner.
Maybe my impression was colored by Chuseok, but I was glad to leave Busan; I was kind of bored and unlike Seoul, the city smelled a bit.
Like Japan, Korea has a high speed rail system, and like Japan, there's an all-you-can-travel pass only available to foreigners. The KR pass comes in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 day variants; we opted for the 3-day version. We had picked up our passes and booked seats the previous day, and this was the first day of actual use.
As a side note, we had a hard time finding KTX schedules when planning the trip. E eventually found this site, which finally let us figure things out.
Gyeongju was a short hop away by KTX, on the order of 25 minutes. There isn't any good accommodations in the city itself, so we stayed at a pension (like a bed and breakfast) further out. B and E had booked earlier than A and me, so we were in a different but nearby pension - in fact, the neighborhood was full of them, maybe on the order of 10 or 20. We arrived at Shin Gyeongu station (the closest KTX stop) and taxied over to Gyeongju station (only standard, slow trains), where B and E's landlady met us to pick up our luggage. We were hopeful she would be willing to take A and my luggage as well, and she was, after some brief confusion over where we were staying.
Luggage taken care of, we stopped at a few sites clustered nearby. It was pleasantly overcast, a nice change from the warm and slightly humid weather on the trip so far. The tombs (or rather, the single open tomb) was neat, but not much to see beyond that. Anapji pond was nice, though it only had a few reconstructed buildings. The observatory was IMHO skippable, as you can't go inside it. The last stop was the museum, though I don't remember much about it. I think there wasn't much in English, so while there was a bunch of things to look at, none of it really sunk in.
As we finished with the museum, it started to rain. A and I had brought umbrellas, but E and B hadn't. We waited around to see if the rain would let up, but eventually decided to just take a taxi back to our pensions, shower off, and wait it out there.
In the afternoon the rain tapered off, and we set out again. This time around, B brought along her umbrella, but E still needed one, so we were on the lookout for shops that might sell one. We stopped for a late lunch at a random restaurant at the bottom of the hill from the pensions. The prices turned out to be a little higher than what it seemed like other nearby places were charging (₩46,000 for the four of us), but they threw in a free cold udon dish. It might also have been the late time of day, perhaps it was extra from lunch.
On our way out, we asked if there was any place that sold umbrellas, but they said no. A few moments later, as we were walking down the street, a waiter ran out after us and shoved an umbrella at us. Through broken English and pantomime, it seemed like they had done a promotion a while back about the opening of the restaurant, and this was left over, and we could have it. Nice! Now we were all set for rain.
We took the bus to Bulguksa, another temple. As an aside, Korean drivers accept some things that seem really aggressive to us. I've never been in a bus before that was weaving through traffic, for example. Or avoided a red light by turning right at the intersection, doing a quick U-turn (not really even that, as it implies that we had completed the right turn), and taking another right, effectively running around the traffic light.
Getting back was another small adventure. The bus stop on the other side of the street was closed, directing us back to the one we got off at. We weren't sure how to read the bus map, but it looked like it might be a loop, so not a big deal. Instead, there was an end of the line at a bus terminal, and after walking past a block of parked buses, there was no sign of any that were leaving. We wandered back towards the center of town, but got tired and eventually just took another taxi. Cheap taxis + 4 people = sure, why not.
Dinner was in the same area as lunch. B and E's landlady had given us some ₩1,000 coupons to one of the restaurants, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to specialize in octopus (there were maybe 4-6 choices, all featuring octopus), which you got to cook yourself in a wok at your table. Add in sides of carbohydrates (various noodles or rice), and it was pretty tasty. With the coupons, it came out to ₩17,000 for the four of us. Would definitely munch again.
The beds in our pension were a little strange - there seemed to be no sheets, just a slightly thick mat between the comforter and the mattress. Later, when we compared notes, B and E noticed the same thing. Maybe it's a regional difference? Somewhere along the way, I picked up a slight cough, so that night was a little more uncomfortable than usual - I'm not sure whether it was completely attributable to the cough or how much was the unfamiliar bedding or louder than usual air conditioner.