Last Sunday, a group of us (Amanda, Derya, Amy, Jo, Sienna and myself) decided to go to the city of Gyeongju to tour and escape city life. The bus ride was fairly short, lasting only about an hour and when we arrived I was greeted with beautiful landscapes with actual GREEN (a colour that’s not very prominent in Busan).
The first thing we did was walk around Tumuli Park which is a beautiful park surrounded by these very high, green hills. I later found out that these hills are actually tombs of the rulers of Silla. One of the tombs was actually open for viewing and various royal artifacts were displayed… very cool!
Walking around was so peaceful. It was nice to see green everywhere and some of the leaves had already started to change. This reminded me of home, but it was a nice feeling.
During our walking, a group of tourists (Chinese maybe) say Sienna and I guess thought that she was famous because they all wanted pictures with her. It was quite humourous.
After leaving the park, we found a bicycle rental shop where we rented bikes for the afternoon. Shortly after getting on my bike, I realized that the breaks were not working (pretty much nonexistent). I asked the owner and he gestured that it was ok and there was nothing to do. Risking my life (maybe a tad dramatic) driving down the streets was quite exhilarating. We saw many different areas of Gyeongju and we stopped at Gyeongju National Park.
This park was also very beautiful. There were large Korean buildings around the river that looked so stunning in the afternoon sun. I had just purchased a new camera, so I took advantage of the sights to test out the special effects.
Of course, we took time to do the circle of heads shots!
Continuing on with our bikes we rode back to the area we purchased them and decided it was time for dinner. Traveling with six females, it’s dangerous to let anybody get too hungry.
We stopped at this cave-like restaurant where I tried Ddak Galbi for the first time. DELICIOUS!!! It’s chicken and veggies with rice cakes that’s cooked up in the middle of your table. It was spicy and sweet at the same time and very tasty. After we were finished the main meal, our server made us fried rice with the leftover sauce and an egg. It was interesting to watch him make it.
Our last stop was a cute little café where we had coffee and cake—the perfect way to end any outing!
On the way home, we took the bus and then got on the subway. We were taking the subway together and I was glad that my Korean friends were with me because I met a very interesting character.
This man was 65 years old and immediately started winking and smiling at me. He later told my friend in Korean that I have a beautiful face and very nice hips. He then proceeded to stand in the subway and make the shape of my hips (and curve of my butt) with his hands)… over and over.
Korean onlookers were starting to laugh because they are typically very reserved people. My Korean friends didn’t quite know what to do and I was in a mixture between turning red and laughing myself.
He continued on (in Korean) and I learned that he has been on TV adventure shows from all over the world doing various athletic things. Then he decided to take his sweater off so that we could see his muscles!
By this time I was laughing pretty hard… so random!
Finally, he posed for these photos. This was definitely a first in Korea.
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