Blogs from Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, Asia
May 11th 2012
We took a bus (1 hour) from Busan to Gyeong-ju. We stayed at Guesthouse Santa – a hard to find, right in the middle of downtown, clean and wonderful hostel. The owner doesn’t speak much English but is very nice and helpful. He also had REAL (fair trade and organic too!) coffee to drink for breakfast. Mmmm... Gyeongju is a small town for Korea. Its population is about 300 000 compared to Seoul's 10 million and Busan’s 4 million. This made it very nice and relaxing to walk around town. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla(57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled about two-thirds of Korea. The town is scattered with 'Tumuli' or ancient burial mounds. It makes for a lot of interesting green space in the city! For dinner we went ... read more
May 7th 2012
It's been an interesting few days. Brooke, I hope you'll accept Facebook status updates/pictures in place of blogging daily. lol Today, I had lunch with the nutrition teacher (she teaches students how to cook nutritious meals... why did I never have this class? lol). It happened like most of my going-out-to-eat-with-a-Korean-person experiences. She asked me if I wanted to have lunch, I said yes, and then we got in her car and she just started driving, with no mention of where we were going, what we were eating, or how far away this place was. lol I don't bother asking anymore. If I ask what we're eating, I rarely understand the translation. If I ask where we're going, I rarely understand the explanation. So, we just get in the car and drive. It's kind of nice ... read more
May 4th 2012
Exams at my school mean I get to have lunch at school, and then leave early! I love exam days, though I know my students aren't fond of them. I asked my students, "How are you?" Their responses were, "So-so" across the board! When I ask why, the answer is the same, too. "Exams." I remember that feeling... Well, I was supposed to have Saturday class tomorrow, but tomorrow is Children's Day in Korea, so they're giving the kids a break from my class. Parents' Day is three days after that. Anyway, the kids get to stay home and open gifts from their parents, and I get to sleep in before my trip to GyeongJu. Win-win :) I am planning to take a million pictures in GyeongJu. There are so many awesome things there to see, ... read more
May 3rd 2012
More fun in Yeongcheon today. There were no classes, since the children were taking exams until noon, and then leaving school early. At noon, I ate lunch with the middle school grade three teachers. We had fried mandoo (fried dumplings with pork and veggies inside - delicious) and seafood in spicy sauce. I picked out all the shrimp and left the tentacles for the other teachers :D Around 2 pm, they told me I could go home. I did a little happy dance! I needed to do some stuff at the bank and post ofice before they closed, anyway. I got my bank stuff done, then did some shopping. I found these hilarious stationery sets and decided to get them. They have the cutest pictures with poorly written English sentences all over them. I'm not trying ... read more
Korean seaside villages and sea view motels
Published: May 1st 2012Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Gyeongju
May 1st 2012
Ash and I were meant to save our money last weekend and have a quiet weekend in Daegu. However we seem unable to overcome our itchy feet at weekends (need to sort this out somehow!). We still wanted a cheap weekend but had the idea to find a quiet seaside village and beach nearby so we could still get out and see stuff. I researched and found a little fishing village called Gampo just outside of Gyeongju that we decided to visit. We got up early on Saturday and caught a coach from Daegu to Gyeongju and then another from Gyeongju to Gampo. For two hours the total cost was about £3 - bargain. For anyone looking for tourist attractions Gampo is not the place for you. It’s really small and is based around a harbour. ... read more
April 5th 2012
On payday weekend we decided to leave Daegu and take a trip to nearby Gyeongju. It’s renowned as a beautiful place and an example of a traditional Korean city it is steeped in history as it used to be the capital of the Silla Dynasty of Kings. So on that very rainy Friday evening Ash and I met are buddies Nat and Drew (two Nat’s so I am Natalie in Korea as she got there first!) and went to get the bus to start our adventure. It could all have gone pear shaped though. When we’d bought our tickets and were waiting for the bus to arrive for some reason I had another look at the destination sign and thought out loud ‘Oh that’s weird that they also spell Gyeongju as Cheongju' We all looked ... read more
The Village From Another Age
Published: February 26th 2012Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Hahoe
November 9th 2011
The world is filled with historical villages that have surrendered their character to the dictate of twenty-first century tourism – ostentatious signs, souvenir shops and restaurants abound, or even worse, persistent hawkers who shadow your every step. After years of travel, I have finally discovered a place which exudes its history with only a hint of conspicuous modernity. Whilst still breathless from the autumn colours of Bulguksa and Haeinsa Temples, I boarded another train to the town of Andong. My head leaned against the window and while watching the rural landscape flash past under grey skies, reminisced about my North Korean train journey; I saw more machinery on two farms and more cars at a single level crossing then I did during a whole day of train travel between the Chinese border and Pyongyang. The more ... read more
November 7th 2011
There are those relatively rare periods of travel that leave you breathless with wonder and excitement. As I settled into the bus heading to the southern part of Korea, I was not to know that the next few days would be one such period. My predilection for religious sites always finds me gravitating to churches, mosques, temples and other sites of divine significance. My visit to South Korea would be no different, and the Haeinsa Temple was the first of such places on this sojourn. Situated amongst the glorious mountain scenery that dominates the peninsula, its fame derives from its housing of the Tripitaka Koreana, a 13th century collection of 81,258 wooden blocks inscribed with over 52 million Korean characters of Buddhist scripture. Not being favoured of a temple stay (thus missing the early 3am start ... read more
Gyeongju and Busan, South Korea
Published: October 28th 2011Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Gyeongju
Latest obsession: 김범수 (Kim Bum Soo)
Published: September 26th 2011Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Pohang
September 26th 2011
Saturday night, I went to a concert that affected me a lot. 김범수 (Kim Bum Soo) was AMAZING.... He's been on this reality TV show in Korea called "I Am a Singer" for about 5 months and he just finished his time on the show so now he's on tour all over the country. Here's a sample of what he can do: http://tvpot.daum.net/best/TvZone.do?type=mbcsinger#clipid=32569543 The show's concept is simple. Take 7 singers and give them weekly challenges. Audience members vote to keep their favorites. The rules have changed slightly since the show started, but that's the gist. 김범수 won a few times and his singing has really improved. I watched some really old clips of him from the early 2000s and it's very different. I mostly admire him because he's such a good singer: supported, controlled vocals, ... read more
