Defining Trip: Part 1 - Gyeongju, Ulsan, Busan

Last week, I went to Korea, yes again....and it was probably the best trip so far!

We flew out of Yonago airport to Incheon International Airport. We were actually interviewed at the airport by local news people because of the whole swine flu thing. I was wearing a mask at the airport and in the airplane. Most people in Korea didn't wear masks though.

We spent the first night in Seoul, just found a place to eat near the hostel. It ended up being a fried chicken place, with really spicy fried chicken. Just did the whole point and order trick. I was excited to try my Korean even if it was just "This, please." and "How much?" It got progressively better as the trip went on, I'm pretty good at picking stuff up, especially when it's all around.

The next day, we got up early to go to Gyeongju, a town in the southeast part of Korea. We took the bus since it sounded easier, no transfers, just going there directly. It took about 4 hours to get there. When we got to the bus terminal there were no lockers for us to store our luggage. We had to ask the bus terminal people if they could keep it in their office while we went sightseeing.

Next we took a bus to Bulguksa Temple, but when we asked the tourist information office for a recommendation, if we should go to the temple or the grotto first, they suggested the grotto since it was another 20 minute bus ride away! All right, let's get on the bus....by this time, this is our third bus of the day. We get to Seokguram Grotto and when we are trying to buy tickets the people told us that there was a long wait to get in. We took so many buses, we had to go in and brave the crowds. There was a little bit of a walk before we got to the actual grotto. The big attraction of this place is the Bonjonbul, a really really old statue. There was a long line to see it, but not as long as they made it out to be. We were out of there in under 2 hours. It's a World Heritage site so it was nice to visit. The view from the top of the mountain was great and the air was really nice too. I already felt like I achieved my goal of going somewhere other than Seoul on this trip. That was a definite moment when I was like...wow! Nature! Fresh air!

Ok...so we went back on the bus down the mountain to Bulguksa Temple. We made it in just in time before they closed. The temple was very nice, colorful, a part was under restoration but we could see it through the glass and scaffolding. Got back on another bus to the bus terminal. Got a snack then got on the inter-city bus to Ulsan. My friend from junior high school, Vickie, and her husband moved to Ulsan last year to teach English and they met us at the bus terminal. We stayed with them for two days. Great hosts, I felt bad because we were in the way, but it was really nice to see them. We went out for galbi (marinated pork bbq) that night and then met up with friends to go to a nightclub.

Vickie's sisters were visiting from Minnesota too so it was nice to see them, it was like a mini-reunion of Minnesotans! We reminisced about junior high and people we hung out with, El Burrito Mercado, the West Side. It was nice to be with people from home.

We went to a club, but couldn't get in because they said something about not wanting to have foreigners there on a holiday. Apparently Ulsan didn't have many foreigners until this year because the government decided they wanted to have foreign teachers in public schools. So the city is in a bit of a shock and not sure what to do about this new population. I found that really interesting....it worked out that we got a ride from a friend to a club that was willing to let us in. That was fun cause there weren't a lot of people there and we could sit together too. After the club, we went to noraebang which is karaoke. I love noraebang though because the rooms are huge! The only thing I wish the had were the machines where you can search for songs by title or by artist like they have here in Japan. It's a lot more convenient than having to look through a book. One of Vickie's friends is Korean and sang a song by Rain that I requested. I was really excited and tried to sing along, but I can't read hangul that quickly.

We slept in the next day, it took awhile for everyone to get ready, but once we did, we headed out to Busan. It was only a 45 minute bus ride, about $2, so cheap! Only catch is that we had to stand. We didn't do a lot in Busan, I got new glasses: 2 pairs for $70. They were so nice to us at the store. They made the glasses right then and there, took about 30 minutes. We had iced tea while we waited. They even checked my eyes to make sure they had the prescription right. They even fixed my old glasses and charged my rented cell phone. It was a one stop shop!

After glasses shopping, we walked to Haeundae Beach. A lot of people were there including this really obscene foreigner riding his jet ski and wearing a thong...gross. We had lunch at TGIFridays, it was disappointing, we should have gone to Outback Steakhouse...walked by the beach again after lunch and did some window shopping. Headed to the mall in Centum city later to meet up with Vickie and Kong and then went back to Ulsan together. Another day over! We didn't do much, but were tired.

The next day we left for Seoul, decided to take the bus because we can just sleep on the bus and not have to worry about making any transfers. I'll blog about the rest of the trip in another entry! Too much to say!

---

---