At 5 in the morning we woke up and got ready to go to Gyeongju. We took the KTX, a fast train, from Seoul to Gyeongju (roughly £25, probably the most expensive thing in this trip) at 6:30 in the morning. It is a very comfortable train and at this time of the day, with the morning light, the view out of the windows was really beautiful (I don't have good pictures, cause the windows kept reflecting :/ ) It took about 3 hours to get to Gyeongju. Once we arrived we took a bus (line 50 or 51, £0.75) to the guest house we are currently staying at. This place, nahbi guesthouse, is pretty nice, mainly for backpackers, but cheap and the staff is friendly! It is really close the town centre (it probably is in the town centre) and convenient for getting to restaurants and catching busses. Gyeongju is surrounded with old temples and historic villages, which is what Julie and I came to see. To get to these different sites you really need a bus, there are also taxis- but they are more expensive. From town centre it takes about 30-45 minutes to each site and each bus ride costs only £0.75 per person :). Yesterday we went to 3 different sites. All of them were old Bhuddist temples. I will mainly let the pictures speak for themselves, with just a brief description here.
The first temple we went to is called 불국사 (Bulguksa) (entry £2). There were very many people there, mainly families with kids and schools, and surprisingly not many tourists... Julie and I must have really stood out *o*. The second temple we visited is called 석굴암 Seokguram (same entry fee). This is a Temple in a Grotto, they have a statue of Buddha carved out of the granite in the cave (they did not allow us to take pictures of the statues). The temple isn't really in a "grotto". Its more a temple sticking out of a grotto. The altar is inside the cave, but the rest is outside. (Julie was a expecting more of a spelunking adventure- lol, that did not happen). The third temple was probably not a touristic temple *o* we realised as we got there. There were very few people about (including the monks). But this is a really beautiful and quiet area. It is set in a hillside, so you have to climb a little to get to the temple. When you get to the top there is a Bhudda carved into a rockface, which you can climb up to, to see better There are also benches on which you can take a rest and have a moment of quiet... Or if you are like Julie and myself, you can chat :P.
It took about 30min to get to the different temples, so we were only able to go to three. But we started at about 12, so I am sure it is possible to do more in a day. I was also very jetlagged :/ 8 hours difference- when it is afternoon here, it is early morning at home.. So today morning we slept in and had a late day.
Today we went to see a historic village. Being a fan of historic dramas, I really enjoyed this. Although this is historic site, people live there and you get a mixture of both the modern technology (cars and satellite dishes) and the old architecture. We did not see many people around, apart from visitors (who were mainly Korean, although we did run into a Swiss couple).
In the evening we went mountain climbing on mount nam. We were actually running late (since we woke up so late) so we had about 2 hours till sun down. We made it up and down in those two hours \^_^/ it is only about 2.5 kilometres one way, but a very nice hike. There are statues of Buddha along the hike and the area is gorgeous. It is actually quite similar to hiking in India :) when you get to the top of the mountain you get a very nice view of the countryside below, and we got to see this at sunset, which was particularly beautiful, although the pictures did not really capture this. We got back to the bottom just as it got dark and took the bus back.
It is really cheap to eat here. Yesterday we went to a cold noodle (냉면) restaurant an I got to try that for the first time (£2 for the biggest portion ever). It is really interesting; noodles in an icy soup. Tastes good, but neither Julie nor I could finish our portions in the evening we had a bibimbap (rice with vegetables, fried eggs meat and chilli sauce... Tastes better than the description) and bulgogi (Korean beef ... Amazing :P) (with a complimentary been paste soup :) This together cost £6.5.... Which is roughly the price for half of one of these dishes in London -.- Today we went to something like a Korean fast food restaurant. You order at a counter then when your number gets called out you go to collect your food. Together we had mandus (Korean dumplings) bibimbap and ramyun (noodle soup). I am really proud that I ate all the ramyun :D I am getting used to spicy again! Anyways all these together cost only about £6, an they were really good!
Tomorrow morning we we are going to Busan. I will try update dayafter tomorrow :)
Title credit- Tara XD
