Two weekends ago, Kang and i took a 4 hour bus ride to Gyeongju from Seoul. It was a nice getaway after 5 days of hardcore studying for midterms. Gyeongju was the capital of the Shilla Kingdom (57 BC-AD935), a dynasty which lasted for almost 1000 years.
The first stop was Shilla Millenium Park, a historical themepark modeled after the sights and sounds of the Shilla dynasty. I liked it loads because i felt like i was in another world- the sandy ground, cute little huts, traditional houses (hanoks) and waterfalls. Even the toilets were super old school- wooden cubicles in the open, somewhere in the middle of the park.
The coolest thing about the park was that we could make our very own hairpins! Haha. There were many workshops to choose from- glass art, metal art, even soysauce… but Kang and i chose the easiest and prettiest one. The pressed flowers workshop! I loved the awesomely patient ahjumma who helped us with our hairpins. See the photo below for my masterpiece! Haha, not too bad right?
Early next morning, Kang and i met Jen and Vernon to go hiking at Mt. Namsan. All i can say is it that one should never wear sneakers when hiking. And since there weren’t any marked trails, we took a different route on our way down… which led to a dead end at some pavillion thing. Ahha. Vernon had pretty good hiking sense though, so we managed to find our way out. Thank God. Just before leaving for Busan, we went to see fields of pretty yellow flowers.
Busan was spent shopping four-fifths of the time, underground at Soemyeon as well as the bustling streets of Gukje Market. It was very fruitful, which explains my self-enforced 2-weeks shopping abstinence. 🙂 Would love to travel around Korea again, like to the smaller, less developed towns. If i learn to cycle by then, sightseeing would take on a whole new level. Exciting! Who wants to come with me?!
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