Going to Gyeongju from Yeongdeok is one challenging task as well. The Ganggu bus terminal does not look like a bus terminal, just a little shop with a long bench outside for people to sit and wait and a self service ticketing kiosk in the shop. I think we are fortunate we have people around us to give us advice. When i enter, there was this man on wheel chair, who attended to me and telling me how to go to Singgyeongju ktx from where we are. We took a bus to Pohang and from there took another bus to Singgyeongju. There was an old man over at the Ganggu terminal who is also waiting for a bus to Seoul. We had a chat with each other. He spoke English with us and we were quite amazed with his travels around the world. Another delivery man at the terminal passed us a slip of paper for us to give to the ticket counter at Pohang. People there are really really very nice!!!
We reached Singgyeongju KTX at 1ish and took a bus 700 to where our pension is. Our host from Bellus Pension drove out and fetch us into her pension. She can speak abit of English and is very helpful. The room is very princessy although it seemed that this place has been here for a number of years. Near the pension, there are restaurants everywhere, but they only sell the beancurd stew and it is very costly at 8000-9000 won. It seemed that the place is pretty touristy.
We went opposite our pension and walked along this Bomun lake. Traces of cherry blossoms can still be seen along the lake and there are many locals walking around this place. This stretch is also very beautiful.
We walked around the lake and exited near Hilton, following my GPS to Shilla Millennium Park. It was supposed to be this theme park where they filmed some dramas. It was pretty late when we reached there and they halved our admission fees ( place closes at 630, we reached there like 515) The fees at 9000 won per person are still pretty expensive still, especially when there are no performances as well. Anyway, they said, they built the set like during the Shilla times, so you see those old houses like what you would see in dramas.
You will also see the palaces during those times too.
By the time when we left, it was their closing time, and the sun was almost setting. Sun set along Bomun lake is exceptionally beautiful!
We walked back along the Bomin lake and back to our pension again. Our trip really consists alot of walking. When we reached the 7-11 near our pension, we called for our host from Bellus Pension to fetch us. The walk in at night seemed dark and she willingly drove out to fetch us.
The next morning, we took a cab out and went to near Gyeongju National Museum. There was this big field of rape blossoms and the place is really beautiful. There were many students on learning journey trips and i even see teachers trying to arrange their pupils to take a photo together. ( really remind me of those days when i was teaching) and then the kids would be like running everywhere. The young ones keep on plucking the flowers, very cute!
Not only the young ones, you will see the older students especially art students, bring their canvas and drawing the whole scene. Indeed, that is beautiful Gyeongju for you.
We made our way to Busan via the KTX. It was only a half an hour trip to Busan from Gyeongju Singgyeongju KTX. When we reach, i met up with my Korean "Godfather", whom we met two years ago while i was venturing alone to Gwangyang. They were very nice to show me around Busan, took us to visit their apartment and even treated us to dinner that day. Look at the amount of food we get to eat that night! We had a walk around the city at night and they even bought quite an amount of goodies and food for us.
The next morning, we explored the area around the city. We went to Bukyeong Market where they sell lots of porridge and tried one of them. The porridge which was supposed to be famous is like just so so to me only and they are also pretty costly. Along the streets, you see Ajumas setting up their stalls on the roads, selling food. I got a plate of Tteokbokki from one of the stalls and get my whole pot share of tteokboki hotpot at night. That day is really a tteokbokki day! :P
At night, we went walking around the Chinatown area. Imagine they put this big logos on the street and state where foreigners come. I was thinking in my heart, definitely a touristy place that charge exorbitant prices for tourists. The street has alot of russian words and seem like quite a number of russians stay there for a living. My korean God father still came and visit us at our hotel, they brought with them lots of goodies for us so that we would not go hungry when we return to Seoul. It was really really nice of them. I told them they must come to Singapore to visit us and i would definitely do my best to make them feel at home!
The next day, we took an early train and head back to Seoul. Busan to Seoul takes about 3 hours now, very fast!
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