Gyeongju Escape

Plenty of history and foreigner friendly Gyeongju

  A couple of weekends ago, myself and 3 other girlfriends went on a weekend escape to Gyeongju, which is located in Gyeongsangbuk-do province, South Korea. We caught the KTX down on the Friday night and stayed at a cute hostel for the Friday and Sat nights, returning via KTX on Sunday morning. All things considered the trip was great - brilliant weather, great company and fun things to see and do. Let me break it down a bit more...

Gyeongju

  Gyeongju is old, and has a heap of UNESCO sites all over the place, as it was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC - 935 AD) and so has a heap of well preserved ruins and tombs of old kings and generals. This period in Korean history is special and important as during this time its people went from small tribes into a large Kingdom taking up much of the Korean Peninsula. Buddhism was the practiced religion during this time, and it is reflected in the temples and artefacts that are from this period. In Gyeongju there are a shit tonne of Buddhist temples around, the most famous in the area being Bulguksa Temple, about a 40 minute bus ride out of town. 

   This temple was beautiful, and I honestly think we went at the best time of the year. The autumn/fall colours were to die for, and everywhere we looked there were people taking pics of the beautiful trees. This temple is a UNESCO site, unfortunately basically the whole thing is a reconstruction. From what I could gather from the scanty information available, the original temple was destroyed during Japanese occupation of Korea (the first time) and they have been kinda rebuilding it ever since. They are doing a great job though, the inside looks great as well as the outside. In the courtyard they were doing more restoration work of some of the stone carvings. Entry to the temple was 2,500 won.

 

   At the bottom of the temple, where you catch the bus from is a huge eating area, where there are many different resteraunts. We ate at a place pretty much at the front, the lady didn't speak a lick of English but there was an English menu. The whole area had really great signs, in many different languages. The bus timetable was easy to read as well once we figured out where to go.
  At the bus terminal in the city there is an information booth with maps, and also English speaking staff.

  That evening we ate an awesome meal with other guests from the hostel, made more fun because the power kept going out and we were sitting in the dark. The food was traditional, being basically a million side dishes. I cannot remember for the life of me what it was called (karma for not keeping an updated blog) but it was fun to share with so many people.

Sideways pic, but you can see how much food there was!

Anapji at night

   After dinner we wandered up to visit Anapji pond. We were told to visit this place at night, and I am so glad we did. It was amazing. The area was originally one of the detached palaces for the royal family, and had exotic gardens and exotic animals housed there. The structures there now are again reconstructions, but you can still get a true sense of what the place must have looked like originally. There are plaques all over the place saying what they believe was originally in a certain area (based on scanty written records) and there is kinda a mini museum there too with some relics and cool royal things. To enter Anapji was 2,500 won for adults, and they stop letting people enter at 9:30pm. Like I said, I would say go at night to see the beautiful reflections, but if you wanted to go during the day it would also be beautiful because of the gardens.

  Also dotted all over downtown Gyeongju are the royal tombs. These are literally everywhere, you cannot catch a bus into town without looking out the window and seeing them. They are park of large park areas, and are free to go wandering around. Unfortunately all the plaques are in Korean so I didn't have any idea which person was in what tomb, but it was still amazing to see. Actually, surreal was more like it. Korea itself never ceases to amaze me, but these were something different. Its like, this amazing bit of history just hanging out opposite the 7-11. Even thinking about it now I can't wrap my head around it. If this was Australia, and these mounds were some ancient Aboriginal burial ground there is no way people would be able to just wander around all over them. I guess it comes down to people in Korea generally following rules and having respect form what culture and history they have left. Anyway out of everything we got the chance to see these tombs were my fave, mainly because of this weird vibe I got from them... Just hanging out in a park. BIZARRE!!!! 

Thats me, standing about 5 feet in front of the base of a large mound.

    There is a tomb somewhere near by that you can actually go into, but these ones you can't. Inside, both Kings and Queens were buried, and in the smaller ones other high status people and members of the royal families were buried. Inside were places things like crowns, jewels, horse equipment and paintings. And bodies of course. There is a room type thing in the middle where everything is placed, and then the whole thing was covered in dirt and made into a mini mountain. Amazing huh?? There guys are also UNESCO sites^^

Getting there

  We took the KTX, but foolishly didn't book in advance. When travelling south ALWAYS BOOK IN ADVANCE or you will be stuck standing the whole way. It happened to us there AND back again. We caught the fast train from Cheonan-Asan KTX station to Singyeongju KTX station. It was I think 28,000 won there the same back again. So all up under 60,000 to travel across the country on the fast train. From the station we got a cab into town to the hostel, with the night tariff it was just over 16,000. 

  KTX doesn't run as often as the normal trains so make sure you are early to the station. You can always stand on the next one of you miss it but like I said, its a long way to stand. In my experience KTX is always late but don't risk it. 

Where to stay?

  We stayed at the Santa Guesthouse in downtown Gyeongju, and they were great. Nice and warm, a good location and they have free breakfast. As with most places in Korea the wifi was also free. There are 2 bathrooms, but they are unisex, so if you are funny about boy germs then this isn't the place for you. There are 3 rooms, all of them are bunk beds and shared. You can request a whole room if you have enough people. There are stairs to get there and no wheelchair access, so please bare that in mind. For travellers like us, 4 adorable young women, we felt totally safe there and had a good sleep. I would stay there again. The price is around 18-20,000 won per night. TOTALLY GOOD DEAL we booked through one of those online booking places and had no problem. 

To sum it up...

  I don't know what else to say really. I want to go back again in Spring and see some of the other sites, we didn't really plan the day too well and I underestimated how long it would take to get out to the temple and it ended up taking the whole day. 

  I have been told that in spring the flowers are amazing, and they have cherry blossoms and other pretty things. The best way to see everything would be to just hire a bike, which you can totally do. There were bike rental places everywhere. 

  For people who don't speak any Korean, this was pretty easy to navigate so you should be fine. As with all of the country, the taxi drivers don't really speak English so have where you want to go written in Korean, or an address they can plug into their GPS. They do know all the touristy areas though :)

  If you have any specific questions, hit me up.

xoxox

Kids say the darnedest things...

Conversations and observations

  Taking into consideration language/age/experience barriers, you would think that the conversations I have with many of my students would be, well, stupid. And for the most part they kinda are... At the same time though they crack me up, whether it be what they are saying or what they are trying to say. I love how the kids often want to include me in their conversations and tell me about what they are doing. Often they just wander over and tell me their stories in Korean, knowing I might only understand a tiny portion of what they are going on about (in my head I am like "ok, I think he is talking about his mum...").

  I have a perfect example from today. 

"Teacher, this boy is fat"

  One of my grade 5 girls is reasonably high level (by comparison to all the others) and sits next to this little boy who is a little chubby. They help each other out with their work, and get along pretty well. I walked up and was standing off to the side of the boy when I saw him rubbing is tummy. I asked him if he was sick.

"No, Bonnie. Not sick. Hungry."

I giggled and told him he should have had breakfast... At this point his neighbor chimed in.

"Bonnie, he had breakfast. He had 2 breakfast... He is a pig and he is very fat." 

I told her she shouldn't call him fat, and that he is still getting taller. She shook her head sadly and looked at the boy and gave him the most pitying look I have seen a child give another.

"Bonnie, he will always be fat, even if he is tall. His face is fat, and he loves food too much. His weight is 57, and my mother is weight 45... He is much much fatter and still hungry." 

The boy is watching her, trying to piece what she is saying. She writes something on his book (the weight of him and her mum) and then he nods and starts agreeing with her. He tells me that yes, he is fat, and he loves food. He looked so sad as he was saying it... He grabbed hold of his tummy and started shaking it. He stopped, both the kids looked at each other and the boy started pissing himself laughing, all the while saying "Nooooo so fat!"

It was the funniest conversation I have had in a while. The 3 of us were giggling like crazy, trying to be quiet during class. 

HE DID IT

I have never know a bigger group of "dobbers" in my life. These kids rat on each other relentlessly, and then just get over it. 

2 boys were up the back with their books propped up. I wandered over to see and lo, they were playing with their phones. So obvious. I just told them to put them away and left it... They put their phones in their pencil cases and that was it. But they left their books up... I don't know what they were doing but it wasn't phones. The next thing you know one of the girls from the front of the room has her hand up and is telling Co that they are playing with phones. He naturally goes ballistic and kicks them out of the class and takes their phones. 

Whenever there is some giggling or screwing around in class Co will stop teaching and demand to know who the culprits are. In Australia, all the students would be dead silent. They would rather die a painful death than give their class mates away. Not so here. All fingers are pointed (literally) and names are called out until the students responsible for the disruption are standing up and shamed out of the classroom. Its totally bizarre. 

Compliments???

I know I have mentioned some compliments I have received in the past, but this week they have been cuter than usual...

"Teacher, your hair is like a doll"

"Bonnie I like your nail colours"

"You are wearing nice blouse"

"No lense? Good colour!"

In Other news...

  I am blown away by what is happening in Australia at the moment. I don't wanna get all political on everyone, but Kevin Rudd is the PM again??? What the hell happened? I know Julia wasn't popular, but Labour Party please - YOU GOT RID OF HIM LAST TIME. And all of this just happens...

  To be honest, the Kevin 07 campaign sold me. I voted for the guy - I DID NOT vote for Gillard. So I was pretty mad when they ditched Rudd as the leader of the Labour Party and the counrty. I did not vote for Labour in the next election, mainly because the party proved they could not be trusted. They strike me as a bunch of back stabbing morons that do not follow through with party promises. Anyway now it seems yet again the Labour Government are playing with Australian voters. It's stupid. Sooooo not gonna vote this time. Fine me is you want...

  Some democracy - its illegal NOT TO VOTE in Australia. Ugh.

  Tickets are purchased for my flight to Japan in August!!! I am meeting Jess and Nay (Melbourne friends) in Osaka and we are touring around from there. I am super excited waaaahajdkfofknsabdflkjocaidhnfav...

  I will be flying with Asiana Air I think (shout out to Heejin for booking my ticket) so I will do a write up on them at some point... And I am planning on taking my camera AND camcorder to get some nice memories of Japan. So I am on a super tight budget here now preparing for the trip. 

  I had to say more goodbyes this week - Big goodbye to Heather and Michelle. Heather is from the UK and Michelle from Ireland... They are great people and amazing friends. 

Heather stayed at mine before she jetted off (she is headed to Australia the lucky bitch) and I love her so much... I feel like I have known her my whole life not just a year. So I spent the morning crying about that... This is the hardest part of doing this teaching abroad thing... You leave friends from home, come here, make new friends, then they leave you! I don't want to even think about what I will be like when I leave.

I am in the process of signing a new contract to stay here at the school in Korea for another year. I love this place too much, I can't leave yet.

Anyway, extra class time! Better go educate some kids.

xoxoxox

Weekend travels and Contracts

Too many adventures and not enough money...

It's honestly the story of my life in Korea. I do not understand how people can say "oh, wow look, I have paid off all my debt" or "I have saved up so much for my overseas trip" blah blah blah... By the end of the month, I can barely feed myself. Why? Because I am eating, drinking and exploring myself into an early grave. And having a fab time doing it. 

I have done a fair few things this month (keeping in mind my idea of "month" is my pay cycle - from the 17th to the 17th) including visiting an island, paying for Mudfest, eating out most nights, going to Seoul, drinking too much, buying new clothes, going to a pool party full of almost naked men, paying my phone bill etc etc. It's been big. AND today I finally had a serious talk with Co about re-signing with my school for another year in Korea. 

With so much going on, I can only really talk about what happened in the last few days... the rest honestly feels like it happened too long ago.

Insa-dong and the National Museum of Korea

On Sunday me and one of the most awesome people in the world went on a mini adventure to Seoul to see some new things. Well, new for me, but Heather had actually seen it all before. 

We started off the day by visiting Insa-dong, which is known as the "souveneir" part of Seoul. There are soooo many places to pick up traditional gifts, and the area is famous for its ceramics. There are so many different places you can visit to get a cool piece of pottery, or a tea set, or whatever. There are a heap of tea hpouses there too, we didn't visit any but I saw them everywhere. You can also find other nifty things like traditional masks, hanboks, fans, calligraohy, paintings, the list goes on. I would totally recommend this area for travellers to pick up some great gifts and memory items. It really summed up Korea in the sense that the area is biult up, but there are traditional tea houses and old buildings in there too. You can eat at one of the many resteraunts or get some tasty street food. We did both - has some street snacks and then went to a noodle bar and had the best noodles of my life. 

It was crazy, you go into this noodle place and you order from a machine near the door (select from the menu and a ticket comes out). Then you sit and wait... and someone brings your food! I got the ice-noodles and they were soooo tasty, if you can get past the fact that there is crushed ice on your noodle bowl.

Lot's of interesting buildings

A sample of ceramics

Old meets new - this gate is across the street from some IBM building or something

The best noodles ever - and they are vegetarian too

The best way to get to Insa-dong is to take the subway on the yellow/orange line to Anguk station and follow the signs... I believe it was exit 2 we wandered out of. 

Next we hit up the National Museum. I dunno if it was because Memorial Day recently hit us, but there seemed to be some sort of cultural event going on when we arrived. There were people dressed up in traditional clothing and they were carring drums. The men who performed with the traditional drums were amazing, sooo talented and clever. The sound of the drumming is almost something spiritual - it really resonates. Well, it does with me anyway... I love the sound they make, and the performance itself was entertaining, with the costume and the drama of the whole thing. I can't describe it well at all, so just get to Korea and see a drumming show. 

We wandered around the museum for hours and hardly saw maybe half of what was there. I was a little sad there were no dinoasaur bones, but there was some old weapongs and a heap of cool art. I have decided that one day when I am rich I want to become an art collector... The caligraphy was probably my favorite. I loved some of the themes and the quotes. 

The grounds the museum is on are amazing too. What Korea does with public spaces is very impressive... The housing is biult on top of each other, but once the government designates and area to "public space" the whole concept flips and becomes open and clean. The museum area contains gardens and a lake, and enough space for thousands of people to walk around. There is a really pretty bamboo walk too.

The best way to get to the museum is via subway - take the aqua line 4 to the National Museum Station and you come up basically at the museum if you go out exit #2.
The address for the Museum is Yongsan-dong 6-ga 168-6 (Seobinggo-ro 137), Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
You should totally go :)

The drums set up outside the museum - did I mention the cool architecture?

As you walk in...

And look to the right and this is here

Sexy Heather on the bamboo walk

Me being cheesy with the drum girls... They were also really talented

Inside the museum - did I mention the architecture???

Contract re-newal

I couldn't take it anymore - the other week I brought up contracts with Co. He kinda said "oh, sure we will discuss next month" and brushed it off. I felt reassured none the less, because I figured if there was no budget or they didn't want me to stay he would have nipped it in the bud. So today, while I was sitting at my desk playing on facebook he came over with a book.

"Bonnie, we must talk"

I'm like, fuck... he is gonna tell me to get off facebook...

"I want to show you the 2013 contract and see what you think"

WHEW!

So I had a brief look, but he says for me to take it home and read ot over the weekend and make sure I understand the changes. Basically, the differences are that I get slightly less extra vacation days (not really an issue as far as I am concerned... As long as the standard days are the same) and also that I get a slightly different amount for the flight home... All fine to me. 

But I took the book and said yes, I will have a read. We got to chatting about vacation and what days I wanted and all that. He thinks its both smart and funny that I want to save the extra vacay days for winter (Australian summer) and also seems to be happy that I am sticking around. We chatted more today than we usually do - I think he is just pleased there isn't as much work for him. All fine. 

So - on Tuesday next week he wants me to have decided whether or not I wanna stay at the school or whatever. I am about 90% sure I will stay here, so I just want to have a chat with some friends and make sure I am feeling good about the whole thing. 

And there you go... Just like that I am spending a second year in this amazing country. 

Feelings on Korea, 9 1/2 months on...

I am still in awe of my decision to even come here. Every time I think about getting on the plane last August I feel goosebumps and butterflies, but this has been the most rewarding and life changing thing I have ever done. I genuinely love it here and don't want to leave. I am not ready. And so, I will stay. It scares me to think about it, but honestly, I will stay until I am ready to come home. For all I know that might end up being the week after the new contract starts! Or it could be in 10 years (unlikely, I need proper bacon to be readily available). Either way until I am ready I am staying right where I am... Actually, putting it that way makes it seem like I am stationary. This is not the case. My life is in constant flux, changing daily into something else. Not better or worse, just something else. I am excited/scared/dreading/anticipating what I will be in another 12 months. Hopefully I will be happy and healthy. Perfection would be seeing my friends and family from home more often...

I have given myself a new simple mantra that I say every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed - I wish for Love, Happiness and Peace. And this is what I live by... Every day I experience all 3 of these things at some point. My morning kakao from mum, a hug from a student, a laugh with my friends, a fb msg from home (I love some of the group chats we have going btw, tey crack me up)... All of these things keep me going. Plus just doing things like walking Milky outside in the sun. Every day I am lucky enough to feel Love, Happiness and Peace. 

I hope that all of you feel it too!

xoxoxoxox