This is a long over-due post so let's get things started, yeah? I just realised this was a month ago *sigh* so much for updating things better... oops...
Thursday 6th June was a national holiday and my school also gave us Friday off so, woohoo! 4-day weekend! What was also nice and convenient for us here in Gwangju was that there's now a bus that goes from Emart terminal all the way to Busan (and even to Haeundae beach) without the need to go into Seoul first. Me and Hanneke went together and met up with her friends before they left Korea.
We spent Thursday getting to Busan, it took about 4 or 5 hours in the end, but it was only a short walk to Haeundae station and then to our hostel. There's loads of places to stay around there and we managed to get a last-minute booking at Hello Guesthouse. We went down to the beach - only a short distance from our hostel - and walked up to the end where the small harbour is. We ended up grabbing a taxi and going a short way up the hill to Dalmaji Road, where we could walk through the trees and look back down on Busan and the sea as the sun went down. We were able to get a cab back to the main part of town too, which was lucky as it's a little far to walk but at least it's only a cheap fare.
Thursday night we went out to one of the Thursday Party bars before moving on to Fuzzy Navel where the barmen did tricks spinning bottles and things with fire. We ended up in a very quiet Wolfhound Irish pub for a last drink before making our way back.
On Friday we went separate ways; me and Hanneke went on the train to 경주시 Gyeonju whilst Melissa and Jongun went to another part of Busan (they had more time than us and were going to Gyeonju the next week anyway). It took about 90 mins but was worth it! Plus I think each single-trip ticket cost us about 6,000 won/£3.50, which was awesome.
We had gorgeous weather that day too - we walked although there are plenty of bike hire places and most people seem to cycle instead. Each place was a little far but slowly strolling around was fine, although we didn't have time to see everything in just one afternoon. We walked around some of the main historical sites, firstly 첨성대 Cheomseongdae (the astronomical observatory), then through the park/over the hill where there was once a fort to Gyeongju National Museum.
Unfortunately, the main building was closed for earthquake-prevention construction, so we went around the other hall relatively quickly but it did mean it was free to enter! The main artefacts were from the Silla kingdom, and for the number and quality, really amazing when you also consider their age.
One thing that place badly needs is a gift shop. I didn't really notice until we were leaving as they did have a lovely new-looking bookshop. It had big selection of books about the history and artefacts (all in Korean bar one book that was pretty expensive) but I couldn't even buy a small souvenir like a keyring or magnet or postcard. Please, Korea, can you get into the whole postcard thing? I like being able to send them home from the different areas I go to and I was disappointed that I couldn't :'(
Anywho... Mum, that's why I didn't send a postcard!!
After the museum, it was a quick trip across the road to our last stop at 안압지 Anapji, which was beautiful. I think we were lucky to be there whilst it was a quiet day but it was lovely to see the reconstructed buildings. What I would give for a TARDIS to see what it was like in it's hey-day.... but then, my hair would've caused an absolute sensation, haha~! All side-notes ...er... aside..?, it was a great afternoon! I'd love to go back and see the parts we missed, particularly the temple which was just a little way out of the town and the rest of the museum as it'll be open again now.
So, Friday was awesome, but not over yet. We came back to Busan, dropped everything at the hostel and took the subway a short ride to a different area by Gwangalli Beach. We had some pretty awesome food for dinner - some amazing spicy fried chicken. Who knew, ice cream on a salad kinda works with that?! Sounds crazy but it was delicious. The entire length of the beach has a view of the Gwangandaegyo Bridge, which is a little strange, to be looking out at from a beach (I'm used to it just being open sea!) but looks fantastic as the sun went down and the lights all came on. We went to a bar along the beach-front for drinks, ended up going to 노래방 (karaoke) and somehow... going back to the bar again after that, which was much more lively. The sky was getting lighter, so we also saw the sunrise and sang for a random Korean guy's birthday.
[note; I'd written this far, then stopped for some reason... I was busy?!?! *headdesk*]
After finally getting back to the hostel (some drama there but I don't really want to mention), we all got a few hours sleep before waking up to the roar of jets going over for an air show at the beach. We decided to go on the bus down the coast a-ways to a beautiful temple for the afternoon. You have to walk down a fair number of steps, as the temple is built into the cliffs above the sea. It was relatively busy, being a little bit of a tourist trap but still had it's charm. We explored the temple quickly before sitting on the rocks with ice cream which was very relaxing, just listening to the surf for a while.
We got back to the hostel, and went for food at a great outside restaurant which had lots of pretty fairy lights in the trees. It was barbecue, and of course, delicious! Then, me and Hanneke had an early bus back on Sunday so we didn't go anywhere else that day - just home to collapse and have the end of the afternoon to rest before going back to work again on Monday!
Regarding photos; I do have some, but I think I might bulk-upload them to something like Flickr instead of just on Facebook... and I really can't be done with looking at this post and it being unpublished any longer, so it's just going to have to stay as an absolute essay right now before I go back and add in some relevant pictures. Sorry!
[note; I'd written this far, then stopped for some reason... I was busy?!?! *headdesk*]
After finally getting back to the hostel (some drama there but I don't really want to mention), we all got a few hours sleep before waking up to the roar of jets going over for an air show at the beach. We decided to go on the bus down the coast a-ways to a beautiful temple for the afternoon. You have to walk down a fair number of steps, as the temple is built into the cliffs above the sea. It was relatively busy, being a little bit of a tourist trap but still had it's charm. We explored the temple quickly before sitting on the rocks with ice cream which was very relaxing, just listening to the surf for a while.
We got back to the hostel, and went for food at a great outside restaurant which had lots of pretty fairy lights in the trees. It was barbecue, and of course, delicious! Then, me and Hanneke had an early bus back on Sunday so we didn't go anywhere else that day - just home to collapse and have the end of the afternoon to rest before going back to work again on Monday!
Regarding photos; I do have some, but I think I might bulk-upload them to something like Flickr instead of just on Facebook... and I really can't be done with looking at this post and it being unpublished any longer, so it's just going to have to stay as an absolute essay right now before I go back and add in some relevant pictures. Sorry!
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