Last Friday, my good friend Tiffany and I meet up to board our 11pm bus. We were on weekend adventure going to Gyeongju in an attempt to see the elusive and quickly fading cherry blossoms. Our guide, Warren, was a happy-go-lucky, ever cheerful and energetic, and joyful Korean. Understanding him was hard at times, but highly entertaining when all else failed. :)
After sitting on our bus for about 4 hours, talking for about 2 of those, we pulled into our folk village accommodations at roughly 3:30am. Tired and sore, our group of 45 people stumbled through the darkness to our rooms, piled in, and collapsed onto our floor mats. When 8am rolled around, we awoke to a beautiful spring day! Temperatures were at roughly 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the sky was blue, the air was clear, and cherry blossoms were blooming. Tiffany and I decided that instead of hiking the mountain nearby, we would opt to take bikes and ride around the town all day. It was perfect, because it meant that we didn't have to wait on anyone, change our plans, or be crowded by a large group. Beginning with a cherry blossom lined street, we pulled our big cameras and began to take photos. It was breath taking honestly. Imagine huge trees, full of little white flowers, creating a beautiful canopy over a small street. When the wind blew, petals would fall like snow and rain down on you. It was blissful, calming, and exactly what we had been hoping for!
We biked around two different streets lined with cherry blossoms, and spent nearly two hours there. We decided that we should get lunch soon though, so we thought we'd pick up a few things at a small grocery store and have a picnic in a park. Biking along the main road, we passed many restaurants, but no stores. As we then turned onto side streets, we eventually realized that we weren't going to find a grocery store. About 30 minutes later, we found a market! It was nearly 1 by this time, so we were starving. After we finished, about 30 seconds down the road, we found a Paris Baguette. >.< Fail.
Either way, we enjoyed our picnic in the park. When I say park, I really mean grassy area that had big hills which were tombs for former royalty. Kinda strange, but oddly peaceful. Then we biked across town and out to a giant park. It was awesome, though highly crowded. The oldest astronomy tower in Southeast Asia is here, along with a field of rape flowers (canola flowers) and a small forest of cherry blossom trees. The flowers were BEAUTIFUL! I've never been in a field of flowers before; it had always been a dream of mine. Imagine being able to walk out into the midst of yellow flowers calf high, sit down, and surround yourself with their beauty. In the background are big trees covered with cherry blossoms, and the calming sound of little bees buzzing around. As strange as it sounds, I was really happy that I could enjoy it with my friend and not a boy. Now, not matter what happens in life, that moment and experience can ever be dampened. If it was with a boy, then there's a chance that memory would have been stained by a break-up, fight, etc. We biked up and around the forest, enjoying some challenging mini-hills. We found our way to a lake where we chilled out and just sat talking for a while. There was this one moment when a strong breeze came across the park. It hit the cherry blossom tree nearby and the flowers started falling so thickly that it looked like this massive wall. It was downright one of the most beautiful things I've seen in Korea. Nothing compares to the beauty and calm that I feel to sitting under a big tree, talking with a dear friend, and enjoying nature's beauty.
Sadly, in the shade of the tree, and without our jackets, we got cold faster than we were hoping/planning. We walked around the small lake before trying to decide what to do. It was only about 5pm, and we had another 3 hours to kill. Only problem was that we had seen everything already. We debated going out to the tourist area, but changed our minds quickly when we found out it was nearly an hour bike ride away! We decided to chill out a mall, out of the heat and sun! Of course, we had no luck finding the mall, because the mall was not your typical mall (think less big building, and more a string of shops outside next to each other). Then, miraculously, by sheer accident, we found it. We pulled into a Pizza Hut, were shown our booth, and collapsed. For about 2 hours.
We were sunburned (pretty bad), exhausted from the heat, dehydrated, and just plain tired. We managed to rouse ourselves enough to go back to the bus in time for our transport to the pension.
Sunday morning there was a sunrise walk we could have done, but when our alarm rang at 4:30am, we both said no-way before collapsing back into a stupor. Since we were slow moving in the morning, we left after the 9am walk to the temple and had to find our own way. That was okay with us, because the area in front of the temple was a small park/forest of cherry blossoms! :D Why yes, we were in heaven, again! We pulled ourselves away long enough to see the temple in about 15 minutes before walking back to the park. After the temple, we drove up to a place called the grotto. As we were both pretty low on cash, we just sat outside of the entrance and talked about future travel plans before leaving Korea. Around 12:30, we headed out to our last stop before our long drive to Seoul. Since almost half the tour group piled into this tiny restaurant for lunch while the other half hiked for a short bit, it took almost an hour to order and receive our food. Tiffany and I are used to a very specific lunch schedule at school, and having to wait until nearly 1:45/2 was taking its toll on us. She felt nauseas, and I had a massive headache. When our food did come, we wolfed it down in under 2 minutes.
Around 2:30, all 45 of us climbed back on to our bus and began the long journey back to Seoul. While it only took 4 hours to get to Gyeongju, it always takes nearly double the time to return. You may be asking why. The reason is that nearly 25 million people live in Seoul, or around the city proper. Imagine Labor Day weekend, or Thanksgiving Sunday traffic, but every weekend. It's horrible.
We didn't arrive until nearly 9:30, by which time Tiffany and I had HAD it with the bus. I made it home around 10:15ish. I was tired, hungry (since we didn't stop for dinner), and sunburned. Never a good combo.
Overall, the weekend was amazing though. Truly wonderful and perfect. I'd do it again, only this time with the KTX. :)
Love,
Rita
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