Gyeongju getaway

This past weekend the gang and I headed out for a three-day weekend trip to Gyeongju, the former capital of South Korea. It was a fun time, made even more pleasant by the plethora of fresh air and green scenery. It was a refreshing change to be able to breathe without the need to start hacking and coughing. We left by bus very very early on Friday morning and came back even earlier on Sunday morning. I won't go into all the details of our little excursion here (you can read further about it on my friend Kate's site, Stranger in her Native Land), but posted below are some images of the weekend's highlights.

the slightly depressing Korean countryside

"So when do we eat?"

Kate & Kate

temple entrance

inside the temple grounds

one of the pagodas

the golden Buddha

the crowds below

check out the hairy nipples on this door mural...eww

Maggie sporting a cotton candy mustache

the "Pleasure Garden" of Gyeongju

more garden

the garden pond

on our way into town for dinner

waiting for dinner

at the norae-bang (karaoke room)

Mike getting down with his bad self

being nerds at the PC bang (PC room) on Friday night

more countryside

a lady & her parrot at the restaurant where we had brunch

enjoying brunch

inside the National Museum


downtown Gyeongju

saw this downtown...& I know all you guys out there want one of these
(and yes that is a picture of a guy modeling it in the background)

this is a wall-sized mural of Hitler that we saw...right next to a toy store

Mike & Zach trying to win a prize from one of those crane machines

on our way into an arcade to play some more video games

aww...

my favorite shot from the entire weekend...
a black and white of everyone hanging out in front of the Family Mart