Gyeongju revisited

This past weekend my friend Dan and I went back down to Gyeongju for an overnight trip, which was nice since at least I did get to go somewhere for my vacation. It wasn't Bali or Singapore or anything exotic like that, but at least I got out Seoul and was able to breathe some fresh air for a change.

We left early Friday morning and arrived in Gyeongju around 1pm, after which we got lunch at this local restaurant known to have the best naengmyeon in town. Naengmyeon is a dish of cold buckwheat noodles topped with various veggies, slices of pear and half an egg. Since it's served cold it is rather odd for people trying it for the first time, but I've really grown to love it since I've been here...plus it helps to eat something cool like that to battle the heat and humidity of Korea.

the naengmyeon restaurant

bibim naengmyeon

After lunch, and since it was so friggin hot outside at that point, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon indoors, which then led us first to a a rice cake place where we bought two pieces of ddeok (one with pine nuts & one steamed with fermented rice wine).

the rice cake shop

various rice cakes

We then headed over to a nearby a tea house for some very tasty and slightly interesting variations of tea. The first one we tried was their basic green tea and the second was this barley tea that they gave us for free (service) which had some funky aftertaste to it.

the tea house

inside

our green tea, which came with some kind of bean jelly

After tea we walked to the Gyeongju burial mounds and wandered around as the heat bared down on us. Dan also ran around trying to get a few good shots of some crazed red squirrel on his camera as I sat and rested on a nearby bench. Lastly, we got to walk inside one of the actual mounds and were able to see just how the old kings of the past were buried. It was interesting, but nothing worth looking at for more than a few minutes. After the mounds we walked across the street to that place called Hwangnam Bread for some Gyeongju bbang.

the burial mounds

wildlife at its best

Hwangnam Bread

Gyeongju bbang

Later on in the evening Dan and I went to this place called Schumann & Clara for some coffee and potbingsu (a snow cone & ice-cream sundae with fruit on top). I was enamoured with the coffee they served there since it was very reminiscent of the quadruple espresso shots I used to make for myself back when I worked at Bread Company in St. Louis. It came out to the table in a little coffee cup still steaming and it was very thick and very rich...absolute perfection. It may have been the best cup of coffee I've had thus far in Korea. As we sipped our coffees Dan graded papers as I continued reading through Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera (in preparation for my upcoming trip).

the coffee shop

inside

the coffee

potbingsu

After the coffee house we walked to a nearby wine & cocktail bar for some classicly Korean draft beer...think Bud Light but weaker. One of Dan's old students/friends met up with us there and had a few drinks with us, after which we proceeded to this greasy spoon-type place for some late-night grilling barbeque fun. By that time it was fairly late so Dan and I went back and crashed at the room.

Korean beer

Dan & his friend

meat grilling

The next morning we went hiking up Namsan (the one in Gyeongju obviously), which was fairly fun but could have been better had it not been so friggin hot and humid. We saw some old historic statues of Buddhe along the way and got very nice looking pics from the peak where we stopped.

on the way up the mountain

a statue of Buddha (one of the many)

a photo I snapped of a butterfly

the rest area where we stopped

the view from the peak

another butterfly that I got to perch on my hand

the map of Namsan

At that point we hadn't eaten breakfast and were starving so we hopped a taxi back into town and went for some dalk galbi (grilled chicken with vegetables and hot pepper sauce). After lunch Dan met up with the girl whose house we were staying at as I went and checked my email in a local PC bang. We still had a few hours to kill before we had to go to the bus terminal so we hit yet another coffee house where I read more of my book and Dan checked his own email. Just before we went to the terminal and boarded our bus Dan and I went to this place called Chal Boli Bbang for more of that barley red bean pancake bread that we had last time we were down there. I brought back some extra boxes for my boss and my roommates.

dalk galbi

mak guksu (another type of buckwheat noodle in a cold broth soup)

the PC bang

Overall it was a good mini-trip, though it might have been better had it not been so hot. Still, at least it didn't rain like it did last time, and I was glad to be getting out and doing something for my vacation...even if I really only did things I usually do here in Seoul anyway.

As for me, I only have two weeks left here in Korea before I'll be coming home again. I still have SO MUCH to do before then. I've got to finish packing and then clean out my room, I still have to go to the Pension Office to apply for my refund, I have loads of lesson plans to finish for that last week in August, I have to go donate all of these extra clothes that I don't wear anymore, I've got to make a trip to the Post Office to send a buncha boxes of stuff home and I wanna hang out with all of my friends at least one more time before I go. Like I said...SO MUCH to do. Thank god there's another holiday coming up on Tuesday so hopefully I can finish packing by then.

In the meantime though I'm just counting down the days...