Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Trip

It feels like I've been starting all of my recent posts with 'a few weeks ago I... (insert fun trip location here)'. I promise one day I'll be caught up on my trip posts so I can do some updates about regular life stuff. Unfortunately, it's not all just awesome weekend road trips. I swear I do go to work at some point as well. And do boring things like grocery shop and clean my apartment. But who wants to hear about that stuff when I have cool weekend road trips to tell y'all about?

I recently (notice my avoidance of the phrase 'a few weeks ago I...') went on another trip with Seoul Hiking Group. I should start charging them for the publicity! Too bad I'm pretty sure my readers aka my family won't be flying here to sign up for their trips. Anyway, I went on another trip with them. This time to Gyeongju to see the cherry blossoms. South Korea's spring season is known for its beautiful cherry blossoms, and I'd been daydreaming about seeing them all winter. I had already spotted a few in Cheonan, so I was stoked to see more.

Cherry blossoms in Cheonan

This trip featured another friday night midnight bus, so we arrived at our accomodations for the night around 4 in the morning. We were staying a traditional hanok village. I'd visited one before, but I had never been inside a hanok. So I was really looking forward to it, but all I could think about when we arived was getting some sleep. Lodging on these trips usually means several people stuffed into one room on the floor. Sometimes there's a bathroom connected, sometimes not. If we're really lucky there might be a shower in that bathroom. I've gotten really good a sleeping on floors in South Korea! I've also mastered using a squater with a fully packed pack on, but that's a story for another post. 

There was some confusion with our room at first (they tried to fit 15 of us into a room that was maybe 10x10ft) but after we got it sorted, I had a pretty good sleep. Well, as good as you can have in 4 hours on the floor. I woke up feeling semi-refreshed, and I was not let down by the village. It was really neat. 

Beautiful hanok village

Sights around the hanok village

Hanok I slept in. It was pretty cosy.

After a quick look around, we were off for our day of cherry blossoms! We arrived in the late morning/early afternoon. About half of the group rented bikes for the day while the others went on a hike. Seeing as I was suffering from an embarrassing but semi-painful handstand injury (Korean yoga -enough said) that resulted in a sprained toe, I opted for the leisurely biking day.

We stopped at the rental shop and got pretty much the most adorable bikes ever. Armed with half-eaten kimbap, a bottle of water, and cell phone cameras, we were off to see the beautiful cherry blossoms!

Unfortunately, due to the unseasonally warm weather almost all of the cherry blossoms were dead. Seeing as there wasn't much way to predict this ahead of time, we were pretty bummed when this came as a surprise to us. According to my kids, China is to blame for global warming. And acne. And one kid's grandma's bad back. And bad hair days. Thanks a lot, China!

During our whole trip we saw maybe four cherry blossoms. However, we did have a lot of fun riding around town. And we saw some beautiful flowers. And ate some awesome grilled kimchi! So I choose to think of the day as a success. 

Underground tombs

The lone cherry blossom on our bike ride.

Beautiful flowers

A kindly Korean father was adamant about taking this photo of me.

Just riding through the flowers. Life is great!

Nature in Korea! I had to capture it.

On the way home we stopped at a temple (can't remember its name -whoops). After a short walk we were able to see it. It wasn't the best temple I've been to (Asia is turning me into a temple snob and I have even left Korea yet) but it was pretty.

Very serious hiker on our very easy walk.

It was definitely a fun weekend. I wish there had been more cherry blossoms, but I still had a nice time and saw some beautiful sights. 

Until next time!

Dongdaemun Market in Seoul

A few weeks ago, I met up with some friends in Seoul to do some sightseeing. We decided to experience some Korean culture so we headed over to Dongdaemun Market.

Unfortunately, a quick perusal (after taking a train ride and two subway rides there, of course) of the guide book told us that it was a mostly night market. However, at this point it was late afternoon and the words 'food alley' caught our attention so we decided to check it out anyway.

It was good that we did because it was a really interesting experience. We kicked things off with a meal in a little side shop. We were all pretty hangry so we picked the first uncrowded place we saw. As you can imagine, living as an expat in Korea comes with many awkward exchanged due to language barriers. Eating in Korea frequently means pointing to a picture and hoping for the best. With the exception of a chicken kidney dinner mishap, I've been lucky enough to have pretty good experiences with ordering food in Korea -until Dongdaemun Market!
We knew we wanted bibimbap (a rice, egg, and vegetable dish) so we pointed to the menu and eagerly awaited our sustainance. When our food arrived, it wasn't exactly what we'd had in mind. We'd ordered bibimbap with raw beef! Yummy? A few were brave enough to try it, but most of us (myself included) just stared at it in horror.

After our 'adventurous' lunch we wandered around a bit. It was a really cool experience. There were food carts everywhere and a lot of side shops. And the place was jam packed! I can't amagine what it would be like at night.

Mmmm insect larva

Delicious?

After the market, we headed over to the Hongdae area to finally get some food. After our encounter with our 'undercooked' bibimbap, we decided to go with something a bit more familiar: burgers! They were really good, too. Korean's usually put this strange sweet tasting sauce on their burgers, but we managed to find some awesome (sauce-free) ones. 

Overall, it was a nice day. I really enjoyed getting to experience Korean culture. However, sometimes its nice to have a little taste of back home as well!

Goseong Dinosaur Footprint Park and Maisan Tapsa Temple

On the way home from the Saryangdo trip, we went to Goseong dinosaur footprint park and Maisan Tapsa Temple. Both were nice little stops to finish off a great weekend.

Cheesy picture with the cheesy T-Rex

Like many things in Korea, the dinosaur park was a bit cheesy. There were giant fake dinosaurs, playgrounds, and of course ice cream (Koreans love them some ice cream), but just passed the all of that were some pretty cool geological features. The best part was the fossilized dinosaur footprints. Neato!

Really beautiful rock formations



Some of the great people I met on the trip.





Dinosaur footprints! (And an awesome fanny pack)

  

Tried one of these out...

They even had a slide! Maybe cheesy can be cool too!

After the dinosaur park, we headed off to Maisan Tapsa Temple. The bus let us off in a crowded parking lot. Then it was a nice little walk over to the temple. Along the way we passed some food vendors and little shops. It was pretty cool. 

Walk to the temple



Check out the offering. Even Gods need vitamin C!



The Temple is home to large rock pagodas (read piles). They were constructed over a hundred years ago by one man. He built them all using natural stone and no mortar. Impressive-uh!

Found these gems on the walk back. Poop themed children's toys!