Sorry for the absence for the past 3 months. I've just started on my new job and it's tough trying to cope with things. Not to say, I'm so mentally drained I started feeling tired really early. So I've been dragging to continue posting. But feeling encouraged by the number of visitors who still come here often, I decided I should finish up my posts of my Korea trips.
So Day 39 started off with us waking up early to check out at 8.30am and rushing for the 8.45am bus from Sun Cruise resort. If you do not remember, I've mentioned before that the bus to and fro Sun Cruise comes every 2 hours. If we had missed this one, it would take us another 2 hours before we could get back to Seoul.
I have to specially mention the friendly bellboys. Because we saw the bus from afar and were worried that it may scoot off without us, they started running for the bus for us, and I'm ashamed to say that these guys were even faster though they have to run along while pushing our heavy trolleys. Superb service from them really :)
We took the bus back to Seoul before we head off for our road trip #2. Just in case you're wondering, you get pretty good comfortable chairs for the bus. And this is not even the premium one.
We had a simple lunch back at the bus terminal before boarding another bus to Gyeongju. A bus from Gangneung to Gyeongju would take 6-7 hours, and a bus from Seoul to Gyeongju would have taken 4 hours. So that was the reason why we decided to head back to Seoul. But we forgot to count in the journey of Gangneung back to Seoul which took 2 hours so in the end, the time spent is around the same. But nonetheless, glad to be back in the lively city.
My simple lunch - tuna and kimchi rice. I can't fathom why a simple dish like this can always always taste so great. In Korea, I've almost never gone wrong with a dish before. No matter how old the shop is, how small the shop is, how empty the shop is. Koreans are all born to be cooks somehow.
So... we arrived at Nahbi guesthouse in Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a very ancient city and most of their houses are hanoks or traditional houses. The girls wanted to opt for hanok stays too but unfortunately the highly rated ones didn't have rooms. I was secretly glad though. I'm particular about bathrooms and I always have the thought that the hanoks' bathrooms will not meet my standards. Not sure how right I am, but do let me know if you've stayed in a hanok before.
Nahbi guesthouse, is a pretty good one to stay in if you're not into hanoks like me. The guesthouse owner gave clear instructions and directions and also a map that indicates the famous restaurants in the small city of Gyeongju (although I beg to differ for some recommendations). He also speaks good English so you can be sure he will help with anything. Also, I needed to print something but ran out of paper. He was helpful to get me some as well. It's a small and simple guesthouse but good to get by if you're not fussy. Afterall, I don't think I've seen any hotels around in Gyeongju too.
We headed for a very traditional dinner after settling down and it was quite highly recommended by the guesthouse owner too. It took quite a while to find this place and we reached after about half an hour. We were here for one of Gyeongju's specialty food - ssambap (쌈밥).
This spread looks amazing but I can safely claim this is one of my worst meal experiences in Korea. Firstly, almost every single dish felt as if they've been immersed in salt for days. Secondly, we came in at 8.15pm or so and at 8.50pm they started chasing us out. Like telling us that they are closing and we have to finish our food. Well... there wasn't a lot of food choices at night but even if so, if they have kindly told us at 8.15pm that they are closing at 9pm and would really chase us out if we are not done, maybe we wouldn't have headed in.
We were feeling unhappy and unsatisfied and the night was too young to head back to sleep. Afterall, it's only 9pm! But there weren't a lot of activities to do in Gyeongju at night (not that I know of) so we decided to head to Paris Baguette to eat patbingsu. I love love love patbingsu, because of it, my night ended slightly better.
Gyeongju doesn't have any subway systems. There are buses of course but the places we are heading to are all clustered in one area - we wonder if buses are even necessary. After much deliberation, we decided to go by cycling. It's one of the most basic and best way to explore the city, while not having to take as much time as walking.
We first came to Daereungwon complex and also to the Cheomseongdae observatory. Gyeongju really is a place of rich culture and history and it was very peaceful cycling around there. Its famous tourist attractions are all history-related though, maybe that's also the reason why this place doesn't appeal to much tourists.
We were not satisfied with the ssambap (쌈밥) yesterday so we decided to stop by at this other restaurant when we cycled past it. This was so much better, still salty though. If you realise, the portions of the side dishes are quite small, probably because they know you will refill it anyway. It's all refillable except that delicious stewed pork. You also have so many choices of vegetables to wrap your face and side dishes in - makes perfect sense since ssambap literally means wrapped rice.
We also saw many people queueing for this and we decide we have to too, even if it takes a while. It's called Hwangnambang, and supposedly one of Gyeongju's delicacies too. It's some pastry made of red bean paste and it tastes absolutely delicious eating it piping hot. We were probably the only one who spent 15-20mins queueing up but only bought a packet of 8 to share. I really wanted to bring some back to Singapore though, but considering that I've two more road trips after that, I'm not sure if this can survive with me while I travel around the rest of Korea. I gave up that thought after realising how much of a hassle it is to lug my backpack, to-go bag and another bag of this along with me.
We also went to the Anapji pond and also Bunhwang-sa afterwards. Anapji pond will look amazing at night so if you do have a choice, please visit Anapji pond at night. The only reason why we didn't was because Anapji was at the opposite end from our guesthouse, and we already cycled a half circle, it makes no sense to come back here at night.
We spotted some lovely sunflowers and a nice patch of green grass?? along the way cycling back. It was a tiring journey back though because shortly after, a friend fell while riding. We sent her back via taxi and had to push her bike back. It meant that one of us must push two bikes. And it doesn't make sense that we leave one person behind too because we were running late in returning the bike and had to take a shortcut which was not already planned. A long and tedious journey back indeed.
We went for samgyupsal and makchang for dinner after that. I really really miss makchang - it's quite exotic in Singapore.
We finished the night with another patbingsu. Patbingsu makes me feel so at ease.
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