Exploring Gyeongju

Bomun lake, the cherry blossoms were not in bloom but
usually the trees behind me are covered in beautiful white flowers.

A lot has been happening lately, I met some wonderful girls from Tokyo who visited our church for a visa run. We spent a Saturday afternoon volunteering together to serve at a home for the handicapped. Hopped on a train to Busan with some girls I’ve met in Daejeon to participate in a traditional Indian festival where we splashed each other with different colored paint and danced our tushy’s off to all the latest Bollywood hits, and this weekend I spent some time cycling around the “Rome of Korea.”

I’ve sat down to update the blog many times only to find myself with writers block and no motivation.

I have been working on writing a book and have been spending countless hours note taking, reading, meditating on scripture, writing and editing and my brain has been fried. Today I am taking a break from prepping for the book to update you on the fun we had this weekend.

The scene for the Korean show we watched

Most that know me, know I am no stranger to meeting strangers 🙂 I’ve signed up for countless trips with nothing but a backpack and an open mind to explore different towns, with soon to be new friends. I have met most of the people I know through random trips or other online resources to connect with new people. I love the adventure of travelling and the anticipation of the unknown. It gives me a rush that cannot be explained.

This weekend I signed up to go on a trip with an organization here known as Adventure Korea. I was planning on going by myself, but lucky enough to have one of the girls I’ve met in Daejeon join me on the fun. We hailed a taxi around midnight to meet at the location where we would soon be hoping on a bus and heading to Gyeongju. Gyeongju is known for it’s historical attractions and has been referred to as “a museum without walls.”

After an hour of waiting for the bus to pick us up and a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived in Gyeongju around 5 in the morning to catch a few hours of sleep before we would head out and cycle through the city.

Burial mounds of past Korean Kings.
*Note, this picture does not do it justice.

When we arrived at the hostel the organizers shouted to us to team up in groups of 4 or 5. There were about 90 people in the lobby and I anxiously looked around as I realized the traditional church camp rules of no boys in the girls cabin didn’t apply here. My eyes quickly found the girls Ber and I met on the bus and I immediately ran over to ask if they wanted to “bunk” with us. They agreed, and as we unlocked the door to our room we realized we would not be sharing sets of top and bottom bunks but one giant bed… THE FLOOR! I should have known.

Inside the Bulguksa Temple

With a map in hand, a list of possible places to visit and no plan, we hopped on our bikes with 3 other girls and started cycling through the city. We got the short end of the stick being on the 3rd bus and landed ourselves the “B team” bikes. Locked in a shed and hesitant to give them to us, the bike shop owner slowly pulled them out. It didn’t take long into the ride before I realized the breaks on my bike were shot and I took a nose dive into the side of the road falling down into the ditch. There was a marathon going on that weekend and 3 Korean men stopped to ask in English if I was okay. Not wanting them to waste any of their marathon time on me, I told them I was fine, brushed the blood and dirt off my legs and arms and quickly paddled to catch up to the group.

Bunhwangsa, built in 634, used by the people
to ask Buddah to bless the Kingdom

We biked aimlessly through the city, unable to find any of the marked destinations for hours until we found the lake and got lucky enough to witness a traditional Korean show. We sat and enjoyed the show, grabbed some lunch and rested before hopping back on the bikes to begin our search again. We biked around the city for hours, I’m not exactly sure how far we traveled but my body suggests I got a week’s worth of workouts 🙂

Here are some of the sites we did manage to find. Not nearly close to what I was hoping to see so I will definitely be making a trip back that way while I am here.

B Team Bikers

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