Commodore Hotel Gyeongju Chosun Kyongju

... I asked Xian what he thought of the artifacts as he seemed unimpressed and thought they were mostly replicas. I thought they were real seeing as the last dynasty in Korea did last over 500 years, and so I thought because it seemed to have less internal conflict compared to say China, the artifacts would be better kept. Not sure if that's true or not. The most interesting thing was that there were so many people playing with skipping rope and other family ...

... taxi driver asking me where I was headed. I mentioned the name of the hotel I'd booked, the "Manstar Motel", at which he struck up a conversation with a couple of other nearby cabbies. They were talking for a while, and I picked up the word "Manstar" a couple of times, but after a while it seemed like they'd forgotten I was even there. I waited about a minute, and then found the original cabbie who got my attention. On asking in ...

... days. One of the tombs was open for tourist access and gave us an idea of how the tombs looked from the inside. Quite a bit of work to bury someone back there, reminds a little bit of the Egyptian pyramids. After visiting the tombs we went a bit on a march to Anapji Pond, which was displayed as a pretty nice picture on our local tourist map. We were disappointed however, after paying an entrance fee (for a pond!!) we found the ...

That is certainly my tip for anybody coming to Korea. I must admit that I have never been more afraid in my life to do even the most simple things, like leaving my flat, taking the bus or ordering in a restaurant. The fear of leaving your flat for the first time is that you may never find your back. A scenario that I joked about with my mother when she asked me "what is the worst thing that could happen?", and a scenario shared by Rick ...

... size, it has as many shops and restaurants as Gaziantep, Turkey. It is a pleasant change to be traveling with newly-made friends, after traveling solo for 2 months. Yes, today it has been 2 months, since I took the train from Istanbul to Konya. However, I must add that company makes you lose time and concentration. You have to wait for each other. In addition, when you are chatting you lose the concentration that should be placed on the city.

... which are both UNESCO World Heritage sites. Most Buddhist temples in Korea are built on top of mountains in rurul areas, so it's very beautiful and naturey. In fact, we were surprised that everywhere we went in Korea was incredibly green and mountainous. There was a mist covering some of the mountain tops. It reminded us of Costa Rica. The weather was a bit cool and damp, which was a pleasant and refreshing ...

Hallo zusammen, ich war jetzt zwei Tage in Gyeongju, 1000jaehrige Hauptstadt des Shilla Koenigsreiches, welches als erstes das gesamte Korea kontrollierte. Hier gibt es wieder Touristen und auch ein Hostel, allerdings recht schlechte Qualitaet (kostet immerhin auch US$20). Gyeongju wurde die Hauptstadt von Shilla 57v.Chr. und im Jahre 668 hatte Shilla Baekje und Goguryeo unterworfen und draufhin begann die Bluetezeit, die meisten Bauwerke ...

... and english and was motioning to me did I want a room and didn't understand that I was looking for a sauna. Oh well, off to the temple. The temple is called Golgusa and they are to only temple in Korea to specialize in martial arts. The Grand Master and founder of Sunmudo is the found of this temple. It is built around a giant buddha carved into the mountain in the 6th ...

... where our leader lost track of time, and we luckily missed out on another hour of sitting meditation and the series of 108 bows that we were all dreading. Perhaps we were the most lucky campers of them all! I may have been gritting my teeth the whole time, and itching to leave as soon as I woke up, but the temple stay was a good experience and something I don't think I'll ever forget. It was interesting to get a peek into the life of a ...

... of course. We invited Jinu over for cheering a number of times as well. Afterwards, Brandon, Melissa, and I took Jaeyong for noraebang! It was an excellent night and I was home by three. Sunday was pretty simple. The waeguks met with Hyunji and we went to Yoonsoo's for lunch. Her mother made a scrumptious meal and we got to meet Soo's mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We walked with Soo down to Shinae and went to a sticker room! Soo left us and we caught ...