Bellus Hotel Kyongju

... so leaving will be easy.

We decided to go out to get some food. Xian and Ming sort of ran out of money so it was up to me to cater for all. When we went outside, Gyeongju seemed rather dead. We're not sure if it was because it was Sunday or whether it was because it was Chuseok, but there weren't anyone around. We went into the first restaurant we saw open and just ordered a bowl of soup each. Xian and Ming had the beef ribs and I had the tripe. It ...

... boyfriends until they're 16. At 18 they will go to University but will stay at home to study. Generally they stay at home until they get a job and are married. harsh times!

The good news for me and the other teachers is that the next two weeks will be short 4 day weeks as there is a mini break for Korean Thanksgiving. Even better news is that not only is Emma coming to visit but that the temperature is likely to be between 28 and 34 degrees. Scorcio!!

... when i was walking back to the place i was staying at around 10pm, I saw a three small children out walking on their own. Remarkable when you compare it to the hysteria that would follow such a sight in either England or the US. The kids would be taken into care before you could say Gary Glitter. But in Korea, there is very little crime and certainly no fear of it like in the West. Korean attitude to crime is not just that it is wrong ...

... Altsa MOR pa koreansk - kan ikke lige huske navnet p.t.

Det ovrige museum var meget interessant, medmange smukke fund fra det gamle Korea. Specielt har man fundet mange velbevarede smykker og en meget smuk kongekrone.

Vi tog bussen hjem igen i regnvejr, men da vi naede hotellet klarede det flot op med solskin.
Flere benyttede lejligheden til at fa rort sig i Fitness, poolen eller tur rundt om soen.

Okay. We are insane. Our hotel last night was not exactly a spa. There is nothing special, what a dump. Hey, that was the chance we took booking over the internet. Like playing Russian roulette. We survived to talk about it. It is stinky here. Maybe we were not really in the `Tourists` part of town. As I say, we are gluttons for punishment. Keith has mananged to squeeze out another temple visit ...

... Da waren die Taiwanesen erheblich besser erzogen. Ich nehme an, das kommt vom Konfuziismus, der hier ziemlich ultrakonservativ gelebt wurde und dessen Zentralmaxime fuer Koreaner lautet: Tue alles fuer deine Familie und deine Freunde, sch... auf den Rest. In fact koennen die Koreaner auch sehr freundlich sein, freundlicher als die Taiwanesen. Morgen geht es nach Busan, last stop in Suedkorea bevor es mit der Faehre nach Japan geht (I hope:-) Gruss Ralf

After this long journey in Seoul, I moved in the country side to Gyeongju. After a day trip in the bus, I met two fellow travelers Zac English and Hiroshi Japanese and we enjoyed a quiet evening on the roof of our hotel. Few beers, some snakes and long discussion before a a good night of sleep.

... and Junyoung. Brandon and I ended up staying out in Mugeodong with John and his friends until 6. That made for an interesting morning when I had to wake up at 8am Sunday. We managed to get 11 people together for a day trip up to Gyeongju for the Cherry Blossom festivities. We caught the train, rented bikes, romped around, ate ssambap, rode some more, tried to take a group jumping shot, and then came back to Ulsan. It was a long but lovely day with our bike gang ...

... to spend all day outside. Korea was experiencing "Yellow Dust" which is bad haze due to dust/sand/pollution blown across Asia from the Gobi desert (this is why a lot of Koreans wear masks). It was literally the worst day on record and I spent all day outside with no mask. It also made for bad long-distance views in Jinhae, but at least up close things were lovely. We walked around and around and at 6 we caught the bus back. It was quite full and ...