First outing!!!

Well, first outing outside of Busan. We hopped a train to the city of Gyeongju last night and found a hotel rather quickly. Our first choice did not pan out, a small place that is a traditional Korean home with a propos rooms. I guess we now know why one has to book a room there ahead of time! Nonetheless, it is impressive what a 45 dollar room looks like here compared to the same price at home. We were thrilled with it!! Not exactly a traditional Korean room but a good one.

Gyeongju is an ancient city and once part of the Silla (Shilla) empire (1500's), and I believe the capital. It is a city laid out on a plateau surrounded by mountains. The city itself and its surroundings are littered with temples, royal tombs and historical sites. There is so much to see but we had just the day there. So, like responsible tourists we rented mini motorbikes and zipped through a lakeside modern tourist neighbourhood filled with shops and expensive hotels! The photos do not lie, this was some kind of fun!! And all helmet free!! Not quite the fun one is allowed to have back home, even outside of Ontario!! We did see some tombs and temples and a parc on rented bikes. Amanda and I did quite well on the tandem bike, only a few close calls but no falls!! We some of the inside of a tomb which was okay, but the park it was in was beautiful. The tombs are actually huge mounds of earth covered in grass which blended in so well with its surroundings. We also enjoyed the last food item we thought we would find here...a pogo!!! That's right, the good old corn dog wih a little ketchup. It was deeeeeeelicious. The weather was outstanding!! Almost 30 degrees and it's October 3rd!!

We are back in Busan and have to work tomorrow before a four day weekend. Not sure what the weekend will bring, but we now feel like travellers and are ready for more trips, two days long or more, within Korea or in the Philippines.

A plus...