Gyeongju , South Korea

Beautiful Gyeonju – Part 1 (Autumn October)

Gyeongju is a city on South Korea’s southeast coast. It was the capital of the 1,000-year-long Silla dynasty, and is known for its extensive historical remains. The 8th-century Bulguksa Temple features twin stone pagodas, a series of wooden staircases and a large bronze Buddha. Nearby, Seokguram Grotto houses a towering seated Buddha and offers panoramic views of the sun rising over the Sea of Japan. – Wikipedia

Gyeongju is just an hour car ride from Busan. Mil drove up to Gyeongju and halfway we popby Ulsan to have lunch before continuning our journey. We stayed 1 night in a traditional hanok at the outskirts of Gyeongju which is slightly more countryside because i want to experience abit of countryside morning. You can book traditional hanoks stay in Gyeongju. There are almost everywhere. There are a couple of good ones which we initially wanted but they were fully booked.

The one we stayed was about KRW 35,000 per night ( sgd$40 per night) where the room can fit 4 pax. It is traditional hanok so we slept on the floor with the traditional floor bedding and blankets. The table in the room is also the traditional short ones like the one in the picture below.

Our hanok. There is also a sitting area outside your hanok like the one below where you can wrap yourself in warm thick blankets and chat over coffee in the morning and beer at night. It was VERY COLD at night. Suggest that you bring thick clothings if you are planning to go to the countryside. It was so cold in the morning.

One night for SGD40 in these traditional hanoks. Can squeeze in more than 4 pax actually cos it is spacious inside. Nothing except foldable floor beddings and a short table for you to have your meals.

You can bbq at night over this fire pit or hold a small little campfire with this pit or use their bbq grill. Really nice to bbq at night in the cold weather. Very shiok to eat sizzling hot and nicely bbq meat in the cold.

Very fresh air from the countryside. Air was so clean !

Once place to visit is the Gyeongju Gyochon Traditional Village.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1863026

You can try many traditional foods , see many traditional hanok houses and even rent a hanbok to take pictures in this cultural village.

One thing you must have when you visit this hanok village is this Gimbap !

Gyori Gimbap

It is very famous and SOOOO yummy ! It was featured on many variety shows and voted one of the nicest Gimbap.

Queue is very long but it moves damn fast. Took us less than 5 min to reach the front.

All the Ahjummas are all busy wrapping the Gimbap. So when it is your turn , just tell them how many you want , they pack and you can either eat inside small restaurant or take away. There are ALOT of houseflies in the restaurant. So if you cannot stand it , suggest you just take away and eat outside or anywhere standing.

Super long queue

You should order their guksu (noodle soup) too ! It is damn nice !

You can try traditional handmade ice cream and rice cakes too !

Gyeongju is famous for its glutinous barley Bread . It is a red bean filled bread roll that was first made in Hwangnam-dong in Gyeongju. We bought a box to eat in our hanok for breakfast the next morning !

They are also famous for the soya bean paste here. You can buy and bring home or have your lunch there ! I haven tried it though.

If you walk further in , you can see the large ancient tombs of the Kings and Nobles of the Silla Kingdom. Sometimes while driving and in the middle of nowhere you can spot a “little hill” which is an ancient tomb. Hubs say that it is commonly seen in Gyeongju.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264117

If you walk abit further , you can see the pink muhly grass. You need to queue to take pictures at a particular photo spot

http://tour.gb.go.kr/en/page.do?mnu_uid=314&con_uid=27489&cmd=2

Weather is very cool during autumn so it is ok to walk. Air is very fresh too.

Further up you can see the Cheomseongdae Observatory. We skipped there because nothing much to see.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264256

Our dinner at this famous restaurant serving duck stew.

Byeolchae Gyodong Ssambap 별채반 교동쌈밥

Address in Korean : 경상북도 경주 황남동 328-1

328-1, Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea

Contact No : +82 54-773-3322

VERY NICE ! I like it and the Banchan is ALOT and free flow !

So yummmy ! After dinner , we drove back to our hanok to sleep before we head out next morning to explore more temples.

Nov24

K-beauty !

Here’s something i got from Korea 2 months ago and i finally started using it after the Maxclinic one which i got in April finished up.

I used to remove make up with cleansing oil but i switched to Oil to Foam cleansing oil to remove my make up. This is used in the 2nd step after using the Biore cleansing water or Biore Jelly up remover to remove eye make up.

Cleansing = 3 steps for me and that includes thorough make up removals.

First step – Remove with cleansing water or make up remover

2nd step – Remove remaining make up with cleansing oil

3rd step – Foam cleansers.

I love how this cleansing oil turns to foam when you lather your face with water. I don’t like how oil cleansers are soooo hard to remove even with foam cleansers. Some cleansers are too mild and may take longer time or quite hard to remove the cleansing oil on the face. Or the cleansing oil is too oily and too strong for the cleansers.

So it is good to get oil to foam cleansers because they don’t leave that oily feeling and it removes your make up.

The Max Clinic one is good but not sold in SG. Blogged HERE before.

Because it turns to foam after you lather with water , it rinses off easily. YAY !

Im gonna stock on this ON: and Max Clinic ones on my next trip in March/April. I maybe going for a short 5 days in Jan to check on the wedd stuff. Got this at KRW 7,500 after 50% discount from OLIVE and YOUNG. Lucky enough to get this at 50% off because when i want to go back to buy another bottle to stock up , it was back to KRW 15,000 and so i didn’t buy.

Something you can buy and try as a 2nd step make up removal. Or if you are someone who puts on light make up , i think this one can remove your make up base well enough.

Im turning 30 soon and im slowly introducing anti-aging products to my skin. I have sooo many sample bottles of this AGE AWAY range from HERA that i think the samples alone can last me probably 6 months or more. Starting to feel old and can feel the skin is no longer like last time. A little bit different from 4 years ago because now i realized i need to maintain it quite abit more than before. I like this range alot. I haven’t gotten any breakouts yet (not pimple kind of breakouts but rashes). Because when a product is too strong or rough for my skin , rashes will start appearing and they are the abit painful and itchy kind. It will take 2 days for it to go away. But yay to this one.no side effects.

I think im like a K-travel guide. Friends often ask me where to go in Korea. Because they have been to Seoul soooo many times and they want to go elsewhere. They want to travel for 10 days.

Seoul , Jeju and Busan. These are the 3 popular places. To be honest , 3 days in Busan or 3 days in Jeju is not enough. If you have the time , 5 days will be great for you to comb the entire place and go to more places. Most people put a week in Seoul because there are more to see. Actually i find that Seoul is more for shopping. But if you want to have a rich experience of the culture , you can go to these places.

Gyeongju :

It was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla and you can see many ancient and traditional Korean houses and palaces. Awesome place to go in Spring and Autumn because the trees , leaves and flowers blended in so well with the architectures. 2 days 1 night here will do.

Jeonju :

If you love bibimbap , Jeonju is the place you should try. Jeonju is famous for its bibimbap.

The Jeonju Bibimbap ! Jeonju is famous for its food. So remember to eat and eat and eat your way there.

It is about 5 hours bus ride from Seoul so it will take about 2 or 3 hours via KTX ?

Quite a small town so probably 1 day is enough. You should visit the Hanok Village. If im not wrong , you can book a Hanok stay there.

Tongyeong :

Tongyeong is located at the southern peninsula of South Korea. If you are a fan of K-pop star Song Joong Ki and you watched the movie Innocent man , you will know this place because it was shot here at Tongyeong at this place called Dongpirang. You can find alot of paintings on the wall and the shooting locations. Famous food here is the Ggulbbang ( Honey Bread ). Very cheap. About KRW500 per piece. 1 full day here will do and you can move on to other or take a ferry to Jeju.

Naejangsan :

Good place to go in Autumn is the Naejangsan. it is located at outskirts of Jeonju. You can find temples and beautiful waterfalls here. Don’t wear like me when you go there. I can’t climb up the mountain because of my clothes so i was only at the base. Just half a day here will do unless you want to do mountain hiking or trekking.

Jinhae :

1 day stay will do and you can move on to Busan from here.

Located an hour drive away from Busan. Famous place for its spring blossoms. Crowded with alot of locals during Spring. Best place i have ever been to in Korea in Spring. Super nice and even the mountains have “speckles” of white cherry blossoms. So nice ! I want to go back here again next year in Spring ! Cherry blossoms everywhere. This is the best place in Korea for cherry blossoms.

Gangwon-do :

Best place to go to during Winter because of its ski resots and the snow capped mountains. Damn cold. I have never been there but i want to !!! I was asking Oppa if i can have my honey moon here hahaha he wanted to faint already because i wanted my honeymoon in Jeju island and Gangwon-do !

There are other places also like Daegu , Ulsan , Gwangju and more….i’ve been to Ulsan and 1 full day there will do 🙂 If you were to skip Seoul , Busan or Jeju because you have been there many times , you can go to at least 7 cities for a 10 days trip to Korea.