Korea

From Gyeongju we traveled to Busan, a bustling port in the south of the country with plenty of US sailors everywhere – the USS Reagan had just docked, with 5,000 sailors on shore leave!  Plus there were other USS ships in port at the same time. We had an amazing hotel room for $

We stayed at the Goodmorning Haotel Motel, which was possibly the best value hotel we’ve ever gotten of all 51 countries we’ve travelled to. For $30 we got an exceptionally clean room, big tv, nice towels, bathrobes, huge shower with floor to ceiling glass windows to the m

We stayed at Sarangchae Home Stay. We stayed in a tradiditional ondol-style room – basically this means the small room had a thin mattress on the floor, a fan, and nothing else.  Just a 30 foot walk from our room, the shared shower facility was clean, but very very small with no

From the Wolseong Park we crossed the street and visited the gorgeous lotus flower ponds which are next to the Anapji Pond.  We didn’t actually make it into Anapji, we enjoyed the lotus flowers so much we stayed for quite a while.  There are a group of rectangular ponds, all fil

From Tumuli Park, we crossed the road and checked out Wolseong Park, which was filled with beautiful orange flowers and more tumuli.  There’s also an observatory, which is apparently the oldest in East Asia, but to our untrained eyes seemed like a short tower…  We did, how

From the Seokguram Grotto we headed back into town and strolled through Tumuli Park.  The tumulis are grassy hills that enclose tombs built for the Shilla monarchs in the 5th century AD.  It’s a very pleasant park, with lots of trees, and some small ponds.  All the paths are cle

From Bulguksa Temple, we took the bus up to the Seokguram Grotto.  It’s possible to hike, but it would have been a very long 3.2 KM (2ish miles) in the 30C (90F ish) heat with incredible humidity!  Even from the parking lot there’s a bit of a walk in, but it’s throug

We arrived at the bus station in Gyeongju this morning, and immediately went to the excellent tourist info booth.  They’re all over and always seem to have at least one person who speaks English.  They were fabulously well organized and very helpful as usual.  They called and ma

Through our Lonely Planet, we discovered that a lot of the cheaper motels were categorized as Love Motels. We had heard of these, as they are prevalent in Japan where they are used by unmarried couples wanting a few hours “rest” away from their parents.  In Japan, the room

From Andong Folk Village we headed back to town to catch the bus out to the Hahoe Village. It’s another traditional village, but this one was a lot better. First off, it’s organized in typical Korean style. There’s an info booth right where the bus lets you off. They