Day 01 - Historical Gyeong Ju

As the plane landed on Incheon International Airport, a rush of excitement swept pass me. In just a split second, i managed to regain my senses. After getting our hand luggage in the cabin, we walked a long the sky bridge, i knew like i was in a foreign land, yet i felt familiar,. Perhaps i had approached korean and the korean language before i came, and so, there was nothing awkward that i felt.

Due to the lack of time, we ran our way to the immigration counter. It was such a long way to reach there. Fortunately, the queue was not long in foreign passport lane. Cathy and I were in the same lane, and Jimmy and Siewchun went to the other lane. When it was my turn, the immigration officer demanded me the destination address in Korea. I was helpless as i did not have any contact details with me. So i shouted for jimmy, who had all the contacts in his notebook. I asked the immigration officer to get the address from next counter. I think he felt puzzled. I told him i will arrive in Gyeong san. And still he was confused. Later I showed him Jimmy's notebook, and told him i will stay in Gyeong ju. Then only he understood, and let me go.

Together, we went to the baggage pick up point. We got two trolleys for ourselves, fortunately we didn't wait long.. and our backpack arrived just in a few minutes. As we headed to the arrival hall, there was an officer collecting the immigration form, where each of us had a check list for the things we brought. I had overlooked the second part, so i was requested to check the list, and was delayed a few secs. Immediately after this, we rushed to search for the counter for selling express bus ticket. On the way, we saw a rent-a-phone booth. Since in korea, they were using CDMA, so all the GSM phones were not functioning there. To rent a phone, we need to pay 3,000 won per day. However, we had to leave Incheon by today, so it was not worth for us to rent the phone. We thanked the lady in the counter and made our way to the exit. In the opposite direction, there were many express bus in the line. Jh asked somebody there about the ticket counter, she pointed the direction of where we came from. Jh and sc went back to the airport to purchase the ticket and Cathy and I were to keep an eye on our luggages. We snapped some photos while waiting for them. In a few minutes, they came with tickets in their hands. It was 9.40am bus to GyeongJu. The tickets were costly, 31,900won each, about RM120.!! One of us suggested we should went to the airport to wait. And so, we cleaned ourselves in the toilet, brushed teeth and wash our faces. We also bought some waters and cookies for the long journey to Gyeong Ju.

Soon, it was 9.40am, and the bus arrived just in time. Sc got up at the wrong side, haha, the driver side was at the left, opposite of Malaysia's.. On the way to Gyeong Ju, we passed by tol gate of Seoul, tol attendant were wearing Hangbok for the Chuseok festival. After the tol, we passed by some flats. The design of the flat was weird, there were mural painting on the wall. A cartoon-like figure was painted on each block. All flats had the same design. The express way was in a heavy jam that day due to this festive season, as it was the second biggest festival for Korean. However, there was a lane just for bus. So we managed to avoid some traffic. Around 1pm, we dropped by at a rest station. The bus driver mentioned something in Korean, which we did not understood. We proceeded down to the washroom. After that, me and Cathy walked around to search for some food. All of a sudden, Jh came from behind and rushed us to get up the bus. The bus was leaving, it only stopped for us to go to wash room, not for lunch! Jh said the driver appeared to be grouchy. So hurriedly we ran our way back the bus. We were almost left behind.

Around 2pm, finally we stopped for lunch. Again the bus driver said something in korean, and made us puzzled. Luckily, there was a korean lady who translated what he said to us. We were told that we had 20 minutes for lunch break. So, we got down the bus again and had a walk along the corridor where many people were selling things. We searched for the cheapest food to eat. I saw a food which cost 1,000won but i did not know what was inside, so i asked the seller, what was inside. He did not understand me, neither do i understand him. Another girl who stood next to him was trying to explain to us. She said, it was “hotte dou”. I puzzled. Cathy thought it was “huang dou”. But anyway, we bought it. After my first bite, i realized it was hot dog!.. Here is the picture of the food we ate.

15 minutes later, we got up the bus and continue our journey. We were on an endless straight road cutting through the most intriguing landscape I'd ever seen. The changing colors of the leaves marks the visible arrival of fall. Along the road, there were yellow carpets of rice plantation, and misty hills as background. I saw some tombs on the hill, and many people were visiting their ancestors' graves. Later i found out that, during chuseok, they did this every year. I fell asleep soon after. When i got up, i watched the tv in the bus, there was nothing special, just some news reporting the heavy jam in the expressway. After that, the tv was showing some Korean martial art, big guys fighting with big guys. We stopped by a few cities, such as, Daegu, Daecheon, and so on.. Finally around 5.30pm, we reached Gyeong San. As we got off the bus, the driver greeted us “annyeong hasaeyo” and we returned with “gamsahamnida”. A few minutes later, Hansu came, wearing a white shirt and gave us a big smile. He was waiting for us since 4pm. Pity him. Quickly, we got all the things up his car and left Gyeong San. It was evening, yet the sky was getting dark very quickly. The moon was very near to us, like a big yellow ball in front of us. I have never seen a moon so close to me before. At 6.30, the sky fell into complete darkness. As we were in Hansu's car, many called. Haeyoung, Shin, Hiangmi, Miss Inje, they were all very keen to see us again. Especially Jh, he was practically busy answering the phone. And Hiangmi even called a few times to speak with Sc. Keke...

When we arrived in Gyeong Ju, we first went to Hansu's house. Hansu stayed with his parents in a typical Korean house. It was a good chance for me to experience staying in a Korean house. We left our luggage at the living room and then took turns to use the toilet. I was he first to enter. The toilet bowl was very sophisticatedly design. There were several functioning buttons, but i could not see the flush buttons. The icons were not very distinctive and written in Korean. So i just tried my luck by simply pressing a button, suddenly, there was water spraying upwards from the bowl. I was frantic, trying to shut it down. Finally, i restarted the machine and asked for help, feeling embarrassed. Sc came to help but he too could not find the button. Hansu said it was the normal flushing button just behind the cover.. Ah... i was blushing!

After refreshing ourselves, we visited the Tumuli Park. Tumuli Park is a collection of royal Silla tombs. We went into the Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb). There were many ancient items displayed in the tomb, including the King's thrown, belt, Queen's earings, etc. Unfortunately, we were not allow to take photos. Our next destination was Cheomseongdae Observatory. It was then i found that i lost my 128mb memory card, I searched everywhere around, but in vain. Anyway, i did not want it to destroy my mood of traveling. I tried to enjoy myself as much as i could. The Cheomseong dao Observatory was known as the earliest existing observatory in Asia. It has a bottle-shaped stone structure and enhanced with lighting. Soon after, we walked to another attractions nearby, Anapji Pond. It was the place where the Silla royal family enjoyed themselves with musical and dances. Every Saturday, there would be performance of cultural dancing, however, we would not be able to witness it as the next day we would be traveling to Busan.

It was about 9pm then. We were starved to the maximum. Without further hesitation, we headed for dinner, Samgeopsa. (something like pork BBQ). As it was quite cold outside, having Samgeopsa would be splendid to neutralize the air around me. Since we were hungry, we ordered twice. This meal, we treated Hansu, it was cheaper comparing to the price in Ampang Korean Town. After the satisfying meal, Hansu said that he wanted to buy Soju at Korea Tesco (Homeplus). To our dismay, it was close. So we had to search for other alternatives. At that time, SangHyung called. He came all the way from Busan to meet us. Together we picked him up at Gyeong Ju bus terminal. Hansu suggested that we visit Beomeosa Lake Resort, to have a stroll there. The weather was getting cold. I shivered under my thin jacket and tagged along with them. The place was romantic for couple to hangout, with paddle boat and bicycle ride. We hanged out a few minutes there, and before going back, we went to a small mart in the resort. There, they bought soju. They were going to have another round of dinner after that.. haha unimaginable.

Back in Hansu's house, we sat in the cozy living room, chatting and eating. In spite of the cold weather outside, our hearts were warm; celebrating our reuninion in house of Korean land.