We enjoyed a very civilised bus journey from Seoul to Gyeong-ju. Clean and comfortable with huge seats, music softly playing in our headrests, and very orderly buses.
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Richie enroute to Gyeong-ju
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The rest stops, which were every 90 minutes (much to Richies relief) had about 20 toilets, for the women alone! All with essential bum washing and drying equipment!
Not the usual 20 minute queue, waiting for 2 smelly toilets that we are used to at an Australian roadhouse..... honestly we are a bit uncivilised!
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Beautiful views, at rest stop on way to Gyeongju - and the scenery was not too bad either.
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Richie with delicious meat stick at bus rest stop (...too easy!)
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Gyeongju, proved to be a green and restful change from busy Seoul and also offered our first experience of a Love Hotel! Lots of free lotions and potions and condoms and free coffee in the lobby, very friendly staff and a strange hidden entrance, so no one can see you leave! Our room also had a massive spa bath, a glass sterilizer and the magic toilet (which we've begun to take for granted).
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Lotions, potions, unguents of all kind and other things - essential in a Love Motel
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The N Love Motel, shiny and new, come aboard..... we're expecting you.
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View from the N Love Motel window.
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It was a bit dark and dingy or you could say romantic and alluring, depending on your view! Our hotel, The N Hotel, was right next to some of the ancient burial tombs from the Shila dynasty. Actually they look like giant green hills!
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Interesting flower displays, Gyeong-ju
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Gyeong-ju is a fairly small town, so we conquered it pretty quickly. We visited the History Museum, which was a bit lame, so just as well it had free entry. We learnt all about the Shila Dynasty and their obsession with all things gold and shiny.
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| Traditional Korean dress. |
We were also fortunate enough to catch a weekend festival. It took us a while to figure out what the giant cotton wool headed women were about! Well we think we figured it out - it was some kind of harvest celebration.
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| Me queueing for free food, Gyeong-ju festival |
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Giant cotton wool heads, Gyeong-ju festival
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And, as is the Ajayi way, we managed to fit in some pretty fabulous meals. We tried out a traditional Korean meal, 15 dishes, sitting on the floor. A couple of bottles of Soju made the floor seating a bit more bearable - but we are just not made that way and our old bones were aching at the end of the meal!
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Gun Bae!
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This was only first course!
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Our other favourite Gyeong-ju bar.
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Busan was our next and last port of call in Korea. Another smooth and relaxing bus ride and one hour later we reached Busan, which is Koreas', second largest city and most famous beach resort. We rented an AIRBNB apartment for the week. It was on the 34th floor, two blocks from the beach, had everything you could possibly want, that opened and closed! It was great to spread out and relax a bit.
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Our Airbnb, home away from home, Busan.
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Enjoying a cuppa, just another day in the Ajayis' travels
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On our first day, we did a massive grocery shop and enjoyed a few nights eating at home. We've learnt that when you're on the road for such a long time - you need to rest up and do normal things sometimes. We also knocked off a few bottles of Suju to complement the home made dinners!
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Some of the silly things you see in Busan!
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We caught up with a Couch Surfer, Jin, for one evening and she showed us some of the sights of down town Busan.
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Our new friend, Jin, on way to Gwangalli Beach
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We had lunch at Shinsegae, the worlds biggest department store - think Myers on steroids - with the same Mrs Slocombe type products, but a great food hall!
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Sign says it all!
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We hung around the beach, a great deal and found some excellent street food stalls.
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Awesome, handmade dumplings for lunch, Busan Beach market.
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I thought of Dad, he would have loved some jelly eels!
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Beautiful Busan, but I still gave up and starting drinking beer!
Messing about in Busan
We were a bit sad to leave Korea, it is a lovely country. One of the best things about visiting a new country, is that you don't realise what pre-concieved ideas you have, until you find yourself being surprised. We definitely plan to return to Korea, there is still so much to see, it is such a beautiful country and the people couldn't be more delightful. Some of my favourite things: roasted chestnuts, the beautiful autumn scenery, people stopping to assist you whenever you look at a map, the worlds' best subway, the delicious pork, the efficient and relaxing bus travel and the exquisite manners of the Korean people!
너무 오래, 한국, 내 마음이 당신에 게 속한, 지금
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