Posts Tagged ‘gyeongju’

I love tea. I grew up having tea parties with the ladies in my family, and whether at home, in the backyard, or at high teas at hotels, I love the experience. Of course, tea is an integral part of Korean culture, so I was eager to try the “Traditional Korean Tea Experience” when I visited Expo Park in Gyeongju.

How much was the tea?
5 000 won per person.

What was the Korean Traditional Tea Service like?
The tea room was on the upper floor of the Culture Centre. While it is very open and has a rather cold-contemporary-gallery-feel to it, I quite enjoyed the table settings and the traditional Korean house backdrop, as well as the display of all the teas/pots/dishes. The girl behind the cashier served the tea. She was wearing a sweatshirt. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from a “traditional” tea experience, but a young girl serving tea in sweats didn’t seem to match. But, I did enjoy the green tea nonetheless, and it was a lovely part of my trip to Gyeongju.

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I went to Gyeongju with a few friends of mine. It’s one of the most amazing places that I’ve been to in my 10 months Korea. I was getting sick of going to different cities in Korea and seeing temples and other cultural mish-mash that looks just like the ones a few blocks away from me in Daejeon. Gyeongju was a welcome change from all of that.

We left from the express bus station in Daejeon bright and early at 7am and made it to Gyeongju at 9:45 with one pit stop just past Gumi (halfway between Daejeon and Gyeongju).

The four of us took the “excellent bus” for 17,700 won. I checked online beforehand and read that we could pay 11,400 won for the express bus so I was quite shocked to hear the price we had to pay. I found that the excellent bus is way more comfortable than the express bus. But, depending on the length of the trip, the extra money most likely isn’t worth it.

Take The Tour.

Once we landed in Gyeongju, I spotted the Tourist Information Booth and scurried right over to it. It’s right next to the bus station which was amazing and convenient!

I talked to the people in there and asked them where the tours were. They told me that we could sign up for a tour in the building behind their booth.

Tours in Gyeongju left at 8:40am, 10:00am, and 11:00am for 15,000 won.

The 15,000 won doesn’t include admission to the temples and such (an additional 4,000 won) plus lunch for 10,000 won for Sashimi Bibimbap (sashimi link | bibimbap link) or 54,000 won divided by everyone in your group for a raw fish fiesta. I got the bibimbap. It’s good if you don’t mind raw fish or bibimbap.

We took the 10am tour since we arrived around that time. The tour was amazing because it was one price and they took us to way more places than I could ever imagine to go to in Gyeongju. Plus, they gave us plenty of time at each stop to wander around and do everything you want to do when you get there.

The tour guide gives information about the places in Korean (which didn’t help us much) but luckily the signs are in Korean and English in case you actually want to know what you’re looking at.

I HIGHLY recommend the tour so you don’t have to take a taxi everywhere and you can see a lot more of the city than you probably originally planned to see.

Downtown Gyeongju Is Dead As Disco!

I found out that there’s no nightlife in Downtown Gyeongju (near the bus and train stations) and barely any restaurants are open around midnight and later. I did find the McDonald’s, which is 24 hours, in the heart of Downtown Gyeongju. KFC, Pizza Hut, and a movie theater are also near the McDonald’s but they aren’t 24 hours .

EXPO Park in Gyeongju is a good place to spend half a day.

On Sunday, I went with a friend to EXPO Park (Expo Worlduh to the taxi drivers). The taxi fare is about 10,000 won from near the bus station. The Gyeongju map lists the admission fee as 5,000 won. But, at least on Sunday, it’s 6,000 won for adults.

We stumbled upon a Tea Experience in the EXPO Culture Center (second floor). It was … something. My friend loved it and it saved us from the rain.

While in the Culture Center, we stumbled upon a Hip-Hop/Bboy show in the same building.

Gyeongju Tower

We also got to go to the top of the building that we saw while on our tour the day before. It’s called Gyeongju Tower and it looks like another building smashed into it at some point. We got an awesome view of the area from the inside.

Gyeongju is a really amazing place to visit on a fall/summer/spring/and probably winter weekend and soak up what I’d say is the most authentic Korean experience out of all of the “authentic Korean experiences”.