Children's Day/Buddha's Birthday in Gyeongju
Friday was Children's Day (formerly known as Boys' Day) and Buddha's birthday, so we had the day off. Originally we planned to go to Hong Kong, but we decided it was too expensive for just three days, so we went to Gyeongju instead.
Manager Kim made bus reservations for us, and we were supposed to be at the bus station at 10:40 a.m. to pick up our tickets for the 11:00 bus. We made plans with Travis to meet at 10:30 at the bus station, and although there was a bit of traffic, we made it to the station right on time. The only problem was, when we tried to pick up the tickets, we found out we were at the wrong station! We called Travis, and he was going to a different station, so he was going to pick up the tickets, and we got back in a cab. Five minutes later, he called--he had gone to the wrong station, too!
We finally pulled up to the right station at 10:50. We didn't think there was any way they'd kept the seats for us, and we were right. After regrouping, we decided to get tickets on the next bus at 2:40--what else could we do? When we went to the window to buy tickets, though, we had a pleasant surprise--we'd had a miscommunication and the woman had thought we were just trying to buy tickets for the 11:00 bus. Even though it was 5 minutes until the bus left, they had saved our seats after all. Would that happen in the U.S.?? I don't think so. Korea rocks!
Gyeongju is about 2 1/2 hours south of Daejeon on the southeast coast of the peninsula. It's famous for having lots of ruins from the Silla dynasty, which lasted for 1,000 years and unified Korea into a single kingdom. It's also a super popular destination for Koreans, so it was packed with tourists.
Luckily, we made reservations the night before at the Hanjin Hostel, which is popular among foreigners (it helps that the owner speaks English and Japanese):
Unfortunately, we missed the calligraphy, "martiol" arts, and scorpion show, but the hostel was still pretty good. And since we stayed there, apparently we can now say we've been to Gyeongju!
More later...we have a meeting with some booksellers now for the new curriculum Isabelle is planning.
Manager Kim made bus reservations for us, and we were supposed to be at the bus station at 10:40 a.m. to pick up our tickets for the 11:00 bus. We made plans with Travis to meet at 10:30 at the bus station, and although there was a bit of traffic, we made it to the station right on time. The only problem was, when we tried to pick up the tickets, we found out we were at the wrong station! We called Travis, and he was going to a different station, so he was going to pick up the tickets, and we got back in a cab. Five minutes later, he called--he had gone to the wrong station, too!
We finally pulled up to the right station at 10:50. We didn't think there was any way they'd kept the seats for us, and we were right. After regrouping, we decided to get tickets on the next bus at 2:40--what else could we do? When we went to the window to buy tickets, though, we had a pleasant surprise--we'd had a miscommunication and the woman had thought we were just trying to buy tickets for the 11:00 bus. Even though it was 5 minutes until the bus left, they had saved our seats after all. Would that happen in the U.S.?? I don't think so. Korea rocks!
Gyeongju is about 2 1/2 hours south of Daejeon on the southeast coast of the peninsula. It's famous for having lots of ruins from the Silla dynasty, which lasted for 1,000 years and unified Korea into a single kingdom. It's also a super popular destination for Koreans, so it was packed with tourists.
Luckily, we made reservations the night before at the Hanjin Hostel, which is popular among foreigners (it helps that the owner speaks English and Japanese):
Unfortunately, we missed the calligraphy, "martiol" arts, and scorpion show, but the hostel was still pretty good. And since we stayed there, apparently we can now say we've been to Gyeongju!
More later...we have a meeting with some booksellers now for the new curriculum Isabelle is planning.
posted by AJ at 10:12 PM
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