Incheon to Geongju
Our stay in Best Western was comfortable. Although the TV channels available isn’t much. All the channels show from Korean-based station, including MBC’s non-stop-all-Starcraft channel. This is pretty much the case for all our hotel/inn stays. The only English channel available was Arirang, and this is not always available in every hotel.
Anyway, we came to Korea to tour and see places, sample food etc. not watch TV. Irene setup wakeup call at 6am, but James set his cellphone’s alarm feature to 5:30am, so, we have sufficient time to pack-up.
The following day, breakfast is in the higher floor of Best Western. The choices aren’t much, nor was it very delicious. It was just okay. There’s kimchi, scrambled egg, steamed veggies, sausage, rice, bread. After breakfast, everybody checked out by 8am. Our tourbus is ready. Our first itinerary is Geongju. Irene explained to us that it’s an estimated 5 hour ride (assuming not so heavy traffic condition). She and Imelda bought some snacks: marshmallow filled choco-pie. Heck, the Hangul written on the pack is literally spelled like choco-pie.
And so, the bus began to roll, Irene explains our itinerary of the day: travel to Geongju (or Kyungju), have lunch at Chinese restaurant- Korean style, go to Tumuli Park, Chemseongdae Observatory, Kyungju National museum, Bulguksa Temple. There’ll be 2 rest stops along the way. To keep everyone from getting bored, and get everyone to appreciate their journey, Irene explains Korean past and modern culture and history, the Korean Wave, the Korean Won currency, monarchy.
So, we learn there are around 3,000 Buddhist temples all over the country. Korea used to be divided in three kingdoms. The relevance of going to Geongju is that Geongju is the capital of the Silla Kingdom. Silla was the one that conquered the other kingdoms, which laid the foundation for a single Korean nation. She didn’t mention that the largest kingdom that Silla conquered, Goguryeo was boxed by Silla and China’s Tang dynasty forces, but that’s beside the point. We also learn that majority of Koreans still prefer burial over cremation. This despite the fact Buddhist monks practice cremation. If you look at the countryside during the journey, you’ll occasionally see small tombs on the hills. She then went on to the Korean Wave which is a trend of excellent Korean movies and dramas, comedies becoming successful overseas.
Since it’s a very long ride, and as part of getting acquainted with Korean history, Irene played a disc of Dae Jang Geum (aka Jewel in the Palace). I wish we were seated closer to the front, however, our seating arrangement was pretty much fixed from day one when we just pick a seat. I couldn’t understand or even read the subtitles. So, I just look at the countryside, sometimes falling into naps. The countryside is a mix of farms and towns/cities that have a series of buildings that look all the same. Outside of Seoul, most of the urban architecture is not very creative. They’re simply built not to look good but only for a purpose. They look just like the miniatures in Godzilla movies.
Our first rest stop is at Yeoju. I couldn’t remember but thanks to a picture shot of James, that’s where we stopped for a stretch, go to toilet, and buy snack.
