Wow Korea Supporters 5th Trip [Day 1]

So I went on another Wow Korea Trip, this time to Gyeongju, Goryeong and also Daegu. It is pretty much like a history trip because Gyeongju was the capital city during the Silla Dynasty. It's nicknamed the museum without walls. On the first day, we visited the National Museum of Gyeongju, Anapji, Cheomseongdae and Daeneungwon. So we all met at COEX in Seoul at the usual time of 8:10am where we were to take a bus for roughly 2.5 hours toward Gyeongju for lunch!

We arrived at this restaurant in Gyeongju where they served duck. It has actually been a long time since I had duck so I was pretty excited. There were 3 different kinds of courses served in the set. The first one was duck served with rice, and you are supposed to wrap it up together with side dishes. It's extremely delicious and I really enjoyed that dish.

The second dish came in the middle of a pumpkin. 10/10 points for presentation! Not only that, the saltiness of the duck complimented well with the sweetness of the pumpkin. It was really tasty and I really wanted to eat more but I was full! 

After which we had noodles and Korean pancakes. As usual, we are always fed to the brim on Wow Korea Trips. Not to mention we were to go for a walk to have street food after the first visit to the museum. This is a photo of us together with the manager of the restaurant. He was extremely nice and even uploaded a photo of us onto his Facebook page. 

After lunch we headed to the Gyeongju National Museum, where we saw many different things that held significant meaning to the history of Korea. Many national treasures were held in the museum as well. We had a very passionate guide who could speak English and knew almost every single story about every single piece of relic. 

  

This pottery tells the story of a couple. The frog being the female, and the snake being the male. As you go around the pottery, you will see the different stages in a family's life. It starts off from the snake impregnating the frog, thereafter the frog has a child, signified by a crane and a tortoise. The tortoise signifies longevity and the crane signifies a safe death and transport into heaven if ever a stillborn birth. 

  

We walked through the entire museum listening to different stories and taking photos. It's a really interesting place to go to if you are very interested in the history of South Korea. Definitely a place that (almost) all Koreans have gone to, be it in a young age during school trips, or when they are older. Although it does not hold as significant a feeling to me as it does to the locals, it's a great place to see how Korea was like in the past.

After which, we traveled to take a walk from Anapji, through Cheomseongdae to Daeneungwon. Since we were to come back to Anapji in the night to see the night view, we headed first through Cheomseongdae towards Daeneungwon where it's a beautiful park-like street with flowers, streams and plants all around. The sun was in the right place as well so we could take some beautiful photos.

  

  

   

  

Along the way we saw this beautiful observatory. Cheomseongdae means star-gazing tower in Korean and it's the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia. It's one of the national treasures of Korea too!

There was a street that sold some food so we went to have a look around. There are 2 kinds of snacks that are pretty famous in Gyeongju, the Gyeongju Bread and the Chalbori Bread. It's just different bread made with red bean paste. 

After that we continued into Daeneungwon, where there are 23 ancient tombs including that of King Michuwang from the Silla era. It was a really long walk to the end where they had a tomb that was excavated and turned into a little museum so people could see the inside of it.

After that, we walked to the next location: DINNER! We were to go to Cheomseongdae Ssambab, for ssambab (쌈밥) which means wrapped rice, literally. But it is very famous because of the many different side dishes available with the meat served. It was quite a cozy and nice place. We had beef (superbly tasty) and other side dishes that really complimented well together!

The makgeoli served here was really different as well and was unique to Gyeongju! Delicious.

After that we headed back to Anapji. Anapji or Anap Pond is an artificial pond in Gyeongju National Park, and it was part of the palace complex of ancient Silla. The place did not have many people during the day but it was swarming with locals and foreigners alike at night. The place was really beautiful and there were many lights. Indeed a place meant for night viewing.

  

  

  

We ended off the night heading to Daemyung Resort where we did our Wow Korea missions, washed up and had a good rest for the next day ahead. Overall it was a great start to the first day. The schedule wasn't too tight, neither was the entire day too tiring.

Till next time!