Well, it's about time this dreary place began to see some sunshine everyday! Altho I have been loving every minute spent here in Korea so far, I have had one continuous thought.."when will the weather get nicer!?" All of my South Korean friends back in the states had told me how Korea would be turning into a lovely spring season upon my arrival...but unlike most of the U.S who was seeing a warmer than average spring, Korea has been experiencing a very slow and cold spring. But alas...spring is here and in full bloom!
Quite appropriately, the weather began to change right around Easter, which speaking of which I spent my first Easter in Korea visiting the zoo with my friend from New Zealand. It was a beautiful day and lovely weather for strolling around outside. I'm not a big fan of zoos because I would rather see animals either free or in a more open sanctuary type environment, but considering that Korea really doesn't acknowledge Easter, we thought it might be a festive way to spend the day. The zoo in Seoul had the typical lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) and the exotic birds, fish, and insects that one would find in any zoo. However, a few animals that I had never seen before in zoos were actually animals native to my home in the U.S such as white tailed deere, foxes, bobcats, pheasants, buffalo, horses, and so on. It was funny to think that the animals I saw on a regular basis running through the cornfields are a rarity and sight to see in other parts of the world. All in all, Easter was a good day and we even found painted stone eggs in the gift shop on our way out. We found quite appropriate to buy some as a memento of our first Easter in Korea.
The following weekend the cherry blossom trees (Koreas national tree and beauty) were in bloom and I took my first trip with Adventure Korea to experience a truly gorgeous cherry blossom festival. Adventure Korea is an organization here that arranges weekend getaways for Korean natives and foreigners alike taking groups of about 80-120 people on charter buses all over korea but allows the participants to basically do whatever they like once they arrive at the destination. It is super cheap and a great way to see so many cool places. For my first trip, my friend Nicola and I booked a ticket to travel to Gyeongju, a small and very historical city with many temples, tombs, and an abundance of natural and planted cherry blossom fields and farms.
We left late Friday night and arrived in Gyeongju on saturday morning where we slept in our temple like hostel for only about 4 hours before waking up and headed to the bike shop. As part of the cost of the trip, we were provided with bicycles to ride all around Gyeongju and the countryside for 7 hours...and ride we did. We were able to make it to 9 of the 11 historical sites within/around Gyeongju. We saw many tombs, temples, a beautiful park surrounding Anapji pond, wildflower fields, the oldest observatory in Korea, and an ancient underground ice box made out of stone. Not to mention the fact that we took in beautiful flower, cherry blossom, river, and mount views. Also, because cherry blossom festivals are so well loved here, the streets were highly decorated and there was performances and street vendors abound which made our street-food lunch break worth taking the time for. Later that night, Nicola and I hung out with some new friends we had made while resting out legs...and butts!
The following day, while Nicola slept in, I took part in a 8 a.m. group hike up Mount Namsan, an ancient buddhist prayer mountain. The mountain was 40 km high, and we pushed till the top spotting 6 decaying buddhist statues along the way. They were a sight to see and I couldn't help but thins how many hundreds, if not millions, of people had climbed to them for prayer and comfort. Once reaching the top...the 1 hour 30 min VERY STEEP climb was well worth it. I could see for miles and miles....it really was gorgeous sight in the 9 a.m. sunlight.
This writing really does not do the beauty of spring in Korea justice. In order to really articulate what a sight the Korean spring is, I would need to write another 10 paragraphs....but instead here is a link to my weekend trip in Gyeongju for the cherry blossom festival.
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