Korea 2024 - Gyeong-ju Snacks and Dinner

 

We were supposed to settle our own dinner, so some of us went to the convenient store to buy some cup noodles and snacks to bring back to the hotel. I didn't get anything as I knew there was also a convenient store at our hotel resort area, as well as some friend chicken store! So at the back of my mind, that was what I was gonna get when I am back at the resort. But I joint the rest to explore the convenient store in town, since we were sharing taxi back. Above are  the various flavours available of my favourite Korean milk :)

They also have these pre-packed drinks available. I used to buy these in Penang when CU convenient shop opened there. They cost around 4rm or so, and I super love the peach tea drink. But after a while, I stopped drinking it. I still enjoy looking at all the available flavours though. And recently while back in Singapore, I saw a Hallabong flavoured drink pack and can't stopped myself from purchasing it, lol. It cost me around 1.20sgd, and it's still at my home untouched!

The dessert section of was also rather interesting. I always wonder why the FamilyMart in Malaysia aren't as interesting, and why the prices are always so high there. 

For some reason, there is also a whole section on processed meat and fish cake. My friend's daughter got some sausages here. I'm not a big fan of processed meat.

Back at the resort, some of us when to buy some fried chicken! I love Korean fried chicken. Needless to say, Korean fried chicken should always be eaten with beer! But for this night, there was also all sorts of other alcohol like makgeolli, shoju, and Persimmon Wine (from yours' sincerely).

Look at those beautiful fried chicken. We got the original, as well as one spicy version. So very very good!

All the drinks we got.

The group that turned up for drinks and chicken. It was a nice fun night just chilling in someone's room :)

Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Cafe and Traditional Houses

 

We were free to explore the shops at the tourist town area of Gyeong-Ju. As it was rather cold and rainy, some of us saw a nice cafe called Kado & Kado, and decided to stop for tea here. Apparently, I think it's a Japanese cafe :P

Which kinda explains the aesthetic of the place. Above was our order. As usual, I forgo the drinks and ordered my favourite canele instead :)  I think my husband ordered a hot chocolate for the rainy day :)

Sitting beside us, my friend and daughter's order. So colourful and pretty!

Here's a selfie of me with my tea :P  I love spending slow afternoon in a cafe. Especially one that is not crowded. 

Me and my dearest KC <3

After our tea, we took a slow walk around town. I saw so many beautiful traditional houses. Love the wooden door that seems to lead into a private housing area. Some of these were turned into restaurants or AirBnB lodging. I love staying in traditional places!

I love the garden in the compound. 

And the rise up flooring of the traditional houses. In Japan, these are called Komikan, old houses. And in Korea, there is always kimche pots outside the house. 

I am guessing the above is a vegetarian restaurant? I love the lotus poster they put outside. 

Not all things are traditional though. I also came across this version of Beatles crossing a zebra crossing. I thought it looked kinda cute :P There were many shops along the way too, I just didn't find them interesting.....

Korea 2024 - Lunch and Gyeong-Ju Walk

After visiting the Persimmon Wine Tunnel, our bus took us to a nearby restaurant for our lunch. I just love the scenes of a mountain town :)

For meals where we were provided options, our Korea Teacher would whatsapp us in our group chat for us to vote the menu we wanted. For this place, I voted for soondubu, my favourite Korean soup dish. The restaurant group those who ordered similar dishes to sit together. And above was where I was seated. This was probably the best soondubu I've ever tasted in my life, not exaggerating! It was so pull of pork inside! Which made the soup super sweet and yummy!

Here is a photo of our group and the table laid out for us. Don't you just love Korean hospitality? I love a culture that loves food! So I love Korean food culture. But I find it hard to love Korean though.... lol.

Group photo, with the owner standing at the back on the far right side. She was very warm and friendly even though I don't speak Korean :P  It is always the village people that are the nicest :) Thank you for the wonderful meal that I will never forget!

After lunch, we drove to our next town, Gyeong-Ju, a historical buddhist area, land of the Shilla Empire. I only heard of Shilla Duty Free Shopping, pardon my ignorance :P  But in this trip, I learned a lot about this place. 

Cherry Blossom was in full bloom here. It was lovely to take a walk down the road, even though it was drizzling slightly and kinda wet and cold. That kinda just add to the atmosphere of k-drama scenes! To be honest, I don't really watch that many k-drama, lol. It's just a stereotype I like to overplay, you know, like Disney's happily ever after ending. The k-drama I tend to watch are like Sweet Home, or Squid Games, lol. I don't do happily-ever-after very well :P

Let's not spoil the mood when we have such a nice walk ahead of us! Love the art work on the wall. Love the wall actually. Very classic

Most of the artwork is Buddhist in nature, hence all the more love from me! I like Buddhism cause it resonate more peace and tranquility for me I guess.

And I love these stone art on the wall too. The Buddhist influence is very strong in this ancient town.

The guardians above reminded me of the guardians in the juggle of Kunisaki. Once I finished my Korean blog, the next up would be my 2023 Kyushu trip! 

Remember all the black and white cranes photo I kept taking along the coast?  Here are some art work on the wall! Pretty aren't they? I love monochromic art pieces. Have you seen my monochromic photo collection? It's here somewhere in the blog.....

We finally found the entrance to the park and walked in. It was filled with small hills left and right, and everywhere. Only, these weren't hills, they were actually tombs. Royal tombs from long ago....Actually if you travel across Korea, you can see smaller version of this on the hill side where they bury their dead. Interesting, isn't it? 

At the other entrance, some ponds and tombs in the background makes a nice photo....

There were also lovely trees in the park, so here's a nice shot of it.

And for some reason, I like korean kites. Here is a video of someone playing a korean kite in the park. It's just so mesmerising. 

Korea 2024 - Cheongdo Wine Tunnel

 

Walking inside the wine tunnel was a surreal experience for me. I've visited a few wineries before, I think mainly in Australia. Most were in a farm or barn area. This was my first time in a tunnel!

It was a super long tunnel, and along the way in, they have decorated it with wine related items and information about the wine here.

I love how it looked inside the tunnel. With the lights and wet floor! Super surreal!

There is a place you can purchase wine, and there are places to sit down and drink and eat. But for some reason, maybe due to the rain, it was rather empty inside besides our group people.

I love seeing the giant wine barrel here. I wish they could conduct like an introduction tour for people visiting the place. I would say, it was such a lost opportunity. There was so much potential here.....

Beautiful, isn't it?

There was a section with gold bats hanging from the ceiling, lol. I like this section cause it looked like a disco dance floor! Plus I am rather fond of bats, having a few of them flying into my home in Penang before. They are super cute!

Here's a photo of me inside the tunnel

Our group walked all the way to the end of the tunnel and took a group photo.

On our way back, I though the above scene looked just magical! A door, lights behind it. Lol. It's like something out of a dream! A good dream, not the horror story kinda dreams :P

Before exiting, I purchased two small bottles of persimmon wine. It was a shame that they don't provide wine taste here, cause I would have love that, and it would probably encouraged me to buy more. But since I didn't know how good the wine was gonna be, I purchased the smallest package they have instead, with the intention of sharing it with the group when we reached our next accommodation :)  I know I am a super cheapskate person, but sometimes, I can be quite generous too. I just think that everyone should at least try the persimmon wine we came all the way to visit!

Korea 2024 - Busan Breakfast, Checkout and Songgeum Village

My next day leftover breakfast! got the pancake from dinner leftover the night before, and the drinks (rice soda) and muffin from the yacht ride! Yes, I finished all the pancake on my own, lol! It was raining in the morning as I sat there looking over the beach.

To the left side of the window, I could even see some high rise buildings being covered in dark clouds!

We checked out that morning, and boarded the bus to our next destination. We were headed to the mountains, a place called Songgeum Village. I was kinda sad to spend so little time in Busan. I heard there were other places to visit and explore. Perhaps I could come back on my own someday in future?

After an hour ride or so, we reached the village. It was wet and misty after the rain.

I saw a cool pumpkin shaped bus stop on the road. I took a photo to send to my friend cause she kept sending me photo of cute vegetable bus stops from Nagasaki :P Granted, the bus stops in Nagasaki was a lot cooler than this. After our trip here, I realised that it wasn't a pumpkin, but a persimmon....

Some of the country houses along the way to our destination. We had to walk there as the road was narrow for a big bus. I love country houses like these.

Here was the front of our destination, a wine tunnel! With a giant bottle of wine in front, and a railway track leading up to it's main entrance! It was a great place to spend the day in this misty and raining weather! At least the tunnel was covered!

Cheongdo Persimon. They produce persimmon wine here :) And of course I was determined to try some!