Korea 2024 - Gyeong-Ju Expo and Lunch

There are a lot of things that I don't know about South Korea, mainly because it wasn't a country that I like to visit much. But whenever I go there with my friend and her Korean Teacher, I tend to learn a lot about it, and tend to appreciate the people, the culture and the place more. So on this trip to Gyeong-Ju, I also discovered that there is an EXPO there. I've heard a lot about this world EXPO, but I've never really understood what it meant. Was it just a place to showcase what a place has to offer? Example Expo Osaka 2025? Does it stand for "Exhibition"  in short? Who knows. All I knew was, we ended up here in Gyeong-Ju.

It was pretty close to the pagoda structure we saw earlier. And the thing about Expo ground was, it always looked artificial, cause it was designed and built for a reason. I guess that's why it made me feel uncomfortable. The last Expo I visited was in Aichi, Japan, cause it was where the Ghibli Warehouse was at....

An official map of the place. The cut-out pagoda shaped building was the place we were going to visit. However, the ticket price you pay to enter the Expo covers everything else. So it was kind of a shame we could stay longer there.

The building from afar.

 

Front view. It was an interesting looking building. But someone asked me what did I thought of it, I told them that it reminded me of those cardboard 3D-DIY kit buildings where you have to assembled it yourself. Only, this one was life size! almost 8 storeys high! Lol. 

Information of the architect that designed it. Apparently it was designed by a Japanese. I do like Japanese designed building, specifically Tadao Ando's buildings. I would travel to an outskirt location just to view his buildings, cause it's always just so simple, so clean, and powerful. So far I've only visited one, in Nagasaki where the victim's memorial building is. I know of one in Aomori which is a museum. And there is a Church of Light which was almost magical looking! Maybe I can do a trip just on his buildings itself! What would be fun!

Standing just beneath the building. We get to go all the way up to the observatory floor.

A modern looking light display upstairs. 

You could view a history of the Shilla Empire at the observatory floor. You could also view the real life view all around. Above we spotted a themed park nearby.

Here is a zoom in view. 

The pagoda across the street, and nearby hotels. 

I was interested in this garden which I saw. It looked like a maze! And surrounded by cherry blossoms!

Next to the mazed like garden, there was also some water features and more pink trees! I wish we had the time to go explore. Such a pity to pay full price only to see all these from the top.... I think you should at least spend half a day here.

We were leaving Gyeong-Ju after visiting the Expo. Once we got back to the bus, it head off into the country side again. Relaxing view as we drove to our next destination. 

We didn't have time for a sit down meal, so our teacher ordered for us gimbap, a rice roll with fillings inside, covered in seaweed. I was surprised it even came with a side dish of radish and soup! We ate our lunch inside the bus itself. Above I'm using my luggage as a table. My luggage was one of the smallest and lightest among the group, so I'm never allowed to put it inside the luggage holder beneath the bus since they need the space for all the other bigger and heavier luggages.The Kumamon sticker is from Akimura-san when she came over to Singapore for a business trip. I put it there to warn others that I will hit them if they do anything to my luggage! Lol. 

My prawn tempura gimbap :)