Gyeongju, Part Deux

Yeah, I went back to Gyeongju. It was decided the night prior on a whim. Some folks were going, so I hopped on the bandwagon. On Saturday morning, we met at Dongdaegu Station and bought bus tickets for later in the hour. A couple of key things: first of all, the ticket to Gyeongju is not even $4. How awesome is that? An hour bus ride for less than $4. Second, they had Cruis'n USA in the bus terminal. What a throwback! I remember playing that game when I was 13 or so. But never, never, has it cost 20 cents to play.

The bus trip was inconsequential, really. Ipods make the hour go by pretty quickly. Once there, we rented bikes for the day and rode around. It was beautiful out, but not too blaringly sunny and not overbearingly hot. At points, the wind even made it a little chilly. That's good for riding bikes. We put many miles on those things riding around. Gyeongju is definitely a city best experienced from the seat of a bicycle. We checked out some temple that was built in the late 600s:But since it was destroyed by the Japanese in 1915 when they made Korea their bitch, the Koreans had to rebuild it. That seems to be the theme with Korean national treasures. They were once original, but at some point they burned down or someone destroyed them, so they were rebuilt in the 1970s or whatever. I guess things like that happen when your country is invaded 3,000 times in the course of your history. Our new theme was saying, "Oh, there's the 10,000 year old temple that Samsung built two years ago," because that's kind of what it feels like.

We eventually moseyed over to the pond where all the resorts are and all the rich Koreans hang out. We took a "Donald for 4" (the swan boats that you paddle with your feet) out on the lake and drank for a while. That was a good time. But, by the time we paddled back to the dock it was getting pretty late, so we had to get our bikes back, lest the ajassi at the bike rental place keep my alien registration card as a souvenir.

Before doing so, however, we had to stop to climb one of the burial mounds (that Samsung built a couple of years ago). It was definitely a highlight of the trip. Watching the sunset from the top of some dead dude, overlooking the city was a very good experience.

A coin toss ultimately decided that we were spending the night in Gyeongju. We were ready for a ripping night out on the town, but what we were met with was less than we expected. The whole city was virtually a ghost town after 9 PM. There were buildings lit up as though they were hopping places, but nobody was in any of them. We began the night at Juliet, the first bar we actually saw someone going into, and were convinced by the time we left that the bar doubled as a brothel. As that is not our scene, we opted for another place. What we found was another empty bar run by a post-op tranny who told us that the bar was only for Koreans. Fine with us, lady. We ended up at a poorly decorated bar that was equally as empty just sitting in a back room drinking and talking. After the night ended and we were back at our hotel, I checked on the internet what the happening place in Gyeongju was. Bar Juliet apparently was number 2 on the list. Thus, Gyeongju nightlife is a pathetic, shriveled version of even Winchester nightlife. Really quite sad.

Sunday after coming back, I hit up Costco. That's right, I went to Costco in Korea, and my card works here too.Of course, instead of being a huge warehouse like in the States, it's just a building with 6 floors. Still, they have samples and that's really what you go to Costco for, right? Honestly, it was just like being back home. I picked up a ton of cheese, some Honey Nut Cheerios, some Kirkland brand t-shirts, and some wine.

One thing I learned is that Costco goods are not cheap. I think it's best if you split the cost and the goods with someone else. Now I'm stuck with too much cheese (but can you really have too much cheese?) and a smoking hole in my pocket where the money burned away. Thus, here I sit.

I've been noticing that a lot of people have been getting the Sunday night blues lately. Personally, I may be bummed that my weekend is ending, but still. I know I have it really good here, and whatever bummed feelings I may be having on Sunday night pale in comparison to what I was feeling back home. I get to go out, ride bikes around, see some awesome stuff, and live cheaply by myself while learning and feeling like I'm living life every day. My job is much more satisfying than the one I had (it may pay less, but I still pocket more money at the end of the month) and most importantly, I don't feel like I want to quit and go live in a cave somewhere until I'm dead. That is very important.

Sorry I haven't been updating very often lately. I'm just living my life. I will try to update more often. Maybe even think about what I'll write about before I start typing. That would probably make some things more entertaining. Anyway, I'll think about it. Kisses!