Being what is known in Canada as a “night-owl” I have a particular dread for early mornings. Yet on this particular early Sunday morning, the 31st of August, I found myself eagerly rising and preparing for the day ahead with a grin of anticipation upon my face. This would not be my first trip to Gyeongju, but I had high hopes for the success and enjoyment of this, my second trip. I am pleased to say I was not disappointed.

It was a good turn out, over a dozen foreign teachers got up early to meet Heedal and Scott at Sam-duk Like for the trip and off we went. The bus was comfortable, we had some delicious Kim-bap to eat on the way to Gyeongju and the Korean countryside was as beautiful as always. There was lots to see before we even arrived in Gyeongju and Heedal made good use of the time to give us foreign teachers some helpful advice to aid us with our classes.

Arriving at the Expo we all received maps of the sights to see, made plans to meet for lunch at 1:00 and then everyone went off with friends to find the most interesting exhibitions. We only had about two and a half hours in which to explore the Expo, but I am sure that everyone made the most of their time and enjoyed themselves as much as I did. Even though the weather continued to be overcast, we were lucky enough not to have a rain storm ruin the day.

Entering the Expo, we found a courtyard centered around a large statue of a flying horse all in white. Around the edge of the courtyard, in a circle, were dark statues of each of the twelve astrological animals. As everyone else rushed off to other things, we took the time to snap some pictures of each other with the animals of our birth years, me with the Delicate Rabbit and Jeff with the Celestial Dragon and then a couple pictures of the other animals because the statues were really amazing. We then went through the Mythology exhibit, which was excellent and interesting. However, we managed to move through it quickly, passing up the myths not dealing with Asia and spending extra time reading and looking over the legends we were most interested in, those of Korea.

The next to be explored was the folk craft market with a stop at a stage to watch some Korean performers. I am not sure what they are called in Korea, but in Canada such performers are called “buskers” and are always interesting and entertaining. Twirling blankets and baskets with feet, spinning weighted ropes gracefully through the air and spinning spindles balanced on strings, the girls were most talented and the displays were very impressive. We almost decided to take in the Russian circus, but it was an hour long show and we decided that to seek out more Korean exhibitions would be more in our interest.

Beautiful flower gardens along side of the walkways attracted huge dark purple butterflies and incredibly tiny hummingbirds. We managed to get to the theater in time to catch that last few acts of a play being performed by dozens of talented actors, musicians and singers. It was a myth dealing with the flying horse and although I could not understand much of it, it was still very well done and the music was incredible. After the play was finished we walked the statue park, the first half of which was more modern art sculptures with more traditional sculptures found within the second half. All of them were incredible and I managed to get many pictures of them, capturing some more of Korea’s attractive countryside in the background.

After a quick trip back to the market to buy a gift, we met with everyone else for a good lunch of bulgogi rice and bibimbap then all walked down to a good spot to take some group photos. I asked Scott and Heedal if I could get a picture of them both since I had none so far and they surprised us all. Behind them were a series of funny faces carved into wood planks planted in the ground. Among the funny faces were a couple of planks that had holes so that you could put your own face into it and both Heedal and Scott went straight over to them to pose for a great photo. They have a great sense of humor.

We were running a little late, but everyone agreed that we should stop for a really quick visit to the Gyeongju museum. We rushed through one of the buildings, but it was still a really great visit. The museum has some fascinating artifacts and Heedal and Scott explained a lot of what we were seeing, helping us to understand more of Korea’s history. Although it was only a quick taste of what the museum has, I am glad we decided to stop so I could see some of it and hope to get back to Gyeongju soon to see the rest of the museum.

All in all I had a great time, by far a more successful trip to Gyeongju than my first (biking through the Gyeongju countryside before Korea’s rainy season was fully over was not the brightest idea I have ever had). Just as amazing is that after two day trips, there is still so much more in Gyeongju that I want to see and I cannot wait to find the time to get back for another visit. I have to give a big thank you to Heedal, Scott and LIKE for providing this trip for us. It was an excellent way to experience Korean culture and history and I am confident that everyone enjoyed it as greatly as I did.