Trip to Gyeongju: “museum without walls”

So we arrived to Gyeongju safely and decided to experience some culture in the ancient city from Silla-dynasty. First we went to see some tombs and had a nice plan for the day, but of course it started to rain and getting cold so we had to change our program. After the tombs we just wanted to get inside where it’s warm, so we headed to a local museum. (I guess no one of us had ever been so happy to get into a museum!) Because of the crap weather we ended up being in the museum area for several hours and we even got a private guide there for free =).

In the evening we had a cultural overdose, so it was time to relax. First we went to a local sauna, where we were treated like dogs. The lady working there didn’t apparently like foreigners, so she kept making our time as unpleasant as possible. The sauna was not much of relaxing, but luckily you can always trust that Soju is there for you.. So it was time for some fun instead of relaxing! We headed to norebang (=karaoke room) to let our inner superstar out. It sounded more like Idol’s worst auditions, but we had a great time and it was sooo hilarious. However, Gyeongju people are apparently all unfriendly, because also the karaoke owner lost his temper with us even though we brought him lots of money and he didn’t even have any other customers.
The next day the weather was better, so we decided to see a Buddha statue on top of a mountain. Of course we had to climb the mountain first, but burning calories in a nice sunshine was not that bad. (Except the fact that on top of the mountain we found a road and heard that there would’ve also been a possibility of bus transportation.) We also visited a temple on the way and on top of the mountain had a look at the Buddha in the grotto.

Wow, so much culture in one weekend! But next weekend will be dedicated to party because there is MT coming…

In the pictures: Gyeongju landscape, Heikki and me singing karaoke, king's tombs