Gyeongju (part 3)

Monday was our final day in Gyeongju, and the weather was perfect: not a cloud in the sky, and the warmest February day I've ever known. Spring officially started in Korea a couple of weeks ago, but it felt like summer today. At one point while we were cycling around a holiday resort on Bomun Lake I felt almost like we were in the Mediterranean. Later in the day Christa would remark that the path were were following, across a patch of farmland and through the narrow back-streets of the town, was evocative of Mexico. These were not comparisons I ever imagined making when we came. Indeed, we did both return home with a little colour on our cheeks, so I swear I'm not exaggerating. Our bus wouldn't be leaving until almost 7pm, so we had a full and exhausting day of tandemming ahead of us. After a decisive bout of rock-scissors-paper ('gowi, bowi, bo' in Korean), I climbed aboard the back seat and we were off. This is Bomun Lake. It's artificial so nothing to get excited about but it was our first stop. It's pretty large and there's a load of touristy sites along one side. We stopped for ice-creams. There were a crazy number of mini-bikes and diddy 4-wheelers flying around the resort. It was like being at the dodgems but with no walls or rules. Everyone was zipping around our ankles (bearing in mind we were up on the tandem), from the old: ...to the very young (spot the kiddo): We'd plan to go around the lake and continue South and finish up doing a huge loop, but we went a tad off-map so had to improvise a new route en route. There's so many tombs and shrines in the area that it was no major problem anyway. This is Historic Site No. 172, one of the five (supposed) tombs of King Pak Hyeokkeose, founder of the Shilla kingdom and ruler for 61 years. After he died, his body ascended to heaven, only for it to fall back to earth again seven days later. It is said to have fallen in five parts, hence the multiplicity of mounds. This is Christa up a tree. Here's a shot of some bamboo I defaced. It's not that easy to write on bamboo with a bent keyring, although Christa's was much neater than mine to be fair. The illegible (even to Koreans probably) Korean at the top should say 장 혁, or Jang Hyok, my Korean name. Hyok either means 'strong' or nothing at all, depending on who I ask. I just picked it because I like the sound; it was suggested by one of the Korean staff here, his best friend having the same name. Most Korean given names have two syllables so the kids sometimes tell me I can't be called that but I know better. Carla gave me the family name Jang. I only found out later that it's also the same name as a famous Korean actor. Christa's name is 이 수정 , or Lee (pronounced 'ee') Sujeong. Sujeong means crystal in Korean. We also went to the tomb of a general and the birthplace of a dragon, which were interesting to us (well, no, the dragon thing, not so much), but you don't need to see any more photos of hills I think. And so it was time to say a sad goodbye. We did not want to say goodbye, Sujeong in particular being very depressed at the thought of returning to Seoul. Here's the courtyard of the lovely little place we stayed Saturday and Sunday nights: And the cosy kitchen/loungey area we had inside: And our trusty bike, which we gave a name to, but who's name I've now forgotten: (Can I say "who's" when I'm referring to an inanimate object? Someone rephrase that sentence for me.) And, uh, we came home. PS. We have no children here next week so no work for after tomorrow until next Friday! We only found this out for sure yesterday but if we can get the plane tickets in time (Christa's off to the travel agent tomorrow lunchtime) we're going to Jeju Island for a few days! And Dayna's gonna come too! Yay!