Category Archives: Gyeongsangbuk-do

Places to see in Gyeongsangbuk-do (Gyeongju, Daegu, Gimcheon, Andong, Pohang, Gumi)

The Ultimate Guide to Rail Biking in Korea

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Three and a half years ago I was obsessed with Pinterest (who hasn’t been at some point, right?!) and spent hours searching for things to add to my Korea Bucket List pinterest board. One day I found a pin about rail biking in Korea and immediately my heart was set on doing it. Unfortunately, the southeast corner of Korea where I live doesn’t have a single place to rail bike so it took me a very long time before I could make my dream a reality.

Samcheok Ocean Rail Bike

A few months ago we discovered we had booked a hotel close to a rail bike after doing a facebook check-in and seeing 레일바이크 (Korean for rail bike) in the list of choices. We went and I have to say that rail biking was just as fun as I had imagined… I loved it! As soon as I posted a photo of my experience on my blog’s facebook page, I immediately had people wanting to know how they could rail bike too. Continue reading →

Places to see in Gyeongju: Lotus Ponds & Summer Flowers

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I’ve heard a lot of people complain about Korea just being a concrete jungle with no green spaces. These people must never get out of their small little bubbles because Korea is such a beautiful country. Summer in Korea can be hot and humid, but it’s still one of my favorite seasons because of how all of the trees and plants perk up and turn a stunning shade of green. It can be really breathtaking driving through the countryside this time of year.

Another great thing about summer in Korea is that the lotuses bloom! I’d never actually seen a real lotus until I came to Korea. I was so excited when we found the lotus ponds in Gyeongju two summers ago.

Lotus Ponds in Gyeongju, Korea

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Things To Do In Gyeongju: Gyeongju Tower

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Gyeongju is my absolute favorite city in Korea. It was the ancient capital of Korea so it’s extremely rich in history. There are tons of things to do in Gyeongju so I recommend taking at least a few days to explore as much of this amazing city as possible.

When I’m in Gyeongju, I always love driving by the Gyeongju Tower. It’s a 30-story tower with a giant pagoda cut right out of the middle. It’s really impressive, and it’s an observation tower so you can go up inside of it! Continue reading →

Fall in Korea at Jusanji & Juwangsan

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This past weekend Dave and I didn’t have any plans so my Korean tutor recommended we go to a two places: Jusanji (주산지) and Juwangsan (주왕산). She said she goes every autumn and it’s really amazing. She couldn’t have been more right!

Jusanji Korea at sunrise

We woke up at 3:00am and drove 3 hours to get there. I knew it was up in the mountains so I took a motion sickness pill before we left. During the drive I tried to stay awake as long as possible, but around the halfway mark, I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and I slept for the rest of the drive. I felt terribly guilty, but Dave was such a good sport about driving while I snoozed. Continue reading →

Andong Mask Dance Festival

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September 27- October 6, 2013

We went to the mask festival in Andong on Saturday and had a really great time. The festival has a few different sites and it was tough to pick just one. We chose to go to the smaller festival at the Hahoe Folk Village. It’s a village full of Korean traditional homes, called hanok. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Before entering the park, we were greeted by a large group of students that were so excited to practice their English with us.

Andong Mask Dance Festival

After buying tickets, we stopped off at the information booth to pick up some information about the festival. The woman spoke really great English and she marked on our map where the festival would take place. It was a 1km walk to the festival site, but we opted to take the free shuttle.

Andong Mask Dance Festival

The first thing we noticed after being dropped off by the shuttle was the dried up lotus flowers. This would have been absolutely gorgeous in July!

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Anapji Pond at Night

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Dave and I took a road trip to Gyeongju after he got off work on Thursday night. I wanted to take photos of Anapji Pond at night. It was quite rainy, but we were still able to get some good shots.

Gyeongju is the same city where you can see the lotuses bloom in summer. In fact, there’s an amazing lotus pond just outside the entrance to Anapji.

Entrance fee to Anapji Pond is 1,500 won per person.

It can get really busy at night so it’s a good idea to get there a bit before the sun goes down so you can get a parking space and a good spot for photos. At least that was our experience this week, which happens to be the same week most Koreans go on vacation.

Anapji at night