Bicycle Bicycle Bicycle! or Cherry Blossom Paradise

Saturday, Day 1: 4:15am wake-up. Make peanut butter and jeam sandwiches for me, Elly, and Karen. Pack last-minute items. Unexpectedly catch a cab right outside my building to Beomgye station (was expecting to have to walk a little to find out). Arrive at Beomgye station at 5:00am, too early. The first train is at 5:21am. That's okay. I take out my crosswords. Karen arrives at our 5:10am set meeting time. Where's Elly? She calls. Almost there. She comes down the stairs to the platform at 5:18am, announcing "I MADE IT! I'M STILL DRUNK!" Everyone stares on. This is hilarious. Elly never gets drunk. It doesn't matter. We're all there for the first train.

We arrive in Seoul at 6:00am. Our bus is set to leave at 6:30am. Plenty of time. We're laughing.

We get on the bus. It is pretty full. The tour actually has three busloads of people all together (about 100 people). Elly and Karen sit together and I sit across the aisle from them. Enter Bernard. As I sit down I'm offering PB&J and orange juice to the girls, and Karen is offering sliced of orange and banana. Bernard comments how organized we are. I say I hope he's not allergic to peanut butter. The bus gets going. Everyone quickly falls asleep. Bernard and I chat away, instant friends. We have very similar senses of humour. We've both stayed at the same hostel in Budapest. We get along great. So great, that the guy in front of us asks us to keep it down. Too much laughing for this hour. Oops.

We arrive in Gyeongju shortly after 10:00am. Maps are distributed, with the instruction to arrive at the hotel by 6:00pm, as the dinner buses depart at 7:00pm. Our names are called in the order we signed up for the tour, to pick our picks. I initially have a pretty lime green bike with a basket picked out...last minute I change my mind and opt for a mountain bike, something I am more used to. And we're off! The first picture I snap is the one above...perfect, smooth hills. I just want to roll down them. And skip and hold hands.



City walls




Karen, Elly, and me in front of Cheom Sung Dae tower

My trusty steed

Gnarly, dude

Elly the trooper, and me

Okay. We actually did skip and hold hands in this field. Elly asked someone to just keep taking pictures of us, as we played Ring Around the Rosie and played about. It's fun having a Korean around!

Cherry blossoms

See how perfect the weather is? (I even got some sun!)

Bomun Lake

Check out these paddle boats!

I finally have evidence of a matching couple! This isn't even a good example, because they are not perfectly matched. Seriously, couples are doing this EVERYWHERE in Korea. MATCHING OUTFITS. The matchier, the better.

Arriving at the hotel at 6:45pm...we underestimated the final (intensely uphill) stretch of the bike ride, and took a wrong turn that cost us another twenty minutes. Oops. Karen is standing at the entrance of our six person room. Yes. That's right. Six. Not to worry, there is a pile of blankets and pillows in the corner! (And the floors are heated.)

Delicious ssam bop dinner (a bit of meat with many veggie and seafood sides...similar to Korean BBQ without the BBQ...basically wrapping stuff up in lettuce leaves and sesame leaves), followed by a night stroll.

Anapji Pond

The bus brings us back to our hotel, and I fall asleep immediately, 11:00pm. Day 1, success.

Sunday, Day 2: wake up at 5:00am for sunrise hike. The hotel lobby is deserted, except for me, Elly, Karen, and Bernard. Has everyone else left already? The doors are locked. Nope. No one has left. We have to unlock the doors to leave. Only the four of us did the sunrise hike, of all the people on the tour! I couldn't get over it!

5:40am departure

Exercise and fuel stop: hoola hoops, orange slices, and pineapple juice

Two hours later...at the top!

Elly, Karen, me, Bernard...the hiking and biking champs

High on life...ahhh

Gyeongju is known for its breads, and right next to this little temple was a bakery. You'll never guess which type of bun I bought...a red bean filled one!! Actually, the smallest box was a box of 20. I didn't want 20 buns. The lady was nice enough to sell me five (three traditional buns and two mini pancake sandwich style) for a good price. I thank Elly for negotiating that.

Our second day of biking was very flat, through the rice fields!

We happened upon some workers, who offered us soju (Korean vodka). Shots at 11am? Heck yes!

Ring around the sun???

The pretty bike

We had an AMAZING Korean buffet lunch. Oh my goodness, wow. SO MUCH DELICIOUS FOOD! Well-deserved after our hiking and biking adventures. Said our goodbyes, swapped information, and left on the buses at 4:00pm. Got into Seoul by 9:00pm. Asleep at home by 10:30pm. Dead on my feet on Monday. Totally worth it. Refreshing!!!