Second Time in Korea

I haven't posted about my first time in Korea, but I have written about it, it's just saved elsewhere.

The second time in South Korea was much colder than the first. It was around -1 when we arrived, and the air was so dry. I love cold weather though... Anyway, for the next two days all we saw were the shopping centres, and I bought myself a new electronic dictionary called Nurian x 9. I actually saw older Nurian models used by my Korean students in China, and the functions were much better than my old electronic dictionary.

Two days later it was off to Pusan using the KTX trains. Pusan is apparently the 2nd largest city in South Korea, but Pusan felt so quiet and calm, not at all like the metropolis I expected. Pusan is on coast, very close to Fukuoka in Japan. This meant seafood was good, and me and my mom had some good seafood hot pot that day. The next day, we saw the beach, a temple called Beomeosa (unfortunately it was rainy so I took little pics and we didn't stay too long) and we went to Hot Springs (Oncheon in Korean or Onsen in Japanese). Then the following day I met a friend who was actually a classmate in China. She gave us this very expensive box of rice cakes called ddeok (similar to Mochi or Gao), which so very nice of her. Then after that it was off to a place called Gyeongju, which is South Korea's museum without walls, kind of like Kyoto in Japan.

In Gyeongju we decided to take a guided tour because it would save time, money and would be more comfortable. The main places we went to were the Stone Grotto and Bulguksa. Bulguksa is apparently the most beautiful temple in South Korea. The best part of the trip though was when it snowed! The next day, everything was covered in pure white snow...

Then it was back to Seoul for one more day before going back to Australia. Seoul had no snow but it was much colder, -7 C to be exact! I never thought I'd experience near freezer-like conditions.