A few weekends ago I went on a weekend trip with a few friends of mine to celebrate the end of Winter Camp. Our destination: Gyeongju (경주), which is a city with a long history and many tourists sights, and sites.

Our first stop after the bus ride was lunch where we had a plethora of side dishes, tofu soup, and a some sort of pork stew. Even though I never really know what I am eating, I know my friends will never let me have a bad meal.

After lunch we went to visit the Cheomseongdae (첨성대) Observatory, saw ancient tombs of Kings and Queens from the Silla Dynasty and walked through Gyerim (계림) Forest. We stopped at a tea house after, drank tea and americanos and ate some rice cakes (떡) before heading back to the area after the sun was setting to see the Donggung Palace (동궁) and Wolju Pond (월지) lit up. It was extremely beautiful to see at night, especially with the lights from the palace reflected perfectly in the still waters of the pond.

After visiting the palace, we headed back to our guesthouse, ate some kimbap (김밥) for dinner, and staying up playing drinking games and learning more about each other. The next day, we took a trip to Bulguksa (불국사), which is a Buddhist temple. We saw paper lotus flowers where people wrote their wishes in hopes of them coming true, ate a vegetarian lunch by a pond, and made our own wishes by stacking rocks on top of each other. It was definitely a relaxing weekend where I got to spend time with new friends and see the more traditional side of Korea. I am beginning to understand why people decide to stay here. The views are worth the journeys it takes to get there.