Gyeongju Cherry Blossoms

One Sunday in April we all went with the people of the English Cafe to Gyeongju to go see all the cherry blossoms. We all met at the train station and got on the train to Gyeongju, about 35 minutes from Ulsan. At the station in Gyeongju we rented some bicycles, our transportation for the day. My first bike was a mountain bike, but I decided to trade it for a cruiser with a basket, wise decision.



Jean, JiYoung and Anriette (my new co-teacher and our new partner in crime)



  

We were devided into teams of three, one foreigner and two Koreans. We then split up into two big groups and hit the rode to a big lake on the other side of Gyeongju.

There were thousands of trees with millions of beautiful bossoms.
It almost looked the they were covered in snow.

It think we rode the bikes for about 10km until we finally reached the lake. We took a well deserved break and then hit the road again to go meet the others on the other side of the lake.

On the other side of the lake on the left you can see Gyeongju World.

After meeting the others we went to a Korean restaurant for lunch. We were all starving.

Gerdus, Lindie and Tommy.

Me and my team.



Back outside, this little guy was having a blast in his battery-operated
Mini Cooper convertible. Sometimes I was I was still a baby.

It was time to hit the road again and we split up into the two groups again. Just a few meters up the road we stopped at a waterfall and watermill to take a another rest after the 2 minute drive up the road. It's an absolutely beautiful place, and it the cool breeze coming from the waterfall was heavenly.

Gerdus and Lindie spreading the love...

...and then the battle to see who gets wet first, not really.

The waterfall is real, but not natural. The Koreans love to create beautiful
places in the middle of cities and towns.

And the we got on the bikes again. Luckily this time we were going down hill. The traffic in Gyeongju was insane that day. Bikes were an excellent choice of transportation.

On the road again...

This whole street was surrounded by hundreds of trees with millions of
cherry blossom. A lot morea beautiful in real life than on photos.

After about 45 minutes we reached our destination, Anapji Pond, a place where all the kings went to play with their girlfriends. About 5 minutes after we got there the other group arrived as well. Perfect timing!

After walking around for a while we sat down to take a rest and a few of us decided to take a quick nap.


Tika, Jean and I napping...



Hugh, Anriette and JiYoung.

When we left Anapji Pond we all took the bikes to Gyeongju National Museum, a big building with a lot of interesting exhibitions.

The museum.

Stone pagoda outside the museum.

When we left the museum the sun was setting and it was one of the most
beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

We were on the bike again and off to the train staion. We took a small road through some parks and a Hanok village. As we were going along the road, the sun was busy setting behind the mountains. It was gorgeous.

Best photo of the day.

Jean and I spotted some Korean kites in the air and we tried to get the sun, traditional house and the kites in the frame. The kites are a little small, but if you open thefull size picture they are easier to see.

Here the kites are more visible. They look like long-tailed birds hovering
in the air.

After enjoying the sunset we headed to the train station and back to Ulsan. We were all wiped after a day full day of pedaling bikes through the whole Gyeongju, but it was worth every drop of sweat, muscle pain and aching bum.