As I figured out what I wanted to do in South Korea, I realized that I would not have as much time to explore as I thought I would since I spent a bit more time in Seoul than anticipated (which is fine because I really enjoyed the extra time!).  I really wanted to do this hike down south I had seen on the internet and so I had limited time to spend doing other things.  There were limited buses out of Sokcho to Gyeonju and so I took an afternoon bus which put me into my hostel in the early afternoon.  There was nobody really around, so I dropped off my bag, changed into my running clothes and set out for an adventure run to check out the town.

I didn’t have a destination in mind but knew there were a few historical tombs in the area and it turns out that their our signs pointing to most things in the city.  I saw a few sights such as Cheomseondae ,  the Hyeongsan river and several tombs in the city.  The main attraction in the area is Gyeongju National Park, which actually consists of three different large areas.

I then set out a long the river for a beautiful sunset view.  I made it back to the hostel just before dark and had completed 12.1km.

I showered up and then headed to Anapji pond, which was a temple complex with a large body of water in the middle and is part of a palace complex of the Silla people (as are all of the temples and tombs in the area).

The reviews said to go at night and they were right, the lights reflecting off the pond at night were beautiful.

The next day was my only full day in Gyeongju as I was taking a late afternoon bus to Tongyeong for the hike.  I woke up early and first headed to Bulguksa temple which is Korean historic site number 502.

It was initially constructed in 751 and later burned down in 1593 by Japanese invaders.  It was not until 1963 when the temple was rebuilt and restored based on extensive historical records and research.  I wandered the grounds for a bit, got a picture with the lucky warthog and enjoyed the Chinese monks being tourists who were visiting the site.

After finishing the temple, I jumped back on the bus and headed over to Namsan mountain which is sometimes referred to as the museum without walls.

(Look closely at the above photo, you can see some carvings in the rock)

There are several hiking trails on the mountain that take you past statues, pagodas and carvings in the rock.  It was a pretty hike in it’s own right never mind the art and history included.

They even had free postcards at the top and a mailbox for you to send post cards from the top of the mountain (which I for sure took advantage of)  I took a few hours climbing to the top and then headed down to the bus so I could pick up my bag and head to the bus stop.

This was a really short stop, but I was moving and sightseeing almost the entire time.  I will put a bunch of photos in here for you to enjoy as I don’t really have much to say about them unless you want more history about the individual areas.