Gyeongju-Busan-Seoul Day 1 - Getting from Seoul Incheon Airport to Gyeongju by AREX, KTX and Bus

3 May 2012

We arrived at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport at about 3.40 PM in the afternoon. Instead of spending the night in Seoul, my plan was to make the journey to Gyeongju upon landing. There are a couple of options for the journey there. By airport limousine bus, by train or by KTX  (Korea’s bullet train). We choose the fastest but slightly more expensive option by KTX. Unfortunately, the KTX does not operate from the Airport, so we have to make the trip into Seoul to board the 6.30PM KTX train at Seoul Station. The good thing is that the AREX (Airport Rail Express) train is now operating from the Incheon Airport direct to Seoul Station. Previously, travellers had to make this part of the journey by bus or subway.

Getting to Seoul station on the AREX is fast and convenient. Upon exiting from the airport, we followed the signs that led us through the airport buildings to the AREX train station. The AREX has two lines: an express line that runs directly from the Incheon Airport to Seoul Station with no stops in between (a 43-minute ride) and a commuter line, which runs parallel to the express line and makes stops at major subway stations in the downtown area (a 53-minute ride).

You can buy the AREX tickets online at a discount here.

We took the express AREX train and we almost got the whole train to ourselves.

The AREX train from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station in the heart of Seoul city only takes 45 minutes on the express train.

We took the 4.30 PM AREX train and arrived at the Seoul Station at 5.14 PM. There was plenty of time to collect our pre-booked KTX tickets from the Korail ticket booth, take our dinner before boarding the KTX bound for SinGyeongju KTX Station (the nearest KTX station to Gyeongju). I even had time to go recce the outside of Seoul Station before boarding the KTX at 6.30 PM.

Note: Sin-Gyeongju Station literally mean New Gyeongju Station. KTX only stops at the new station located outside the city while the standard train stops at the Gyeongju Station within the city.

Outside of Seoul Station. For KTX, Train, Subway, AREX.

The journey by KTX train #155 from Seoul Station to SinGyeongju took 2 hours 15 minutes (43,800 KRW/pax).   ETD 1830 hr. ETA 2038 hr. The train was packed. It was a good thing we made our bookings with confirmed seatings on the internet and only need to collect our tickets at the Korail ticket booth 30 minutes before scheduled departure.

Not much luggage space in the KTX train, so we have to place our luggage on the overhead racks.

Travel Tips: Read here for more information about travelling by train in South Korea.

The KTX train departed Seoul Station as per schedule.  Unlike the AREX, this KTX train was crowded. Mostly locals. The train did not have designated space for luggage. My sympathy to those with heavy, oversized luggage and weak upper limbs! We managed to squeeze our mid-sized luggage into the overhead racks.

The KTX has a maximum speed of 300 km/hr. Because of stops along the way, it only reached close to that top speed on a few stretches of the journey. Even then, it is the fastest way to get from Seoul to Gyeongju using land transport.

TV monitor in the KTX train cabin showing the train’s speed. Took this photo when it hits close to 300 km/hr. Fast but we don’t feel it inside.

As it was nightfall, there was not much to see outside and curtain were drawn closed. We had to listen to announcements and watch the TV monitors to make sure we got off at the right stop.

We arrived at the SinGyeongju Station as per schedule. Upon exiting from train station, we saw a lady with a sash who looked like a tourist ambassador standing near the exit of the train station. We approached her to ask about the bus to Bomun Resort. She understood English and personally brought us outside the station and point the way to the Bus Stop for us to catch the #700 Bus.

We were right on time. The #700 bus came as we approached the stop. Over here, passengers board and alight from the only door located at the front of bus. The driver was patient to wait for us to board, dump our luggage on a couple of empty seats near the front, pay him in Korean currency notes and then give me the change in Korean coins before moving off. He nods his head when I told him we were going to Hyundai Hotel.

Bus #700 is a regular city bus and stops were made along the way, with announcements in Korean informing passengers of current and next stops. Not understanding Korean language, we listened to the key words especially “Hyundai”, assuming the locals pronounced it the way I expected it to be pronounced.

I was hoping and expecting the driver to tell us where to alight but he either forgot about us or he did not understood me in the first place. We did not alight at the designated bus stop upon reaching the hotel. Fortunately, I knew we were close to our destination and saw the hotel when the bus stopped at a red light at the traffic junction just outside the hotel, past the designated bus stop. Fortunately, the driver allowed us to alight at this unscheduled stop after we told him to open the door for us.

Not bad for our first day. We got to our hotel in Gyeongju as per plan.

I just love it when a plan comes together!

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Gyeongju-Busan-Seoul Day 2 (Part 1) – Enjoy Spring flowers by Bomun Lake

4 May 2012

The morning of Day 2 in South Korea started slow with a breakfast of instant noodles on the balcony of Hyundai Hotel, overlooking Bomun Lake.

The photo above shows the bird’s eye view of Bomun Lake from balcony of Hyundai Hotel looking north.

We could see the Gyeongju Tower in the distance from the balcony and near to the tower is the Shilla Millenium Park, our first stop for the day. The park opens at 10 AM, so there was plenty of time to enjoy the lake before visiting the Shilla Millenium Park.

Bird’s eye view of Bomun Lake from balcony of Hyundai Hotel looking south. Can see the Hilton Hotel, Gyeongju Expo Park and Gyeongju Tower in the distance.

The best way to get to the Shilla Millenium Park from any hotel in the Bomun Resort area would be along the walkway by Bomun Lake. The walkway by the lake was lined with many cherry trees and it would be a magnificent sight to see the trees in full bloom. One of our objectives of coming to Korea in Spring was to see the cherry trees in full bloom.  But we came slightly too late. The full bloom period, lasting about a week, was in April this year.

Cherry trees above was all green with leaves now in May, instead of completely white with the cherry flowers in April.

Fallen Cherry Blossoms.

Nevertheless, the morning walk along the lake was still enjoyable and nice. Many other spring flowers such as azaleas lined the path and as for cherry trees, there were still some late bloomers at some parts of the trail!

Bee on Azalea blossoms.

Azaleas growing as a hedge along the walkway and the blooms were beautiful and came in many colours.

Colourful azaleas.

Some late bloomers. Cherry flowers still on the trees that were in the shade.

View of the Hyundai Hotel where we stayed.

View of Hilton Hotel (another good hotel at Lake Bomun).

Signs of spring – Azalea flowers buds.

Koreans seems to like duck-shaped paddle boats. We saw such boats on the Han River in Seoul. Here, in Lake Bomun, there was even a “Mother” of all ducks. A motorised launch in the shape of a large duck or swan that takes tourists for a lake cruise.Mother duck and her ducklings! Or are these supposed to be swans?

Literally getting all the ducks line up.

I managed to shoot a photo of this man smoking inside a beached duck using my telephoto lens.

Southern end of the lake.

Bridge leading to the Expo Park.

Mirror lake making the half-moon bridge into a full moon.

Interesting roof and structure for a house in Gyeongju.

The lakeside walk took us towards the Shilla Millenium Park but getting to the park from the lake was not very straight forward. We followed the stream leading into Lake Bomun as the Park is located on the bank of the stream, accordingly to a simple map of Gyeongju I had. There was some kind of horse fair or show taking place on the river bank but the Koreans there did not understand English when we asked for some directions.

Anyway, we got a good view of Gyeongju Tower from the river bank. 

Gyeongju Tower is an interesting building. It looked like a pagoda had been cut-out from the building, leaving a “hole” in the middle. The tower is located within the Gyeongju World Culture Expo Park which we did not intend to visit.

Side view of Gyeongju Tower – seen from carpark outside the Shilla Millenium Park.

The base of the tower is a filming location of the last few episodes of K-drama Athena where the bad guys were trying to launch a missile to kill innocents and the good NSA lady agent was shot to death.

Trusting our simple map, we finally found our destination from across the road.

Outside of Shilla Millenium Park.

The Shilla Millenium Park is also a filming set used to shoot some scenes in the Korean Drama series Queen Seondeok which was based on the history of the Silla Kingdom.

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Gyeongju-Busan-Seoul Day 2 (Part 2) - Shilla Millenium Park

4 May 2012

Shilla Millennium Park is a theme park in Gyeingju integrating both education and entertainment about the history and culture of the Silla Period. Focusing on the Silla Period (57 BC - AD 935), the park reproduces Silla architecture and a village of aristocrats and offers symbolic architecture such as Emile Tower and Seokbinggo.

If not for the Queen Seondeok Korean TV period drama that I watched recently, I would have no knowledge of the history of the Silla kingdom. Even then, the story in the drama did not depict history accurately. Nevertheless, as this theme park is supposed to reconstruct the culture and history of the 8th century Silla and is also the set for the shooting of the drama series, this was added to our itinerary.

After an enjoyable walk on the lakeside path from our hotel (Hyundai Hotel) in the Bomun Resort, followed by some strenuous hunting of the place using a not-so-detailed map of Gyeongju and the GPS/google map on our iphone 4, we arrived at the entrance of the park. We paid the entrance fee, collected the brochure and site map (below) and was advised by the girls at the entrance to go see the performance on horseback at the Hwarang Arena (number 16 in the map below) as it would be the next show in the park.

Upon entering the park, we were welcomed by stone statues of animals in the Chinese Zodiac dressed as warriors.

There were groups of school children on the same visit and we were all heading to the same place.

Arriving at the arena, we went in first while the kids were assembled outside for headcounts and other administrative purposes. It was fun watching the kids streaming in and taking their seats. Most were excited and enjoying their outing. It was also fun using my telephoto lens on my camera to take some interesting candid shots of one of the most interesting subjects for a photographer …kids.

Waiting for the Art of the Hwarang Show to start.

Uniformed and disciplined school kids. Probably nursery school. All lining up their bags in a neat row.

Young Koreans kids tackling the steep wooden stairs on their own.

Then the real show began with a rider on horseback making an entrance to cheers from the audience.

A bow to the audience before the start of the show.

Then an exhibition of the Hwarang’s military martial arts skills was featured. The Hwarang were an elite group of male youth in Silla. Hwarangs, using swords that is like a Japanese Katana, sliced through bamboos as if they were straws.

Then the cavalry entered the performance, riding with skill and dexterity as they stand on the horses, riding while facing backwards, hit their targets with spears, bows and arrows, and perform sword fights.  Nice performance.

Shooting arrow while on the move on horseback.

Not so accurate but close enough.

Acrobatic stunts while on the galloping horse.

Satisfaction and proud of an excellent job done.

If not for the school kids, I wonder if the arena would be that packed.  I think it was a good thing the kids were here. The performers seemed extra motivated by the cheers from the kids and adults and gave us a good show.

After the show, we went to explore the Nobles Village “Emile Polis”. This are replicas of the palace, royal houses and villages that was set up to showcase the buildings that citizens of Silla used to live in. In the Queen Seondeok drama, I heard of the terms Seong-gol, Jing-gol been used to describe the status of the individuals and I was wondering what that was. Now I know more about the “bone-rank” system used in ancient Silla. If both of your parents were of the royal family, they would be called ‘Seong-gol’ but if only one of your parents were of the royal family, they would be called ‘Jin-gol’, and so on was the ranking system from 6th level to 1st level. Ideally, only Seong-gol can be King.

The village’s size and house interiors were designed as accurately as possible to the descriptions of the history books ‘Samguksagi (history documented by Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje)’. The designs of the houses differed depending on the owner’s social status dependent on a status system by the ‘Golpum policy (Silla’s unique ranking system)’. A Seong-gol’s house is relatively large and beautifully decorated, while a 4th level house is comparably plain and simple.

Exploring the traditional silla houses.

Simple interiors  by today’s standard but these were houses of high ranking people in ancient Silla.

Kimchi jars.

Silla people were Buddhist.

Solid tree trucks used in the construction of the houses.

Elaborate interlocking wooden roof beams.

Water mill in operation.

Then, we went to visit the palace used in the shooting. Some parts of the palace were under restoration but we still managed to see some the sets used in the filming.

Leaving the Emile Polis for the Palace.

This part of the Palace was closed for restoration. So just a photo from the outside.

Entrance to the palace that was closed off.

Photo of the Palace from the outside.

These parts (below) were opened so we could visit the scenes shown in the drama.

Inside the grounds of the palace that was opened.

Posing with a replica of Lady Mishil in Queen SeonDeok drama. The actress who played this character is very good.

Set used to film Queen Seondeok, the Korea drama series.

By now, we were feeling famished and tired. We headed towards the exit of the park as we had seen what we wanted to see in this park. We came upon the ‘Emile Tower Bell (Seongdeok Daewang Sinjong)’. The tower is approximately 17 meters (4 times larger than the original building), and was prominent in the park. Burgers and drinks were supposed to be sold at the tower but there was no one manning the counter!

Hello, anybody here?

So we bought some simple snacks and drinks from a nearby stall, about 20 metres away. Not so good food but we were too hungry and thirsty to hunt for alternatives. Then, we saw the girl who sold us the snacks walked to the Bell Tower as her supervisor came by. She got a good scolding from him for deserting her post. I wonder if she was supposed to be manning the burger stall at the bell tower or the other stall. Strange.

Feeling a little recharged, we make our way out of the park to catch a bus #11 into Gyeongju city centre. The plan for the afternoon was to do the walking tour of Gyeongju. But first, time for a good lunch to replenish our energy.

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