The first day or so in a new country is always strange. Everyplace is different and of course it takes a little while to feel things out and get comfortable. So far I think Korea is similar to what I expected. Since it is physically in-between China and Japan, I expect behavior of people and the environment to be in the somewhere in the middle too. For example, it is dirtier than Japan, but probably cleaner than China. It is a similar for politeness and the traffic situation. Not as perfect as Japan, but not as crazy as China. I’ve probably been spoiled by how smoothly everything goes in Japan though.
I notice PC Bangs everywhere. They are similar to Internet Cafes, but almost everyone is playing computer games. It appeared most were playing World of Warcraft when I walked through one. I also notice a lot of English schools everywhere. I think everyone assumes I’m an English teacher because I don’t think Korea gets too many people who go around the country just as tourists.
First thing in the morning I walked down to Gwang-an beach. It was a nice view with the Gwang-an suspension bridge out there in the sea. One thing I didn’t expect was being mobbed by a bunch of school children. Maybe 20 or 30 kids where down there in a group. “Hi!” “Hello!” “I’m Korean!” “Nice to meet you!” At one point I think 5 kids were pointing their cameras at me getting my photo. They asked where I’m from and listed off a bunch of soccer players and asked if I knew them. They were so excited to see a foreigner and wanted to practice English. And I think I was the only foreigner I saw around that area.
Later on I left the 2nd largest city in Korea, Busan and headed to Gyeongju (one of the ancient capitals of Korea). However, first I stopped at Beomeosa. It was sort of a wild bus ride up a mountain and there were a lot of people there. Still pretty neat place. I continued to Gyeongju and after arriving I set out to find a place to stay. I tried to find a place with wireless in town, but didn’t have much luck. I did find a cheap guesthouse with a private room though. It did take up some time to sort out accommodation though and was getting dark. I walked through Tumuli Park and saw many large burial mounds of kings and family from the Silla Kingdom. I quickly walked by Cheomseongdae observatory.Then I kept walking but it got dark and started raining, so I headed back.