Oh Honestly, Erin

Me again, the President of the Gyeongju Tourism Board. In today’s travel pamphlet that has been unfolded before you with such thoughtful consideration, let’s talk about what we did in the morning before setting off for our Gyeongju World do-over.

First of all, I believe I already posted a shorty about this, but Henry and I woke up early that Friday in an effort to see some of the mounds and attempt to get a picture with that rando’ celebrity tree. You can read the details of that here because I might get angry if I retell that part of that day.

THAT TREE, plus me squinting because “early in the morning” meant “sun in the eyes” and – spoiler alert – I hadn’t bought my Gentle Monster sunglasses yet :/

We kept walking around because it was such a beautiful morning with hardly anyone out yet. Except for where spring blossoms were concerned, it really felt like we had the whole area to ourselves.

Wow, I’m so presh.

But the burial mounds, you guys. The burial mounds. FYI there’s fine for climbing them so behave and be respectful!

Also, my new thing is turning away from the camera to spare you the full onslaught of my forced smile.

That sign translates to “golden road” in case you were wondering. And the crown is a depiction of the Crown of Silla, which was uncovered in one of the tumuli (burial mound) and is on display in the local museum there in case you are a royal accoutrement buff and ancient crowns tick your box. The coffee cup I bought the day before from the nice man at the shop near our guest house has a Silla crown design all around it in gold – I love it so much. In fact, hold please, I’m going to make some of my cherry blossom Osulloc Tea to drink out of it!

OK I’m back Tea Club Members!

Imagine living here! Right across from burial mounds! The houses were so beautiful – a lot of the were hanok stays and guest houses, I’m sure.

The amount of fighting that happened behind the scenes while Henry was taking pictures of me, you guys. He was legit the worst Instagram Boyfriend and is somehow an even WORSER Instagram Husband. Honestly.

This was my “point and shoot” over the tumuli wall result.

Back to the guest house to collect Chooch and check out – we were at least able to leave all of our stuff there so we didn’t have to lug shopping bags and backpacks to Gyeongju World, which was nice!

This was a nice little place and I would stay there again unless I get my way and we book a traditional hanok stay instead! (This is to say: I will be returning to Gyeongju World. There are several reasons that I haven’t gotten around to yet, so rest assured this city has a place in my heart now.)

We walked about 20 minutes to a more downtown-ish area where we had planned to have breakfast at a place called TAK! which is DANISH for “thank you” and features Scandinavian breakfast items and I thought it would be wild to revisit the breakfasts we miss so much from our Coaster Crew vacation, but in KOREA.

Anyway, they were supposed to be open at 9 but apparently THAT DAY they decided to change their opening hours from 9 to 10 so they were not open when we got there. Since we wanted to be at Gyeongju World when they opened at 10, waiting around wasn’t really an option, so we went to Compose Coffee instead which was on the same block. It’s a South Korean chain so it wasn’t my first choice, or second or third, but we needed to get caffeine and food and this was convenient. (And, because it’s a Korean chain, GOOD.)

More and more Korean cafes have self-ordering kiosks now and most of them have English options, so especially in smaller cities further out from Seoul, this is soooo convenient for foreign tourists! I’m decent-ish at ordering food/coffee so I could have winged it but it was nice to be able to take our time and peruse the menu on the screen.

I don’t remember seeing Compose Coffee the last times we were in Korea, but a quick googlin’ session tells me that it originated in Busan in 2014 and has recently seen a rapid growth so maybe they didn’t have any/many locations in Seoul in 2018 and 2019. If we saw any when we were in Busan, I just don’t remember. But this place was really delightful and I can see why it’s become one of the most popular cafe chains in Korea. I would definitely go back!

I mean, Taehyung from BTS endorses it so I’m sure they’re hurting for business. I guess I will still include it in my tourist pamphlet.

Right after this, we used Kakao Taxi for the first time rather than take the bus to Gyeongju World again. Kakao Taxi wasn’t a thing yet during our last visit, but we definitely recommend this! Super tourist/foreigner friendly – like Uber, you put the address in the app when requesting a ride so you don’t have to fumble with trying to show the address in Korean to the driver, etc. We ended up using this three times while in Korea and all three times we had super intense ahjussi drivers wearing driving gloves. An experience!

Anyway, it was only about a 10-15 ride to Gyeongju World from downtown Gyeongju and I was SO STOKED to ride our first roller coasters of 2024!

….which we will talk about in the next post haha. 2 more Gyeongju posts and then we will be back in Seoul!

Hi, it’s me, the broad who went to Gyeongju, South Korea and acted like she was the first westerner to make contact. Well, just in case you forgot Gyeongju existed, I’m back with more reminders.

I think we last left off on Thursday evening, heading back to the guest house for a reprieve from the rain and also because I ate too much and then had tipped the scale with a cup of hot and rich matcha and then felt like I was going to vomit. Sound about right?

We left the guest room around 5:15 I would say. I really wanted to go to the Woljeonggyo Bridge which is supposed to be even more beautiful at night and Henry said it was walkable, and that we could just cut through that tourist street again on the way. It was still raining, sometimes just a drizzle, other times in buckets, but what can you do!? We certainly weren’t going to sit in the room all night watching TV. I mean, I’m sure Henry and Chooch would have been fine with that since I had been running them ragged since day 1.

Look, it’s that fucking celebrity tree again.

Chooch wanted to stop in this take-out kimbap place. I still wasn’t hungry after gorging on lunch but I can tell you that after smelling this kimbap all evening, I regretted not also getting 2 rolls and MAYBE sharing with Henry, ugh.

1. Love that this kimbap place allowed mods;
2. THAT HANDWRITING!!! I’m obsessed.
3. The young woman who took Chooch’s order was so friendly. We love Gyeongju.
4. This was like designer kimbap, you guys.
5. Burdock is an underrated ingredient. I love that they put it in bibimbap in Korea too – in the States, I don’t think this is a common ingredient but it’s a traditional bibimbap ingredient in the homeland. It’s a root that is good for digestion among other health benefits in case you are wondering and wish for me to be your Google assistant. It’s fine, I need things to do.

I just really liked the look of this kimbap place!

We also bought a box of these amazing butter cookies that had different icing fillings like black sesame, matcha, fig, etc. They were so delicious and I miss them. (*Goes to see if they can be shipped to the US*)

I loved the horror movie look of this place.

Cats! Us! Rain!

I loved this walk. The further out of the tourist street we got, the better the sights became.

Eventually, we ran into Gyochon Hanok Village!

Honestly, I think the rain worked to our advantage because this is definitely the type of place that draws large crowds. And aside from some frantic Chinese man looking for lost people from his group, we barely ran into anyone else in this area.

So I was able to pose like an asshole in privacy. LUCKY YOU.

Then, random tea house!! There was a sign outside that advertised BINGSU and Henry and I were like *heavy panting* because we always have room for bingsu.

We were the only people in the tea house. An old woman came out from the back and fussed over us, made sure we had a table, etc. We were just happy to be sitting somewhere dry and warm!

You guys – they didn’t have bingsu. SUMMER MENU ONLY! So I got black sesame porridge instead. Henry got sikkhye (sweet rice punch – it’s so delicious and I had regertz that I didn’t also order it). Chooch got his schisandra tea that he was obsessed with. Of all the things.

Schisandra.

Maybe Dunkin’ will get a schisandra refresher. LOL.

Ugh.

Meanwhile, Chooch was like, “I can bear it no longer, I must eat kimbap” and dug into the box. I was like, “Yo, that might be uncouth, bringing outside food into a tea house?!” and also, he got the spicy version so it was pretty stenchy. Every time the tea house halmeoni would come back from her secret room, Chooch would shove the kimbap box onto the empty seat at our table, and then right before we left, we saw that it had stained part of the seat cushion!!! I was so mad at him! He was like, “I didn’t do that! That’s not from me!” but then he flipped the cushion over in shame and I hope he thinks about what he did for the rest of his life!!!

The Woljeonggyo Bridge!!! Finally!! Chooch and I walked out onto the stepping stones on the Namcheon Stream to take this and it was harrowing because the rain was coming down hard. I was so scared, and the water was rushing loudly past us! Henry has video, and it’s part of the compilation I made for this day SO CHECK THE END OF THIS POST FOR THAT, OK. No, you seriously should because there’s a lot of stuff from this day!

HIGHLY recommend coming here at night. The hype is real. This whole-ass area was ethereal. Otherworldly. Surreal. It felt like being transported back into another time and I’ll tell you that the lack of crowds really leant to that sensation. God, this was one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me. I really loved Gyeongju, even though it rained all day on our first day.

It didn’t change the fact that we were in such a magical place full of insane history.

That rock says Gyeongju Gyochon Village.

Inside the bridge!

Chooch took a series of HENRY IN MOTION shots when I demanded that Henry come over and get a picture with me. God forbid Henry has to have his photo taken with his WIFE. Ugh!

You can imagine how crowded this place would be on a day with better weather!

View from the bridge.

말뚝박기! It’s like a leapfrog / piledriving type of childrens game in Korea. It looks….a lot wronger than it actually is, lol.

Cats! That orange one wanted to kill Chooch.

Photo cred: Chooch

Hanok are so beautiful.

Cafe time!! EYST 1779 Henry got a BEER. I got just coffee. Chooch got some fancy fruit ade. It came with cheeseballs!

Still working on that kimbap.

There was an American (Canadian?) family sitting behind us – I couldn’t see them but Chooch said it looked like the mom was Korean and they were here with Korean family. When one of the Korean family members asked the kids what their favorite thing was so far in Korea, one of them quickly said, “Salt bread” and I couldn’t hate on that. Because, salt bread.

Back in the tumuli zone!

My favorite part of the night was when Henry thought that we were done after the cafe, that we were going to walk back to the guest house. I mean, technically we walked back in that direction, but the other thing that I wanted to see at night…..

….in addition to the burial mounds….

….which looked so eerie and cinematic at night in the rain….

…I mean, just look….

…was this old ass observatory! Cheomseongdae!

Constructed during the reign of Queen Seondeok (r. 632-647), the observatory consists of 365 stones, each one symbolizing the number of days in a year. It’s billed as the oldest standing observatory in Asia, POSSIBLY THE WORLD.

Again, yes it was annoying being out in the rain but this was worth seeing at night. And again, the rain kept the crowds away!

And then we walked back to the guest house, taking some of the alleyways off of the popular Hwangridan Gil. I just thought this was pretty.

Chooch got mad because he took a picture of this first and then I had to take one after him.

This was probably an accident but I’m keeping it because I’m almost positive Henry was pissed off about something – pick something, anything – at this point, LOLOLOL.

This was some statue on the street by our guest house.

After the (correct) bus dropped us off back in the Tumuli Park area of Gyeongju – this is where all of the 23 burial mounds are located, as well as a really popular street that runs through the area, full of shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. Cemetery tourism, man! That’s my jam. Anyway, I had originally wanted to do all of this stuff the next day, which was supposed to be dry and sunny, but it all worked out because the rain kept the crowds at bay FOR SURE.

Except that there was still a small line of people anxious to have their photos taken with this random tree, rain be damned! It was actually hilarious. No one lines up for tree pictures in the States! I’ve passed so many trees like this one on my daily walks around Brookline and not a single passerby stops and gives them a second glance. Do Koreans just appreciate these things more than us, or is it more about getting the aesthetic IG shot?? Who knows, but I will say that it’s people of all ages who clammer for blossom shots. When I saw one couple arrive with a professional photoshoot set up, I was like, “Fuck it, we’ll come back tomorrow morning and try this again” – YEAH, U THOUGHT, ERIN.

But anyway, Chooch took some of these photos for us and you can imagine how fucking annoyed he was, ESPECIALLY because we were supposed to be on our way to find lunch when I spotted other people taking photos here. And, you know what they do, monkey see monkey do.

(The amount of times when adults said that to me when I was a kid, wow, I just had a surge of memories.)

We found a tteokbokki place to eat! I was excited because it’s the type of place where you fill out an order sheet and it was entirely in Korean. Henry immediately opened up Google translate on his phone but Chooch and I were like, “WE CAN DO THIS” and we did! I was happy that the ahjumma running the place trusted us with the order pad and didn’t attempt to do it for us.

*HOMER DROOL* Words cannot express how much we love tteokbokki in our household. Of course, we both slapped the fish cakes onto Henry’s plate. I also had a cheese helmet (my term lol) added to mine, and I was so excited when I was able to translate that part of the ordering options. She originally forgot to give it to me but then she remembered, came over, short of moved me out of the way and dump a pile of shredded mozzarella on top, then ladled another layer of sauce on top to assist with the melting. It was delicious.

We also got cheese balls and that’s another thing that is indescribable. In America, cheese balls would be coated in a savory breading, but in Korea, it’s subtly sweet and a different texture/consistency than our typical cheese sticks / cheese balls. The breading is smooth and just hits different. I would willingly burn my mouth every single day for those babies.

Anyway, I loved this place because I felt like a local being there and the food was so satisfying and filling….perhaps too filling, lol.

This is the popular main street (Hwangnidan-gil) of the burial mound park area – even though it was raining, it was nice to be able to walk down it without crowds. Although at times, there were a good bit of people that would come at us in swarms in spite of the downpour so there was some umbrella bumping in play.

There were a lot of stationary shops on this street and one in particular was playing ALL BIGBANG SONGS. I have some video clips of that which I will post either here or, if this extends to another post, then there. I take my recaps seriously! No skimping.

It started raining very hard at one part so we dipped into a cafe that was set back a bit off the main road – I think it was called Secret Forest?? I got this delicioso matcha latte and we sat in this cozy little alcove area, probably not talking because it had been a long ass motherfucking day, you guys, lol. We hadn’t even checked into our guest house yet, actually, and it was nearly 4PM so we decided to start heading back (luckily, our guest house was located REALLY close to this tourist area and was less than a  minute walk).

Which was great because I was already stuffed with tteokbokki and that matcha tipped me over to the point where I legit thought I was going to throw up. Actually, I probably would have felt much better if I *had* thrown up but also, ew.

Some of the mounds were visible on our walk back so even though my stomach was overflowin’, I had to take some liberal pauses in order to make some photographical memories.

It was a straight shot right to the block where our guest house was located.

Faceless Chooch.

Literally RIGHT before we got to the guest house, I saw a nice little gift shop called Osilla and within .005 seconds, the proprietor of the shop was asking us where we’re from and if we speak Korean. I laughed and said, “A bit,” in Korean, and he said the same for English but his English was wonderful, waaaay better than my Korean! Anyway, what a great guy. He was showing us pictures of himself from years ago when he was in the Navy and was stationed in Honolulu – he “accidentally” showed us a picture of him with some bikini-clad broads twice and Chooch and I were giggling like children.

He said that he taught himself graphic design and a lot of the things in the shop featured his own designs. I bought a really pretty black coffee cup that had a design of a royal crown in gold, and a really pretty flower necklace. Chooch bought some handmade soap (Chooch loves soap) and then Henry grudgingly came in from the rain and I told the guy, “He was in the Airforce!” so then he went over and showed Henry his pictures, too.

Honestly, that guy alone made the trip to Gyeongju so amazing. The further out you get from Seoul, the harder it is to find people who speak English, so making this connection was really cool. I was happy to support his art, too!

The guest house was literally like 2 doors down – no wonder Henry was so pissed. We were so close to making it all the back without spending more money, lol.

There was some French broad sitting in the eating area having a REALLY LOUD Facetime conversation – thankfully she was staying on that floor and we were upstairs, because I don’t think I could have handled staying in a room near hers. She was….really something.

The hallway to our room, where we would rest for a bit, change into dry clothes, and then get ready to go back out because there were some things that I HAD TO SEE AT NIGHT even though it was STILL FUCKING RAINING and no one wanted to walk in that shit BUT HELLO WE ARE IN KOREA AND WASTING TIME!!

So, stay tuned for that. It was actually my favorite part of Gyeongju even though the memory of it is making me shiver and feel like I’m getting a cold except that I actually really do have a cold right now and somehow didn’t end up getting one then!

Thursday was another early start.  Look, this wasn’t a vacation, ok? When we go to Korea, it’s a pilgrimage. A voyage.  A journey. It’s hilarious too because this time around, I said, “Well, it will be our third time there. We can go at a slower pace. Relax.”

Pahahahaha. Ok as if I just lightened up overnight.

Anyway, this time we were departing from Seoul Station and heading to Gyeongju, a city that used to be the capital of Korea waaaaaay back in the day when there was only one Korea. The Silla Dynasty, I believe? The appeal was twofold: it’s home to burial mounds and so much history that it’s referred to as the Museum Without Walls; and there’s an amusement park there called Gyeongju World. LOL – we had to get some coaster credits on this trip! It’s tradition and it’s also where we officially because coaster thoosies.

But first we had to get up around 6:30am, get ready and then head out to Seoul Station, where I had my second injeolmi latte at Dunkin. Yo, this was one of the best bevs I had of the whole trip, not even a slight burp of hyperbole in that statement.

Anyway, Him Man the ‘Meri Can decided to use the ordering kiosk instead of going up to the counter but then he was flailing when it came time to pay and I was hissing, THERE IS SOMEONE WAITING BEHIND US CAN YOU PLEASE PAY YOU’RE SO EMBARRASSING.

At this point, he was scratching his head, really unable to figure it out so the lady behind us leaned around him and tapped on the screen and then gestured for him to put in his card. She basically had to hold his hand from there.

And then when they called our number, she signaled to us that it was ours because my mind was still trying to translate and Henry didn’t hear it at all, I’m sure. I thanked her in Korean approx. 8 times and she smiled and nodded but I’m sure she was like PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE NOW.

It was really nice to have someone help without asking though!

We also got some breakfast breads at Tous les Jours – their salt bread was ok!

This picture is so weird but I kept it because it illustrates what was definitely a moment of Henry mockery. Our favorite sorts of moments! The most memorable moments. We were mad because Henry didn’t read our brain waves as they were generating silent demands for napkins so when he didn’t immediately fetch them for us, we had to actually USE OUR VOICES and order him to get off his ass and get us napkins before the train departed. JESUS!! Way to know how to meet our needs.

“Oh, Henry is so wonderful, he does so much for you two!”

Does he?

DOES HE??

Anyway, don’t cry from him, Gyeongju-tina, because in order to obtain napkins, he “had” to buy kimbap from one of the train station food stalls, what a fucking martyr.

Don’t worry, I helped him eat it.

I didn’t write anything on the train. I know that I read my book for a bit and slept a lot because it was a dreary, rainy day. A good day for napping on a train, if you ask me. (Ask me anything in the comments, seriously! I live for talking about Korea.)

The first thing I did when arriving in Gyeongju was PEE. I had to pee so bad. I have actually never used the bathrooms on the KTX trains because it’s never been dire enough for me to get up and go so I don’t even know what the bathrooms are like. But, since it’s Korea, I’m going to guess they’re pretty good. I mean, you can pee in the subway station restrooms without any concern. (Although, you have to check the signs on the stalls though because some of the stalls don’t have toilets, but these ceramic urinal things in the ground that you have to squat over. It was major culture shock for me on our first trip when I opened a stall and was like WHERE IS THE COMMODE AND WTF IS THAT THING??)

(Just some fun Korea facts for you! I’m not sure if any other Asian country is like that. I didn’t use any of the bathrooms in the Tokyo subway stations!)

ANYWAY! I took a picture of this sign because the water in the toilet was indeed yellow.

After this, we had to buy umbrellas at Story Way because it was a torrential downpour out there. I don’t know why this stands out as such a solid memory, but afterward, Henry was like ME GO FIND GARBAGE CAN and as soon as he walked away, I saw one literally right near where we were standing so I walked over and threw my stuff away while Henry traversed the whole train station for no reason. I told Chooch and we cackled like hyenas while watching Henry meander around like a Sim, bumping into walls, getting turned around, all with trash in his hand hahaha. Henry, ya doof.

But then he finally made his back to us and we were like hahaha there was a garbage can right here and he cried, “I DON’T CARE!” and then his face was all screwed up in anger while Chooch and I mocked him and he made empty threats about us being on our own, us having to catch our own bus, etc.

It’s a tale as old as time, you guys. Or at least as old as 2002.

The bus came almost as soon as we ventured out of the station, and it was mayhem. There were so many people trying to get on it! The three of us ended up having to stand in the middle of the bus by the door, and it almost killed us every time it opened. Oh Christ, that bus ride was CHAOS – people falling into each other, luggage banging into people, the bus skidding around corners at breakneck speed. There was an Australian solo traveler standing behind us and we kept making eye contact and cracking up.

“It’s an adventure!” she said, and it was one of Those Moments that I will never forget because I am a crazy person when it comes to latching on to the smallest of human contacts.

She also chuckled when Chooch and I told Henry, in sync, that he was so embarrassing.

But! It got us to where we needed to go, and then it was just a short walk in the rain to our guest house which was cutely called Ah Ha! We couldn’t check in yet, but we were able to stow our bags (Chooch and I just had our backpacks, and Henry had his man purse lol). We chilled in the shared space / kitchen area for a few minutes while we got situated and Henry figured out which bus we had to catch to Gyeongju World.

Henry and all of our cables, his life’s burden.

Anyway, somehow we managed to get on the correct bus, the very first try, to Gyeongju World. The rain had stopped by this point and we were hoping that it wouldn’t be too bad of a day. The website said it was opened, regardless, and I didn’t want to switch it to Friday because Friday was BURIAL MOUND day and I wanted to see that stuff in the nice, sunny weather, which is what Friday was calling for.

A very wet Gyeongju World! Of course, there was NO ONE in the courtyard or in the ticket lines but we still thought, “OK, this is fine. Yes, let’s do this!” The girl at the ticket booth was very friendly but didn’t speak English. She handed us a map and showed us a list of rides, and some of them had a rain cloud next to them.

“OK?” she asked.

I looked at the map and to me, it seemed like that was saying the rides with the rain cloud were closed for the day because of the rain. None of the coasters had this next to them, so I said, “Sure!” And we paid.

Then when we got to the entrance gate, the girl there took our tickets and held up her phone, which said, “These are the only rides that are open today” and pointed to rides that had the stupid rain cloud next to them. IT WAS THE INVERSE OF WHAT I INITIALLY THOUGHT! So basically it was the carousel and three or four other kids rides that were running – none of the coasters.

I was like FUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK as we walked into the park. I let myself panic and freak out for approx. one minute before saying, “OK, I am going to try to see if we could get a rain ticket or something and just come back tomorrow.”

You guys, they were soooo accommodating and pleasant about the whole thing. I didn’t have to beg, I didn’t have to talk to 7 different people. The girl at the gate smiled and called up her manager on her headphone, said, “No problem!” The manager arrived and walked us back to the ticket window, we gave the girl there our credit card, bam. Refund. No questions asked! I didn’t feel bad about it because we knew that we would just come back the next day, so they would still get our money in the end. I feel like in America, they’d be like tough titties, babe – you walked through the turnstile. Your ours now. Grab a mop. Earn your keep.

Since we were there though, we walked around the resort area and looked at things because you know tourists gon’ tour. Look at this cutie magpie!! I love magpies.

We walked over this stream to get a better look at this place which is apparently just a corporate event hall but sure looked cool. I’d like to have an event there. Maybe a future pie party, once I make more friends in Korea which is my new life goal because on my next trip, I’m having a fucking sunset picnic on at the Hangang, you hear. And it better not just be Henry and me. Lame.

A dreary day anywhere in Korea will always be better than a dreary day in Pittsburgh.

I don’t know what this is but Chooch was the one that pointed it has the same shape as the aforementioned tower cut out of it and then we were wondering if there is a certain vantage point where you can see the tower through the building perfectly but we were getting hungry and lost interest.

Then my favorite part of the day happened! Henry had us waiting for a bus that was apparently never going to come but we didn’t know it until after we spent 30 minutes waiting for it. I was so hungry during this that I made him cross the street (he fucking jaywalked like a straight-up Yinzer, I was so embarrassed) to get traditional Gyeongju snacks from a bakery.

They were good but I was still so hungry and now I was just turning into a little fucking bitch.

Out of focus because my eyes legit can’t tell anymore.

Anyway, it was after this that a young couple strode over and got under the little bus stop shelter with us. At first, it seemed like they weren’t paying attention to us but then I started to get the sense that they were possibly talking about us and I was on high alert because please please please don’t make fun of us, I know that Henry alone drags us down like 87 pegs on the Coolness Ladder without even opening his mouth but I promise that Chooch and I aren’t dumb Americans if you just give us a chaaaaaaance-uhhhhh.

Then, they approached.

“Excuse me, what bus are you waiting for?” the boy-one asked, so Henry was all, “Uh, um, mmmmmm…..numbers.” and Chooch was ready to step out into traffic, I think. Anyway, long story short, at first I thought that they were trying to ask us for help regarding which bus to catch and I was like, “Um….” but it turns out, they were concerned for us because we had AMERICAN STOOPS written all over and they were pretty certain we weren’t where we needed to be.

“So, that bus isn’t coming for 2 hours,” they said, and I wanted to fucking kill Henry but I couldn’t even verbally eviscerate him because I didn’t want this nice Korean couple who literally were so beautiful and sweet that I could have died, to think that I was a monster. So I held it in.

Anyway, once they were determined what we were trying to do, they were like, “You need to catch the bus that will come on that other street” and after thanking them PROFUSELY, we booked it down the street and back toward Gyeongju World where we JUST MADE IT to the bus. Like, I mean WE JUST MADE IT – the bus was pulling up to the stop just as we crossed the street. God bless those sweet kids!!!

I need to point out also that Gyeongju World is kind of out in the cut too, and there were NO PEDESTRIANS walking by us while we were at that bus stop until they randomly showed up, because it just wasn’t the type of area where people are out and about. So, we got really lucky that they were dropped in our laps by the spirit of Korea’s reigning king, Kwon Jiyong in this our year of the dragon 2024.

Sometimes, people can be really nice for no reason. Another moment of our trip that I will never forget!

OK, more Gyeongju Day 1 later.

Chooch refilling his T-Money card at our precious Seodaemun station whose 7-Eleven and self-service shop selling Levain cookies I miss with my whole heart. I love South Korea so much that even these little moments of mundanity have me half in the fetal position now that I’m back home. And I know, if I lived there, you want to tell me that the novelty would probably wear off and not be as fun and shiny BUT MAYBE NOT YOU DON’T KNOW.

This was the day our ring-making class was scheduled! It wasn’t until 10am but we still got a head-start just in case Henry got us lost – this happens often. Sorry, Henry stans – the man ain’t perfect.

Chooch loves it when I bark, “STAND BY THAT WALL” so I can take a picture. I would STAND BY THAT WALL too if Henry actually took acceptable photos of me.

I took this for Megan, who loves the Beatles like I love the Cure, but then I think I forgot to send it to her.

This was where made our rings! I wrote about this while we were still in Korea, so you can read that here if you missed it, assuming you want to. YOU DON’T HAVE TO. I will never know. Well, I kind of will because I can look at my stats BUT I WON’T KNOW IF IT WAS OR WASN’T YOU SPECIFICALLY, HAROLD.

Afterward, we walked toward the area of Hongdae we’re most familiar with now that it was later in the day and Chooch had a better chance of finding whatever airpod case he was on the hunt for.

It was a really pleasant walk! I love Hongdae so much. When we were there, I was kind of hoping that Chooch would pull a 180 and declare that he wants to go to college in Korea because I would not stop him.

MAYBE I COULD GO TO COLLEGE IN KOREA?!!?!? They say it’s “never too late” after all, lol.

There’s a whole new walking area called the Red Road which I don’t think was there in 2019 so that was fun to explore.

While we were in Hongdae, we decided to go to Plant for lunch – they have a new (to us) location in Yeonnam which is walkable from the part of Hongdae we were at, but I wanted coffee first. We started to get at each others’ throats around this point because we were starting to be hungry and it felt like we were just walking in circles but then!!!!

I looked to the right and saw this nestled in a corner!!!

Excuse me?? Honey do you have a license to look that adorable?!

“Well, I found a cafe,” I said, and Henry and Chooch were like, “fml.”

Everything about this place was extra. And we were the only ones there!

It was really set up like someone’s house if it was styled for a Delias catalogue shoot.

Ugh, I didn’t realize that I focused on my idiot husband person and not the cute punch card that I accepted even though it will probably be at least 4 years before we make it back and who knows if Judy Mary will even still be there what with the insane turnaround there.

Anyway, this place had a strong 90s Japanese vibe to it but I can’t find any info online to confirm its origins. I mean, even the puddings were very Japanese and there was a Japanese band in the 90s called Judy & Mary?! There must be a connection there somewhere?! All I know is that it didn’t give Korean vibes to me.

The bathroom was adorable too, natch!

My favorite .5 selfie that I always forget about!

I felt like I was dressed appropriately for Judy Mary though because TRUE STORY I bought the striped velour-ish shirt I was wearing that day at Penney’s junior department several years ago simply because it reminded me so much of Delias (and, to a lesser extent, Contempo Casuals).

Then our drinks and snacks arrived! The adorable barista pointed to one of the puddings and then showed us her phone which said, “On the house.” More reason to love Judy Mary! I don’t know if they always give something for service (that’s what “on the house” is called in Korea), or if it was just because we looked like we needed a hug in the form of extra sugar, but it was well-received!

Chooch and I both got these delightful orange lattes. We were instructed to “eat some of the cream first” and then “stir it all together.” I freaking loved it. You don’t see orange coffee / espresso combos very often so I lunged at this. Chooch did not like his AT ALL and ended up swapping for Henry’s IVL.

OMG I tried to buy one of those little pudding dishes but they were sold out :( Henry was being me, probably touching a finger to his lips and raising it up to god because those dishes were around $40 if I remember correctly. So instead, I settled for a coffee cup that was only 15,000 won, so something like $12 or $13?

Honestly, the 90s twee vibe was sending me. It felt like being inside a candy bracelet. You know, that feeling. That one.

I need a surveillance TV set up somewhere now. I think my old camcorder still works!

Anyway, we surfed out of there on a sugar rush and let the caffeine steer us toward Plant, where we would desperately devour some non-sweets.

To be continued, but until then here’s my cutie Judy Mary cup!

Henry liked it better when I was just buying magnets everywhere but somewhere along the way, I graduated to coffee cups. We do not have the room yet I can’t stop!