There are essential variations in South Korea, such as traveling by car rather than bus or education. First is the ability to forestall willy-nilly anywhere your choice, and it’s miles your responsibility to pay for gasoline and toll costs. Because gas charges in South Korea are charged using the liter (a quart), we were invited on a street trip to Gyeongju in Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Gyeongju is well-known for its artifacts, ruins, and relics from the Shilla Dynasty, which lasted from fifty-seven BC to 935 AD. In addition to the Shilla Dynasty, the encompassing mountains and valleys contain a plethora of antiquity. The Gyeongju National Parks have hundreds of hiking trails, Buddhist carvings, shrines, stone pagodas, and temples. Significant points of interest to study are the massive green mounds housing tombs rolling across the cityscape called tumuli.
Starting from Paju city in the northwestern corner of South Korea, the drive might take five and a half hours to get to Gyeongju on one gas tank. Our departing time is 5 a.m., traveling down dual carriageway 23 into the outskirts of Seoul connecting to the highway a hundred. Highway 100 loops the entire metropolis and connects several tollbooths, charging 1,000 won to enter each section.
Once at the toll road, we might pressure until it met up with Parkway 1, paying any other toll of 1,000 gained and continuing our adventure south. Two hours and fifteen minutes later, we pulled off at a roadside rest stop to use the restroom, clutching a cup of java and some snacks and replenishing the automobile. Ninety-two 000 gained later, we pulled back onto the throughway, continuing the journey south.
As the sun rose over the horizon line, the auto zigged via the agricultural geographical region, zagging lower back throughout the small mountain towns. An ever-stagnant farmland landscape with plows, rice machinery, and farm homes piling up at the edge of the limited-access highway. A scene of poverty and wealth stretched as far as the eye could see.
Just three hours later, we reached the outskirts of Gyeongju, pausing on the tollbooth decorated with traditional Shilla Dynasty roofing to pay the ticket price of 15,900 received. The purpose of the toll fee turned out to be larger than the preceding ones, which turned into the distance covered among tollbooths. After an afternoon and a half of visitors, sports masking Anapji Pond, Bulguk-a temple, the Gyeongju National Museum, a hike on Namsan Mountain to Chilbulam hermitage, visiting Seokguram Grotto, and a walk-thru Tumuli Park to get a glimpse of the ways east’s oldest observatory: Cheonmachong.
We repacked the automobile, bought gasoline, liquids, and snacks, drove out of the Gyeongju tollgate and returned onto Parkway One, heading north into the Sunday afternoon sunshine. Our selection to leave earlier in the day changed to skip visitors in Seoul later that night. There are two reasons for visitors on a Sunday night: an automobile accident or congestion. We observed visitors who were shy of Suwon city, an hour south of Seoul.
Our motive force was hoping for a twist of fate: no longer congestion because congestion can last up to 24 hours. While explaining this, we became aware of the numerous tow vehicles on the brink of the throughway. We were informed they had been looking ahead to automobile accidents to free exorbitant costs and make off like thieves. Thankfully, our go-back ride became unimpeded, and the rest of our adventure lowered back to the geographical region of Paju-si.
