After a rather wet afternoon exploring Southern Higashiyama I headed towards the city center to find the guest house I would be staying in that night. To be perfectly honest I don’t usually like hostels but this particular place got excellent reviews and considering how expensive hotels are in Japan it seemed like a good option.
Last week I took an impromptu but much-needed holiday to South Korea. While I hadn’t expected to return to Korea this year the time and price were right so I decided to go for it and took a midnight flight from Hong Kong to Seoul arriving 5am in driving rain. Not the best start perhaps but from there on in things went decidedly uphill…
After a busy couple of days in Seoul I took a train south to the historic city of Gyeongju on Tuesday. Arriving early afternoon the skies looked particularly ominous and sure enough it began to rain just as I arrived at the guest house which would be my home the night. Whilst the weather wasn’t up to much the guest house was pleasantly surprising – consisting of a cluster of traditional style buildings around a central courtyard Sa Rang Chae is extremely cheap (£10-15 per night) and has a very laid-back atmosphere. The rooms are also of a traditional style with thin walls, paper backed doors, and blankets to sleep on (not for those with bad backs!). There are also self-catering facilities so that…