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Today Thursday ocTober 21, 2010Today Thursday ocTober 21, 2010

Guiding lightmetimes, taking thead more travelled cana better way to go

abeth Lee in Koreaeth@mediacorp.com.sg

NFESSION:Ive never been a big fanurs.To me,the whole point of t ravellingexpand your horizons by striking

up conversations with strangers,gettinglost in new places and sampling the oddbits of food that dont resemble anythingyouve seen before.Whats the point inheading overseas if you do it surroundedby Singaporeans speaking Singlish,following a guide waving a little umbrella?

However,there are times when youdprobably want all that.Like, when yourevisiting Korea,for example.

Id not been there before,but

on a recent trip to the Land Of TheMorning Calm,I learned to appreciatethe familiarity of organised tours.Forone thing,Koreans,as I found out,speakmostly Korean.It shouldnt have come asmuch of a surprise,but it was.

Street signs,menus and hotelwebsites are mostly in Korean.WhileSeoul does a commendable job ofreaching out to travellers,with subwayssigns and announcements in English,afree on-call translation service and freeapps for Korean-challenged travellers,itsstill not the easiest country to exploreon your own.

Thankfully,there was Leo,my guideon this trip. He was the lens throughwhich Korea came into focus.

Touring the unexpectedHandily bilingual,Leo helped me decipherwhat was going on,and providedinteresting insights into Korean cultureand tradition.

And while tours do tend to stick tothe tried andtrue no tourto Paris forgoesthe Eiffel Towerand no packageto Egypt would

dare miss thePyramids sometimes atour can takeyou to places

youd normallynever be ableto get towithout thehelp of a guide.

On the tour I was on, we didntstop in Seoul,heading straight to Daeguinstead to explore the highlights of theGyeongsanbuk-do countryside.Theprovince is literally the fruit basket ofKorea and produces apples,peaches,persimmons and grapes,among othercrops.In spring,Im told, the plum andcherry blossoms put on quite a show.

Turning off the main Seoul-Busanhighway,we meandered down tiny lanes,before coming to a stop on the banks ofa little stream,where nestled among thepines was the last t hing Id have expected:The Skylake make-up factory.

Run by the hands-on and verychatty (if incomprehensible) Mi-Ja Seo,Skylake uses traditional Korean herbs tomanufacture organic make-up and beautyproducts.Tour groups get to don pinaforesand try their hand at making their owncosmetics.No better souvenir than oneyouve laboured to create yourself,I toldmyself,as I pounded the hell out of somepoor rose petals to make my own lip balm.

A toast to foreign KoreaEn route to the spectacular Bulguksa site,we stopped for lunch in Gyeongju city.Once known as Seorabeol,it was thecapital city of the ancient Silla kingdom.

At the Culinary School Of Korea inGyeongju,we sampled a nine-coursespread of typical Silla royal cuisine

featuring what was known as the ninerare tastes.Packed with interesting flavours and

unusual cooking methods pickledburdock or raw chestnut salad,anyone? the meal,like the city itself,was a uniqueexperience that you wont find listed inyour regular guide book.

he view from Skylake make-up factory,where visitors canmake their own cosmetics.

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We sampled a nine-coursespread o typical Silla royal

cuisine. Packed with interestingfavours and unusual cooking

methods, it was a uniqueexperience you wont nd listed

in your regular guide book.

SHE SAID

Salad withchestnutsand prawns

BurdockSalad

Cheongdo Persimmon Wine Company

pples from Gyeongsambuk-dopples from Gyeongsambuk-do

Photos:lisabeth eeand CCravel

Cheongdo Persimmon Wine Company

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After lunch, we toured the ancienttemple grounds which, along withSeokguram Grotta just 4km to the east,was added to the Unesco World Heritagelist in 1995. Considered a masterpieceof the golden age of Buddhist art duringthe Silla period, its home to seven of thenational treasures of South Korea.

In the same region lies the YangdongFolk Village, which attained Unesco World

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Heritage status this year. Filled withJoseon-dynasty era architecture that is stillinhabited by local villagers, its supremelywell-preserved and one of the largesthistorical folk villages in Korea.

Later on, once our bus negotiateddown a too-narrow country lane, scrapingup against the persimmon trees, we ar-rived at a winery with a twist: Housed in adisused railway tunnel, hundreds of casksof persimmon wine, a local delicacy, were

stacked in the cool darkness. There at theCheongdo Persimmon Wine Company,

visitors can sample the different wines. Asmall cafe also stocks cheeses and meatsas well, should you want to turn your visitinto a picnic.

As I savoured a glass of the semi-drywine, I silently raised a toast to tour pack-ages and tour guides, even the ones wav-ing dinky umbrellas. Because when it cameto getting to know a country as foreign asKorea, they sure made it a lot easier.

This trip was made possible by CTC Travel andthe Gyeongsangbuk-do provincial government.

Getting thereDaegu is a great base to explorGyeongsambuk-do, with many destinations listed here less thahours drive or bus ride away. AKoreas fourth largest city, it is connected to the rest of the coFrom Seoul, domestic ights froairport or KTX bullet train (tw34,900 won) from Seoul Statioyou with Daegu.

CTC Travel runs tours to Kincluding an eight-day Korean DTrail and an eight-day Best Of KJeju. For tour enquiries and bocall CTC Travel at 6536 3995 oenquiry@ctc.com.sg. Watch outdiscounts of up to $400 for pacfrom $1,388 per person.

Where to stayIn Daegu, you wont do better tmodern, comfortable and centrTaegu Grand Hotel (www.taegugLog on to the Korea Tourism Owebsite (www.visitkorea.or.kr) foof options.

Bulguksa temple Yangdong Folk villageBulguksa temple Yangdong Folk village Culinary School Of KoreaCulinary School Of Korea