For the Buddha's Birthday and Children's Day long weekend (May 3-6), Team JMS decided we were in need of a vacation. Like a vacation together. We originally tried to plan a trip to Japan, but in February all the planes and ferries were sold out. Yes, in FEBRUARY. Koreans don't get many long weekends and in fact, this is the longest holiday they have in 2014. FOUR DAYS. That's it. So everyone books their vacations early.
As an alternative, we decided to stick around and tour a place we've both wanted to go, the seaside town of Sokcho and the nearby national park, Seoraksan. Seorak is probably the most famous mountain to hike in Korea after Hallasan (see Jeju post).
We had four days, two spent hiking in the park and two spent in Sokcho or on the beach. The weather was incredible. The most perfect spring weather one could ask for. A friend of mine recommended a pension with an ocean view that she'd stayed at before so we booked it and what a view it was! So nice to wake up to the sunrise blasting in the window. It was a very relaxing and refreshing trip.
Day 1 - Walking on the Beach
Saturday was spent walking along the beach, relaxing, and eating food. We even stopped by the heart tree on the pier for some photo ops.
View from our balcony
Day 2 - Hiking up to Geumganggul Cave (Biseondae course)
Our first day in the national park was super busy. We went in the late morning and it was packed. I'm talking circus or amusement park packed. We managed to get through the crowds and hike past Biseondae rock and up to Geumganggul Cave. Lots of stairs were involved in getting to the small cave in the rock face, but it was a very nice view.
Excited to be in Seoraksan National Park!
A beautiful stream The cave! Yes, it's on the side of a mountain face.
Inside the cave, looking out.
Day 3 - Tandem Biking Around Sokcho
On Monday, we rented a tandem bicycle and rode around town. It was nice to have the freedom to create our own itinerary. Armed with a local map of tourist attractions and things to do, we headed out to the Jungang Market for our first experience of a real Korean market. JM even got his first 'ajumma elbow'. We had to pick up a box of Sokcho's most famous fried chicken, called Dakgangjeong, for which we waited in line about 40 minutes! It was crazy popular.
Making chicken
Insane line up waiting for chicken.
Finally! It arrived.
Next, we headed out to Yeongnangho Lake, a quiet lagoon just north of town with a lovely path around it. We stopped at an archery experience and learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, then stopped at Bombawi, a rock that apparently looks like a crouching tiger. Here we ate our fried chicken for lunch with a beautiful view of the mountains and lake.
Our view for lunch. Notice the mountains!
Shadow play!
After eating, we headed back to Sokcho and passed the Seokbong Ceramic Museum. Even though it was closing soon, they let us come in and see all the beautiful art.
Finally, we returned our bike and grabbed some local tofu soup, sundubu, for dinner. All in all it was a fantastic day.
Day 4 - Our last day was also our departure day, so we had to be efficient with our time. Waking up to the most beautiful sunrise, team JMS headed out to Seoraksan park early (like 6:30am early). We wanted to get a head start on the Ulsanbawi trail. This is one of the most famous hiking trails and it was sure to get busy. That early in the morning, however, we only saw a few other people. It was really nice to have moments in the nature alone. The weather was chilly and windy, so the waygooks in shorts looked a little out of place, but we managed. The view from the top was worth it. You felt like you were on top of the world! In true Korean fashion, we had 4G at the top and decided to Skype some family members.
Heundeulbawi - the oddly placed rock that no one can push over.
Our first real view of Ulsanbawi - yup, we went all the way to the top!
View from the top. It was a beautiful day - you could see all the way to the ocean!
After returning to our pension, we showered and hit the beach for an hour before our bus ride home. Sokcho was a beautiful town that we highly recommend. It was probably the most perfect weekend we've ever had in Korea.
Today my mom and sister returned to Canada. They were in Korea for 3.5 weeks and boy, did they do a lot! We tried to take advantage of all the time we had. I'll attempt to recap.
The first weekend that they were here was spent in Cheonan. We played some ultimate frisbee with our Cheonan group and then went out for shabu shabu. Mom was struggling with the chopsticks, but surprisingly, she liked the kimchi! Sunday we headed out to Independence Hall for some history and scenic pictures.
Post ultimate smiles!
Post ultimate eats!
Independence Hall: Entrance and Korea Flags
The next week, they headed out to Seoraksan National Park to do some serious hiking and then to Seoul for shopping and a templestay experience. JM and I had some frisbee games that weekend, so we did not join them, but we all met up again after the weekend for our Chuseok break in Busan.
Templestay outfits!
Touring Gyeongbokgung Palace
After Chuseok, the four of us took an evening trip into Seoul to see the Nanta cooking experience. I had read some great reviews of the show online (it is Korea's longest running broadway show) and was excited to go to the theatre. Audience members are often pulled up on stage and lucky for us, we had aisle seats! So both Sarah and JM were called up. Sarah had to pull a barrel off some guy's butt and JM had to make mandu on stage as part of a competition. His team didn't win, but he was given a picture and a chef's hat as a souvenir. It was a great show - highly recommended for some amazing chopping skills and laughs!
Finally, our last trip was a long weekend in Jeju. Sarah and Mom took the ferry and I flew up after my last class. We rented a car that Sarah drove (!!) and it was by far the best decision we made. It was so convenient to have the freedom to travel when and where we wanted. We grabbed a tourist map and started circling places we wanted to hit. We planned out three days: east side, hiking Hallasan, and the west side. Jeju is an old volcanic island, Hallasan is a dormant volcano, so lots of sight seeing revolved around awesome lava rocks, formations, tubes, and cones. We stayed at the very cute Breakfast at Tiffany's B&B and our hosts were lovely people. Nice view from the rooms, log cabin style with the smell of pine. Very relaxing!
Jeju - Beautiful volcanic island
Day 1: Seongsan Ilchulbong, a tuff cone also called sunrise peak, has a great view of the ocean. By far the coolest part of the trip was the 1km long lava tube we walked through. A UNESCO world heritage site, this was such a unique geological wonder that all I could do was wish my grandfather was able to experience it with us.
View from the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong
Lots of stairs on the way back down
View of Jeju from the tuff cone
The entrance/exit of the lava tube. The ground caved in here, and that's how they found it!
Mom and Sarah walking through the tube
Melted rock
Day 2: Hiking Hallasan in the rain and sleet. Not as much fun as it sounds. Hallasan is the tallest mountain in Jeju, but sadly, we had no view at the top.
We made it to the top!
Day 3: The west side brought with it the amazing seashell museum/gallery (this was my favourite place), a hilarious waterfall (road drainage), a chocolate museum, and finally, the beach! A cute setting, where the beach was quite private and you had to climb down the escarpment to get to it.
The artist not only displayed seashells, but she created art out of coral, bronze, and seashells.
This was the most spectacular gallery I've ever been to.
Three little mermaids
The world's greatest waterfall [*cough - road drainage*]
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