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.
I just wanted to apologize for the lack of communication. After the death of my grandfather and the grueling first semester teaching at University, I did not have the energy to blog much. There are a few posts that were drafted, but never published. I spent the winter holidays in India on a personal journey, sans JM, in search of inner peace because losing my grandfather and being unable to go home to say goodbye rocked my world (and not in the good way). Now that I am back from India, I will slowly be updating the blog.
Thanks for your patience and your continued support. Team JMS loves to hear from you and know that you are keeping up with us.
Oh lovely vacation. How you have afforded me so many opportunities to travel! Most recently, I jetted off to Thailand with my colleague Christine. We spent 11 nights and days in paradise.
We flew into Phuket and mostly stayed on the main island. The first two nights were spent in Patong, the Sin City of Phuket. This was not our favourite place. It was crowded, smelly, and very touristy (which it turns out, is all of Phuket). We saw a disturbing ping pong show, where strippers pull various items (read: ping pong balls, string, razors, fish, turtles, and birds) or shoot various items (like darts) out of their lady parts. It was scary. We soon came to realise that the sex trade in Thailand is so in your face, it cannot be avoided. Our hotel in Patong, the Sea Blue Guesthouse, was up to par, and even included a jacuzzi tub on the balcony! I took full advantage of this on our second night.
Crowds on Patong's main street
Strippers in plain view from the street
Jacuzzi on the balcony!
View from the balcony in Patong
We soon left in a tuk tuk (open air Thai taxi) for Karon and Kata beaches. These were our favourite places. Karon had a huge beach with lots of sand space for lounging by the ocean. Kata had an adorable, (albeit, expensive) little town center with cute shops and restaurants. We first stayed 3 nights at the Pachumas Mansion in Karon which was a little far from the beach, but super quiet. The restaurant across the street, the Elephant Cafe, had amazing sweet and sour chicken and pineapple rice. We ate here a few times. After we came back to Karon, we stayed closer to the beach at The Little Mermaid hotel and were a bit disappointed because our "city-view" room faced a club with bass pounding until 3am. Karon had some lovely markets where we bought lots of souvenirs (my apartment is now furnished with Thai accessories), ate well, and even experienced a Thai massage. One day we hiked up to the Big Buddha, which overlooked Karon and Kata beaches. It was a very hot 2 hour hike up, but the view was nice from the top.
Tuk Tuk ride!
Video from our Tuk Tuk ride
Panoramic of Karon Beach
Umbrellas on Karon Beach. Notice the Buddha statue at the top of the mountain.
That's where we hiked to.
Sunset on Kata Beach
Lunch at the Elephant Cafe!
Hiking up to the Big Buddha, ocean view
Panoramic of the view at the Big Buddha
Between nights in Karon we traveled to Phuket Town, where there was a more artistic and cultural feel. We used this place as a base for some day trips to James Bond Island and Ko Phi Phi. They did have some unique architecture!
Phuket Town at night
Colonial architecture in Phuket Town
James Bond Island was the location of filming for the 1974 Bond film Man with the Golden Gun. Yes, almost 40 years later they are still milking this fact for tourism. Our day trip included stops at the bridge that connects Phuket with the mainland, Monkey Cave, the Floating Village for lunch, James Bond Island, and canoeing around another island. We took a long boat with about 20 other people. It was very relaxing being on the water for a day, and the scenery was especially gorgeous. The rock formations in Thailand are unlike any other.
Our hilarious tour bus rules. No smoking, no lions, no alcohol, no chain saws, DVDs ok, sexy time, ok!
The largest laying down Buddha (maybe in the world?) in Monkey Cave.
Christine posing in the cave.
Indiana Jones!
Praying for fertility
On the long boat, headed to James Bond Island
Floating village where we had lunch
James Bond Island!
Crazy rock on JBI
Kayaking around some of the eroded islands
Long boat
The Ko Phi Phi trip had 3 stops: Khai Island, Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh, and Phi Phi Don. The crowds of tourists in Thailand are a little overwhelming, so I decided to swim/snorkel around Khai Island just to get away from all the people. This was a great decision because I found some cool caves on the other side and I got to see some fish. The coral in Thailand is dying and apparently the Similan Islands are the best place to go - but we were a little far away from there. We also snorkeled at Maya Bay, a sheltered bay among enormous rock walls where they filmed the movie The Beach. Christine is afraid of fish, but she did well and we even got some underwater pictures with her camera!
Maya Bay - The scene from The Beach!
Beautiful!
Fishies!
Time flew by in Thailand. While I wouldn't recommend going to Phuket if you want a quiet, relaxing vacation, apparently there are many other places in Thailand that are more beautiful and less touristy. That's my kind of holiday! Hopefully JM and I will make it back there to do some snorkeling in the Similans. At least I came back with a killer tan. :)
Missing you all from Korea,
Jennika
Ps. I must give credit to Christine for the majority of these pictures. Her camera was not only better, but she is a great picture taker!
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
