Sokcho (속초) - City between the Mountains and the Sea

This morning we took a 20 minute bus ride from our hostel in Sokcho to Seoraksan National Park for a day of hiking. It was a nice change of pace from the modern hustle and bustle of Seoul.

Sokcho's adorable Engrish-loving mascot

Noted! I hope we don't run into any Gulumi up in the mountains....also, what is a Gulumi?!

We decided to make the trek up to Ulsanbawi, which is a giant rock formation. It's only a few miles from the park entrance, but it's mostly uphill and the trail culminates in a metal staircase with over 800 steps straight up the rock face. The views were beautiful, but our legs felt like acorn jelly (a gelatinous Korean dish that has no taste) for a while!

Welcome to Seoraksan! It was embarrassing to ask for this picture.

Buddha near the entrance

Shinheungsa Temple in Seoraksan National Park

The mascots are still adorable even when warning of imminent death... and there were lots of ways to die here...

Buddhas near the Heundeulbawi Rock

They forgot to mention there were about a million stone steps before the 800 metal steps

So many steps!

At the top of Ulsanbawi...we made it!

Ulsanbawi has an interesting creation myth. God wanted to create the most beautiful scenery on earth and called in all the mountain peaks to Mt. Geumgangsan in North Korea to appraise them. Ulsanbawi (litterally a rock from Ulsan, South Korea) belatedly heard the news and hurried to Mt. Geumgangsan, but couldn't arrive in time. Ulsanbawi was embarrassed to go back home so he looked around to see where would be a good place to settle. He slept one night at Seoraksan, and thought it was a beautiful place, so he settled there, creating the rock face that we can all see today.

Seoraksan Park had mostly Korean and some Chinese tourists. We haven't seen many westerners in Sokcho, and only one American (from Tennessee!). We did have a nice chat with two hikers from Hong Kong, and the young tourists from Seoul that are staying in our hotel are all very friendly.  In general, the people we've met in Sokcho have been either very friendly and interested in talking with us, or very indifferent.  We've only gotten the stink eye from a few older Koreans.  (외국사람).

For a late lunch we had some yummy samgyetang (chicken and ginseng soup) and wang mandu (giant dumplings), then we walked along the beach and took the "gaetbae" boat, which is a cable-pulled platform across a small channel on Cheongchoho Lake. A relaxing low-key evening is in order to help restore our legs to normal (다리 아파요)!

Samgyetang

Oh, that's a Gulumi!  Cute!