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!

Everland and Bon Voyage Seoul!

Today was our last day in Seoul.  We got up early and caught a bus to Everland Amusement Park so Paul could ride a few more roller coasters, including T-Express, which is considered one of the best wooden roller coasters in the world. The bus left from Gangnam, an upscale neighborhood south of the Han river. It looks a lot like Midtown Manhattan.

It was an interesting bus ride to the park, out in the far Seoul suburbs.  Unlike American suburbs, everyone here seems to live in high-rise buildings that parallel the major public transportation routes. No sea of single-family houses and asphalt-laden strip malls. 

There were a billion kids at Everland. Apparently, kids in Korea get field trips to Everland for fun. Lucky! David said hello to one girl in a line and she freaked out, shouted something in Korean about an English speaking man and ran back to her friends and hid. Boys were a bit more inquisitive, which gave David a chance to work on his Korean. While at Everland, we also sampled the local theme park cuisine. I wouldn't recommend octopus on a stick or bulgogi in a bun.  Maybe some peanut butter squid, though?

T-Express at Everland

Merry Christmas (or the Korean equivalent)

Hmm...

After the 45 minute bus ride back to Seoul, we packed up our stuff and took a taxi to the East Seoul Bus Station to start the next leg of our trip.  After buying our tickets for Sokcho, and looking like confused white people in a sea of Koreans, someone that worked for the station walked up and asked us where we were going.  We showed him our tickets and he bolted off with them waving for us to follow.  We obliged and made it to our bus, right as it was pulling out of the station.  Phew!

Delicious food options at the rest stop on the way to Sokcho

After arriving in Sokcho, in the northeast corner of South Korea, we met our hostel owner and he gave us a helpful rundown of the area.  There is far less English here than in Seoul, so David's rudimentary Korean will be put to the test, while Paul obliviously enjoys the Hanguel dancing circles and squares.  Tomorrow we're planning to head out to Seoraksan National Park for a day of hiking.  We're looking forward to a more relaxed pace for a few days.

P.S. - There are a lot of mosquitoes in Korea, even in autumn.  Who knew? *scratch* *scratch*

밥 먹었어요? (Have You Had Your Rice Today?)

For our last full day in Seoul, we started off at the UNESCO site Changdeokgung, another of Seoul's palaces.  When we got off the subway at the station, we noticed an odd smell.  It smelled JUST like Thanksgiving stuffing!  So, of course, we had to track down the smell.  It turns out it was coming from a French bakery in the subway station.  They baked some bread with onion, rosemary, and sage.  And, of course, we stopped and ate some and borrowed some wifi.

Mmmm...smells like Thanksgiving

After that little taste of goodness we joined our tour at Changdeokgung. It was a really impressive palace, and of course crammed with Korean children on school field trips and large tour groups from China. A highlight was the tour of the huge "secret garden," which was the king's private strolling grounds. More fall colors abounded.

View of the mountains over Changdeokgung

Throne room at Changdeokgung

In the secret garden at Changdeokgung

After Changdeokgung, Paul decided to make the trip back to Lotte World to ride the two coasters that had been previously closed.  While there, David explored the attached 12 story Lotte Department Store.  Lotte is a really common brand name in Korea.  They make everything from drinks to malls and even run a fast food chain called Lotteria, where David got the bulgogi beef burger for lunch!  Within 10 seconds of placing his order he was handed the tray, straw pre-inserted into his beverage.  Paul got some sweet potato maht-tang (honey glazed sweet potato pieces) after he finished at Lotte World.

Lotteria - Bulgogi Beef Burger "In-joy"

After Lotte World we went to see the tombs of some Joseon kings at Samreung Park followed by a trip to the Buddhist temple at Bongeunsa in the Gangnam neighborhood.  Gangnam is very modern and full of skyscrapers, which made the contrast with the temple all the more delightful.

Tomb at Samreung Park

Smaller temple at Bongeunsa

For another entry in a series of delicious dinners cooked in front of us, we went with Megan to the hopping Sinchon neighborhood. It's surrounded by Universities, and therefore has lots of bars and cheap restaurants. We had some fantastic Dalkgalbi (chicken, cabbage, and japchae noodles cooked at your table) and then stopped in at a bar down the street for Dongdongju (sweet rice liquor).

Gotta wear bibs so the dalkgalbi doesn't splatter on you!

Dongdongju

Seoul - Temples and Palaces

Today we spent the day at a few temples, a palace and a hanok (traditional old house) village  in Seoul.  The weather started off cloudy but by mid afternoon there were some peaks of sunshine and the fall colors are out in force!

First stop, Joyesa Temple near Insadong.  It's an active temple famous for Zen Buddhism. This is David's first Buddhist Temple and it was pretty impressive for him.  The colors are so bright and the Buddhas are giant.  It's really interesting to see all the people going through prostrations as they pray, just don't forget to take off your shoes!

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Buddha

Jogyesa Temple

From Jogyesa, we went up to Gyeongbokgung, an old Joseon period palace (one of a total of 5 palaces in Seoul) just through Gwanghwamun Gate.  The gate itself serves as a popular image for the city of Seoul, with the city's mascot, Haechi, often depicted with Gwanghwamun.

Gwanghwamun Gate, in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung Grounds

Gyeongbokgung Grounds

Gyeongbokgung Pagoda, with bonus monk

From Gyeongbokgung we made our way to Jongmyo Shrine to check out this Confucian UNESCO heritage site.  Jongmyo requires you to join a tour to enter and visit the grounds with a guide.  The Shrine was built for the worship of Joseon Kings after they died.  There are two main areas, each with a room set up for a King.  The living King was required to visit Jongmyo 5 times a year (once per season and on the lunar new year) to offer up food to the former ancestor kings.

Jongmyo Shrine

Jongmyo Shrine - Ceremonial Rooms

We took a stroll through Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an area full of historic houses. Seoul used to be full of these traditional one-story dwellings. By this point our feet were killing us (too much walking!) so we sat and had some coffee and tea before heading back to Megan's place on the subway.

Random kid fell asleep holding flowers

Next on our plate (ha!) was a delicious dinner of Suwon galbitang, which are beef ribs with a special marinade that are grilled at your table. Suwon is a city just south of Seoul that is famous for this particular type of beef.

Suwon kalbi!

Even though we were dead-tired at this point, we decided to go check out Dongdaemun gate. This gate used to be a part of Seoul's city wall., which is now mostly gone. From the gate we strolled along Chonggyeocheon Stream again, to see the lantern festival at night. The lanterns were beautiful. Also, there may or may not have been a giant peacock lantern  with flapping wings that shot flames from its mouth.  Apparently, the phrase "tone it down" doesn't translate into Korean.

Seoul Lantern Festival

Seoul Lantern Festival

Rainy Sunday in Seoul

Today started off rainy and a bit chilly, so we decided to visit the National Museum of Korea.  This place is monolithic and filled with historical artifacts dating back to the neolithic period.  The museum is very well laid out and there were lots of teachers accompanying adorable groups of  small children. We stopped for some coffee and OJ in one of the museum's cafes, which was filled with groups of chatting ladies. We were the only men in the place! Paul took advantage of the cafe's Wifi to check in on the Notre Dame game.

The National Museum of Korea

From here, we took the subway up to Namdaemun (South Gate) Market to look for souvenirs and find some lunch.  There are tons of street vendors and little shops to explore in Seoul's markets. 

Namdaemun Market

Next we walked on to Deoksugung, which is an old Joseon period palace.  The grounds are very well maintained and the fall colors really shine through in this area.  Koreans especially love coming here to take pictures of themselves with huge super expensive cameras.  You couldn't walk 5 feet without being in someone's sights and ruining a picture.  Koreans seem to be pretty hardcore about everything they decide they want to do.  Be it old ladies hiking in enough gear to survive the Himalayas, to young photography aficionados buying cameras with big enough lenses to clearly photograph the craters of the moon.  Koreans love overkill!

Next we walked over to Cheonggyeocheon, which is one of the most amazing urban spaces on earth. Seoul used to be bisected by a huge elevated highway. From 2003 to 2005 the government tore down the traffic-choked highway and unearthed Cheonggyeo stream, creating a vibrant 8km long series of pathways, bridges, and public art. We happened to go during the annual Seoul Lantern Festival, so the stream was lined with elaborate lanterns illustrating the history of Korea. Hopefully we can make it back here at night time to see the lanterns lit up.

Popular Cheonggyecheon stream

Seoul Lantern Festival

After strolling for a while down the stream, we visited Tapgol Park and had beer, soju, and some tteokbokki (chewy tube-shaped rice cakes in chili sauce) in Insadong, which is another popular shopping neighborhood.  David was proud of himself for having his first successful Korean language exchange.  Answering questions from our waiter about where he was from and explaining his lack of proficiency in Korean.

Paul enjoying Tteokbokki in Insadong

 
We had a delicious dinner with Megan in Apgujeong, an upscale shopping district south of the river. This time it was Korean BBQ - succulent pieces of pork and beef that we grilled over hot coals at our table.

Finally, we took the train to Lotte World, an indoor/outdoor amusement park. Unfortunately, the outdoor roller coasters were closed because it was too late at night. Paul might have to try to get back there later this week to ride Atlantis Adventure, one of the top ranked steel coasters on earth.

한국 안녕하세요! (Hello Korea!)

After 14 hours in a plane we arrived in Korea at 4:30am on  Saturday.  Incheon airport is super nice and modern.  We were able to blow through customs and immigration and caught a 5:30 am express train to Seoul Station, which was full of middle aged Koreans in full hiking gear. Apparently hiking is a national past-time in Korea, and everyone suits up for the occasion. From there it was a few minute subway ride to Ichon Station where Paul's friend Megan lives in a nearby highrise.

David in Inchon Station - not very busy so early on a Saturday morning!

So what should we do just hours after landing in South Korea? Why, head straight to communist North Korea, of course! Before we left the US we scheduled a tour led by the USO of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ serves as a 4km buffer between North and South Korea.  Think barbed wire, active mine fields, and palpable tension. The tour lasted from 9am until about 4:30 pm and was pretty interesting.  Our tour guide was a spunky Korean college student nicknamed Bok Choy. We visited the 3rd infiltration tunnel, the Dorasan Observatory, the Dora train station and the Joint Security Area (JSA) where the Koreas will occasionally meet up to talk.  The 3rd infiltration tunnel is 75m underground and the North Koreans dug it as a route of invasion. Our journey through the cramped tunnel was occasionally punctuated by loud clanking thuds as the taller tourists hit their hard hats on the granite ceiling. At the JSA you can actually cross into North Korean territory in a conference room that straddles the border. So yes, we technically went to North Korea!

North Korean soldier looking at us with binoculars.

South Korean soldier, technically standing in North Korea.

This is the concrete line that marks the border - North Korea on the left, South Korea on the right.

The lighter side of the DMZ.

After the tour, we made our way back to Seoul.  We walked back to Megan's apartment through the Yongsan Electronics Market and the iPark mall.  Later that night, we went out to dinner in Myeongdong.  Taxis are super cheap in Seoul!  It was about a 15-20 minute ride but only cost  around $6.  We ate at a Taiwanese dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung.  It was delicious!

Mmm... dumplings

Shopping area in Myeongdong.

The weather on our first day was phenomenal. It was supposed to be a bit warmer than normal but rainy. Instead, it was sunny and 76 degrees, which is actually a record high for Seoul for November! Perfect T-shirt and jeans weather.