For my summer vacation, I took a solo trip to the northeast coast of Korea. I spent five days in the Gangwon province, and it was awesome. I've never traveled alone, and I'll be honest - it rocks! I loved it. I thought I might get lonely or bored or wish I had someone to talk to, but I didn't. I was gone for five days, so maybe if I was there longer I would have gotten sick of being alone.
(Side note: I'm in a PC room because I don't have Internet in my new apartment yet, so I can't post any pictures, but I will when I get Internet.)
On Friday, I kicked things off with a two hour bus trip to Seoul, then another two hour bus trip to the city of Sokcho in the upper northwest. I went to the information booth and got a map, then took the city bus to my hostel. I'll be honest - I felt like a genius for being able to read the map, bus schedule, and get off at the correct stop. It's the little things that count. I spent the rest of the day wandering around Sokcho. I visited the lighthouse observatory, the beach, and bought a small backpack for hiking. I went to a supermarket to get some apples, bananas, peanut butter and bread for the trip. Then I ate McDonald's for dinner like a real American.
The next day I woke up at about 9. Sokcho is right next to Seoraksan, the third highest mountain in Korea. I wanted to hike to the top of Seoraksan (Daecheongbong Peak), but it's really high, 1,708 feet. I knew it wasn't likely. I also made the mistake of going by the recommended route to the top... I should have read the map more closely and saw how insanely long the hike was. I thought the recommended route would be the easiest one, but in fact it's the one that takes you all over the park to see everything. I hiked up towards this cave where apparently some Buddhist monk used to live, and I have no idea how he got up there because they had to install stairs so people could even make it up. These stairs were intense, by the way. They were so steep I have to hold on to the railing with both hands in order to pull myself up them. I was devastated when I reached the cave because it's a dead end! I had to descend the stairs and then re-start my approach to the top.
The "trail" was just rocks. Sometimes they were so steep I had to use my hands to help myself climb. I made it to the cloud line after about three hours of hiking, and then I lost the trail. Seriously, it was so rocky that I honestly couldn't even find where the trail went! Also the view wasn't that great because I was in a cloud, so I decided it was time to turn around. The descent was pretty treacherous. Total time hiking was five hours, and I was really tired.
Actually, the worst part was that I hurt my back hiking. If you read this blog, you probably know that I hurt my back recently, and this was the same kind of pain. I got medicine from a pharmacy because I didn't want to cut my vacation short, and it got better. However, my left foot fell asleep the next day and at the time I'm writing this, it's still asleep. I need to get a Korean to go with me to the doctor because I don't think this is good.
The next day I hopped a bus to Gangneung, which is further down the coast. After dropping my stuff at a motel, I hopped the train to Jeongdongjin, a small town about fifteen minutes south. Back in the 90s, the South Korean military caught a North Korean submarine spying on the coast. Now they've created something called "Unification Park" in Jeongdongjin where they set up the sub on display. They've also got a South Korean warship you can go on.
After that I went back to Gangneung, which has a really nice beach and lake, and I rented a bike and cruised around for awhile.
The next day I took the bus to Samcheok. Again, I dropped my stuff off then took another bus to Hwanseongul, which is a huge limestone cave. Cue more hiking, sort of. Does everything have to be on a mountain? It was funny - when I was in the caves, these three Korean girls approached me. They were like, We saw you on the bus! We just wanted to say hi. They were 20 year old university students. It was hilarious; I felt like a celebrity. This is how the conversation went.
Them: Hello! Where are you from?
Me: America.
Them: Oooohhhh!! *squealing*
Me: I live near Chicago.
Them: OOOHHHH!! *more squealing*
Them: What do you do?
Me: I'm a teacher in Korea.
Them: AAAAHHHHHHHEEEEYYYYYEEAHHH!! *SQUEALING* We're studying to be teachers!
It was just too funny - everything I said was met with massive enthusiasm.
After the caves, I went back to Samcheok for the evening.
The next day I went to Haesindang Park in the tiny fishing village of Sinnam. Here's some funny folklore - I guess there are several versions, but the one in the Lonely Planet said that a girl drowned off the coast of Sinnam, and her restless spirit was affecting the fishermen's catches. One fisherman discovered if he relieved himself facing the ocean, her spirit was appeased. So Sinnam people decided to create a park full of penis sculptures facing the ocean! They used to have a penis sculpture contest until it got shut down by a Christian group apparently. The park was... something else, that's for sure.
I went home the same day. I had to get a bus from Sinnam to Samcheok, then Samcheok to Daejeon, then Daejeon to Buyeo. Because Samcheok is farther south than Sokcho, I figured the bus ride would be shorter. I was extremely wrong. For some ridiculous reason, we traveled north back to Gangneug, then meandered south-ish towards Seoul, then FINALLY to Daejeon. It took four hours!!! Then I still had to take a one and a half hour ride to Buyeo. At long last though, I made it back.
No comments:
Post a Comment