We made songpyeon in school last Monday while the children wore their traditional Korean dress, Hanbok’s they wear during Chuseok.
Since we didn’t have work Tuesday-Thursday because of Chuseok, Barry and I decided to visit Seoraksan National Park, the lonely planets number one pick in Korea. On Monday night, we boarded the bus and in 3 hours and 40 minutes were sitting in our nice cozy hostel in Seorak-dong.
On Tuesday, Barry and I woke up nice and early and headed to the park to begin a hike. We decided on a medium difficulty level hike and headed to Biryong Popko (waterfall). As we climbed slippery rocks for an hour, we came upon a beautiful waterfall that was breathtaking. When we arrived, there was only 1 man sitting peacefully on a rock. We sat and appreciated the beauty of our surroundings and then decided to trek back and find another hike that would again satisfy our yearning for the great outdoors.
While we were hiking back from Biryong Popko, the clouds opened up and rain came suddenly. Luckily, we were ¼ of the way to the parks visitor center but just enough time to become completely soaked from head to toe. We decided to hop on the bus and get back to our hostel and change our soaking wet clothes. Unfortunately, the rain did not let up the rest of the day. Therefore, we had to make the most of the day drinking and eating in our hostel.
The next day we woke to a bit of an overcast sky, but dry, so we were quite happy. We hopped on the bus and in 2 minutes were standing in front of a massive bronze Buddha statue.
After walking around this statue, we walked uphill a couple of more minutes and came upon a Sinheungsa, a Buddhist Temple. This temple is said to be one the oldest zen temple in the world. Since it was Chuseok, the temple was beyond packed, but it was fascinating being able to watch people as they prayed to Buddha.
Next, we went up in a cable car to Gwongeumseong. It took around a 6-minute ride to get to here:
And then another 15 minute walk to get to here:
This was my favorite spot in the park. It was beautiful; we were literally above the clouds.
After climbing some more, we decided to leave the park and indulge ourselves in some natural hot springs. We jumped in a cab and 5 minutes later were in a spa lounging in the hot tubs and sauna. This is a very common thing in Korea; it’s called a Jinjabong, basically a sauna that converts into an overnight accommodation. At this particular spot, there was a hot bath, a warm bath, a sauna and scrub stations. Other jinjabongs my friends have gone to have lavender baths, ginseng baths, etc. The thing about jinjabongs is they are separated by gender and you must be completely naked. As you can guess, I was stared at like no other. But, it was a nice way to relax after a long hike.
On Thursday we got up early again and decided to go into town to Sokcho. You know you are in a fishing town when…
(this little dish is called a squid sundae and is famous in Sokcho. It is a squid casing with chopped up noodles, tofu, spices, veggies and more seafood. Barry gave me 5,000 to try one, I would never do it again)
It was a nice place; I would probably become a skeleton due to the fact that the ONLY restaurants we could find were fish. We walked around for 2 hours and finally found a place across the bus station that would give me rice. Overall, it was a great little vacation and a break from work. It was great being able to see a little more of Korea and immerse ourselves even more in the culture.
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