South Korea

Little did I know about South Korea, when I first got there last Septmeber. In fact, probably nothing except for its ongoing conflict with the northern neighbours and then they hosted a soccer worldcup recently. Of all the East-Asian countries, South Korea had never really appealed to me as a holiday destination. Thus I was quite excited to find out more about the country. Which turns out to be not that easy at all. Although Korea has become more and more “westernised” in the recent years it still has a very traditional and rather conservative base. Which might be the reason why hardly anyone speaks English. So unless you’ve picked up some Korean it is very tough to ask for anything. That said, Korea is actually home to more than 45 thousand foreign English teachers – I guess that in a few years this will change the language situation quite a bit.

Koreans

The language barrier obviously makes it very hard to get in contact with actual Koreans. So what you see when you go to a bar or pub are conglomerates of Western people and very rarely you’ll find an equally mixed group.
Which is a pity because in general (younger) Koreans come across as very friendly and interested in making contact with foreigners. At the same time though I always found older persons to be a little harsh. But usually helpful and willing.

Eating and drinking

I complained in an earlier post that Korean food is mainly about Kimchi and everything tastes similar. Well, six months later I can still second this but I’ve also come across quite a few edible things that are actually really good, even for my spoiled European sense of taste. Amongst my favourites are Dak Galbi and all sorts of Korean BBQ, which you prepare yourself on a gas stove or charcoal grill in the middle of the table.
Ordering food in a western restaurant can lead to rather unexpected results: the Bruschetta you get at the Italian around the corner might be topped with icing sugar, and the cappucino usually comes with cinnamon on it rather than chocolate powder.
When it comes to alcoholic drinks there’s no way around a shot (or a few) of the infamous Soju. It’s basically the Kimchi of drinks and Koreans celebrate their Soju whenever they can. One night at a BBQ this random Korean guy came up to our table and insisted in several shots with our group, taking photos and having is well underaged kids sitting at his table. Soju usually means a night of great fun but it is also to be held responsible for a lot of staggering and some of the worst hang-overs …

Getting around

The larger cities in Korea offer a very well developed subway system, but quite often a cab is the easiest way to get to where you want. They are very cheap and there are plenty. Drivers tend to be a little crazy and don’t expect them to speak English or understand your attempts to pronounce a Korean word properly – try to get your destination written down in Korean and you’re on the safe side.
For traveling between cities there is an extensive Intercity and Express bus system, again very cheap and the buses are comfortable. City buses exist, too, but I haven’t been able to find a single schedule or route map in English and the only time I took a city bus ended in getting lost …

Cities

Being the capital of Korea and home to a quarter of the Korean population, Seoul obviously offers a huge variety of things to do and see. Shopping, eating, drinking, sight-seeing – it is huge. I myself only went there a few times for some shopping and to Namsan tower.
Busan on the southcoast is the second largest city and seems worth an extended stay. It has famous beaches and a large temple complex.
Cheongju is where I lived for half a year. It has defintely grown on me, mostly as a result of the great time I had with all the lovely people I became friends with. I’ve written about Cheongju in a few earlier posts.

My favourite places

I have to admit that I’m still not sure whether I’d call Korea a beautiful country or not. Quite often it looks very dirty and rundown, but I have definitely found a few amazing spots, some of which rank among the nicest places I’ve ever been to:

• Seoraksan National Park: A spectacular mountain range with nice hiking and great views. I went there in autumn an can only recommend this time of the year. Read my post
• Guin-Sa Temple complex: Maybe rather impressive than beautiful, but worth a trip if there’s time. Read my post
• Hwayanggugok: A river in Songnisan National Park near Cheongju which is a great place to enjoy a hot sunny day. Read my post
• Seungbong-Do: An Island about two hours off Incheon. Deserted beaches and only a few people make for a great weekend trip to relax and sun bath. Read my post

Still not tired of reading? Here’s a list of all Korea related posts.

Click image to open a Google map

On weekends it seems wise to be there early enough as heaps of Koreans and also quite a few Western guys were lining up to get tickets to one of the many islands.
On the way we passed under the impressively huge Incheon bridge which connects the city of Incheon with Yeongjong Island. The previously separate Yongyu, Sammok, and Sinbul Islands were joined to Yeongjong Island solely for the construction of Incheon International Airport.

Incheon bridge disappearing in thick morning haze

Most passangers on board had their fishing gear ready and many of them got off at Jawol-Do. When we finally reached Seungbong-Do we were quite dissapointed to learn that there was no boat on a Friday that could take us to Sa Seungbong-Do.

Seungbong Do (green) and Sa Seungbong-Do (red)

The small ticket office wasn’t occupied yet but luckily we found a very helpful Korean who spoke pretty good English. He offered us a ride to the other side of the Island to a beach.

The beach that he took us to was pretty much deserted and we were wondering where all those people from the ferry had disappeared. It didn’t really bother us at all as it would make wild camping a lot easier.

The deserted main beach

Most of the day was spent lying in the sun and exploring the coastline. Later we set up the tent and walked to the little town to get some food. There’s a small conveniance store and a few seafood restaurants to choose from.

Yes, I am eating FSIH!

Koreans and their food! The pork that we ordered turned out to be some kind of stew with several whole fish in it! Some of them looked quite scary even in death but they actually tasted rather good …
After this fishy experience it was time to head back to our tent where we collected firewood and had some crackers and a bottle of cheap wine. Looking across the water we could see how some fires were lit on Sa Seungbong-Do which made us wonder how THEY had gotten to the island – probably by knowing Korean.

Click image to view some more pictures in the gallery

Meanwhile two Koreans had decided to pitch their tent right next to ours – they obviously didn’t like to be by themselves given the size of the beach … but luckily they were busy with night fishing and most likely drinking soju.
With the help of our new Korean friend we tried to change our return tickets to stay another day and make it to Sa Seungbong-Do but all the ferries were fully booked already. Instead we headed to Seoul and visited Gyeongbok Palace. You can find some photos in the Gallery

Cherry Tree Road

Incoming!

Picturesque parking spot

Most of the road is lined with cherry trees

On my first trip to Myeongam Valley there were beautiful cherry trees alongside the carpark at the park entrance:

Cherry blossoms at Myeongam valley

Beautiful girls in a beautiful tree

Cherry blossoms against a perfect sky

And more cherry blossoms

In Danyang they had illuminated the trees at night:

Danyang is famous for its limestone caves and the area offers a few nice spots that easily keep you entertained for a weekend. It was actually the second attempt to get there, already back in February I had tried to get there, together with Leah and Natasha. But we somehow managed to underestimate the travel time and ended up arriving just in time to catch the last bus back. This time however we had a rental car which made the trip a whole lot easier. The GPS guided us past my work and my former home Chungju through Woraksan National Park where we stopped to enjoy the view across Chungju Lake and take some photos.

Soon after we reached Danyang decided to visit the nearby Guinsa temple complex first. We only got lost once although a few times it seemed that the GPS wasn’t quite sure what to tell us and where to go:

But we eventually arrived at the temple and it is actually quite impressive. More than 35 buildings are nested into a narrow valley and appearently they can house more than 10’000 monks at a time!

Around Danyang there are eight rock formations called the “Eight scenic wonders of Danyang”. Each of the sites has their own old legend behind it that tells a story of old times.

With all the sight seeing we had totally forgotten the time and hence it was already mid afternoon when we rushed back to Danyang to grab some yummy beef BBQ. After this rather late lunch we crossed the river one more time to get to Gosudonggul (Gosu Cave), the largest of several limestone caves in the area. It was freezing inside and water was driping down on us constantly. Sometimes it was quite tough to squeeze past huge stalctites and stalagmites, following the narrow metal foot path deep into the mountain. Although the experience got a little spoilt by the Korean guard who wanted to get home and made us hurry up and get out of the cave, it was still a very impressive excursion.

When we left the darkness of the cave it was just about time to look for a place to view the sunset; an observatory high up on a hill above Danyang seemed to serve this purpose perfectly. When we reached the summit it turned out to be a popular spot as there were quite a few Koreans with the same intention. But there’s enough space up there and the view was amazing, with the hazy air making for a very unique scenery around Danyang.

While we were on the way back down the winding road, one by one the lights came on and illuminated the city far below us. We stopped a few times to take more photos before driving back to Cheongju.

Ulsanbawi

I woke up two hours late since I had forgotten to activate my alarm and when I left the motel around 11am there were people everywhere. It seemed that half of the Korean population had decided to visit Seoraksan that day. The path up to Ulsan Rock is steep and rocky and mostly narrow. Combine this with masses of tourists and you hace perfect conditions for another Korean experience: as kind and forthcoming they may be in interaction with friends or business partners, as stubborn and oblivious they are in traffic. A push here, a kick there, and giving way doens’t exist in this country. Surprising that I made it to the top of the 808 stairs that take you to the very top – but it was for sure worth it. The view across the valley and other summits of the park was simply breath-taking.

Geumganggul

There was still enough time left to visit another recommended place which is a cave in the middle of a granite face high above the valley. This time it wasn’t as busy as before because most people were already on their way down. It wasn’t less steep though and I almost turned around before reaching the cave. Maybe I should have since the view from up there was nothing compared to before and I can still feel my legs from the many steps and stones. I arrived at the motel quite exhausted and was happy that I had brought some left over chicken soup. Without any cash left on me I wasn’t even able to buy dinner.

Gwon-Geunseong

Without any cash or food I decided to take the bus back down to Sokcho where I wanted to stay one more night at the Good Morning Hotel right next to the beach. There’s also a 24h Family Mart that offers an ATM which takes foreign credit cards. Looking back at the park however I felt like missing out on something and changed my plan again. Back in Seorak-Dong I noticed the huge difference between weekend and weekdays. I felt almost lonesome when I walked towards the cable car that would bring me up to the remainders of the Gwon-Geun Fortress. Not much reamains of it but the summit offers another amazing view this time from the opposite direction. I think I spent almost two hours up there, relaxing in the sun.

Sokcho

Apparently it is the most popular city of the east coast in South Korea. On this Monday afternoon it was rather quiet and I spent the rst of the day walking thorugh down town and along the harbour back to the hotel where I’m sitting right now typing these words while in the background a hippo is munching on a crocodile?! Not kidding, it’s National Geographics channel. But in Korean unfortunately, I would have loved to hear the commentary!

Stopover in Gangneung

10 o’clock, arrival in Gangneung, sunshine, I’m still awake – why not take a little detour and visit some historical places? Said and done, I dropped off my luggage right inside a fish shop and boarded bus 202 as I had been told by the tourist information. Only no-one told me that I had to pay attention to the direction of the bus and I ended up nowhere near the historical site but rather at the beach. No worries, hadn’t seen the sea in a while anyway. The sandy beach was deserted although the weather was definitely beach worthy. But I had been told that Koreans are somehow special with that. The also tend to put barbwire fence all along the shore to keep foreign (i.e. North Korean) spies off. And while lights in the water are supposed to attract shrimps, the coast is illuminated making it easier to spot intruders.
Eventually I decided to take a cab to Ojukheon Residence where I originally had planned to go to and spent some time there wandering between Kimchi pots and temples, “chatting” to little kids that kept following me around for quite some time. Taking another bus I returned to the terminal and continued my journey up north towards Sokcho.