Sokcho - vol 2

Today was all about Seoraksan National Park and hiking. We got up early to ensure we spend as much time in the mountains as possible.

It was really easy to get there. There is a bus stop (just outside the Intercity Bus Terminal) where we caught bus number 7-1 heading straight to the Seoraksan entrance. We had to pay for the entry, but it was worth every penny!

Firstly, we made our way to the Gwongeunseong Fortress. The access is very easy - you have to take the cable car. I'm not sure this area is in fact accessible in any other way, making cable car nice and easy option. Once we reached the top, it was only around 20min hike each way. The views were spectacular! The hike was quite steep at times, but again worth a little bit of sweat!

Next was the Heundeulbawi Rock. It was around 2.8km hike each way, the route isn't that difficult however is laid down with stone stairs which makes quite a challenge for your knees going up and down. The Heundeulbawi Rock sits on a cliff, which people can daringly rock back and forth - however you need a lot of energy, muscle power and probably a group of people to make it move even so slightly. Easy to figure out that my attempts were fruitless! Once you arrive at Heundeulbawi, there is the Gyejoam Temple, a small, simple, but beautiful temple in the mountains. You can hear monks chanting, which makes the place so much more peaceful and rewarding.

There are plenty of outher routes one could take, however we both agreed that we would like to make use of the amazing hot springs that Sokcho has to offer. We left the Seoraksan National Park and made our way to the Cheoksan SPA.

When I say SPA it's easy to imagine 5star location with eveything one can wish for. However Asian SPAs or so called Jjimbjilbang (public bath house) are nothing of that kind. Jjimbjilbang usually have at least 3 massive baths. We had to shower throughly before entering and only then could enjoy the benefits of the hot spings. Cheoksan Jjimbjilbang had exactly 3 baths, 38 degrees, 42,5 degrees and a bath full of freezing cold water. We could also enjoy benefits of the sauna on side, which was a great addition. I forgot to mention that to enter such baths one has to be completely naked. So nude we went in and for this obvious reason no photos attached ;) 

Special segment: Cute or 'cutto'

Koreans (whether they deny it or not) have at least this one thing in common with Japanese - they love cute stuff! Be it a massive teddy (called Brown, the character from Line messaging app), little fox sculpture or drawings of cartoon characters on the walls. Anything cute will make it in Korea!!

Sokcho - vol 1

First day in Sokcho. Our original plan was to climb Seoraksan Mountain today and enjoy hot springs tomorrow, however due to the weather we had to adjust our plans slightly. Instead we spent the day on getting lost around Sokcho and seeing as much as possible. 

We started with Yeonggeumjeong Pavillion overlooking the East Sea. It was very windy making the waves so high and beautiful. There was something extremely soothing in looking at the waves hitting the shore. We lost the track of time and spent over half an hour there. We leaned over the Pavillion and gasped at the sight of these waves. When we left towards the Lighthouse, I could feel the taste of salt on my lips!

There was nothing special about the Lighthouse that would particularly stand out. Like every lighthouse it was based on the hill guiding ships to the port. It was very windy at the top making it difficult to enjoy the view.

From there we made it to the Abai Village for lunch. This is a village formed by the refugees of Korean War who have left their homes in North Korea and settled in Sokcho. At the moment more than 60% of the villagers are from North Korea. Abai means a grandfather in North Korean dialect and therefore the name of this village. One of the delicacies of Abai Village is Squid Sundae and Abai Sundae - neither of these can be tasted anywhere else in Korea. We were tempted by the Squid Sundae - stuffed squid with various vegetables and sweet rice, cooked and then fried with egg. It was delicious!

Next stop was Sokcho beach, were we spent majority of the day. It was really relaxing and as we had some time to spare, we wanted this day to be as enjoyable and easy-going as possible. We had a pint at the beach, Klaudia reviewed her crazy photographic nature by deleting all the triple photos and making space on the memory card for tomorrow, while I spent the afternoon collection the seashells. How blissful!

Seoraksan - we're coming tomorrow!

Jeju Island - vol 2

Klaudia had a plan to climb the Hallasan Mountain in the Hallasan National Park - the biggest mountain exactly in the centre of Jeju! However, after reading about the level of difficulty on the Seongoabak Hiking Trail, she decided against it and joined me see the East of the Island instead.

We boarded the bus and headed to Seongsan Illchulbong Peak, or Sunrise Peak. Two hours later (yes, the bus took two hours), we arrived at the destination. The Peak is an archetypal tuff cone formed by hydrovolcanic eruptions around 5000 years ago. And yes, you can climb it! It is a thirty minute walk to the summit; a steep set of steps leads up to a 182m high viewing platform at the top. Unfortunately it is not possible to hike around the rim, but the views are amazing nevertheless. Seongsan town and Udo Island are visible below and the topography of the surrounding area (hard to judge from ground level) reveals itself. It is a truly stunning place!

It is a port area with a lot of harbours, which made Seongsan a perfect place for lunch - fresh fish, grilled fish, seafood, everything we wanted. Again in a truly Korean style our dishes arrived with complementary sides and took the whole table. Oh, what a feast it was!

 

The next stop was Hamdeak Beach - finally the weather was nice enough for us to enjoy some rest. The emerald blue water, fine sand, sun and us. Couldn't get much better!

Finally when we got to our hostel, we spent the evening heavily drinking soju. I'll only say that we paid for it the next morning and regretted the heavy night! Who would have guessed that soju can give such bad hangovers! Fortunately we spent the next day traveling, which made it slightly more bearable;)

Next stop Sokcho!

Jeju Island - vol 1

Getting to Jeju Island was a challenge. At first, it wasn't even on our tour! However Klaudia insisted we came to Jeju due to its natural beauty. Next challenge was buying tickets: we tried several times back in UK to buy tickets on either Busan Air or Air Asiana website with no success. Everytime we got to the payment page, it just stopped working! Officially we gave up and decided to wing it while in South Korea. Not sure what it was back in UK, but we bought tickets without any problems here! Surely we paid double for late booking and the plane was delayed, but we managed to arrive on Jeju Island - finally!

First impression was a shock. For some odd reason, we were both convinced that the Island will be small enough for us to walk around it! It proved contrary, in fact Jeju is so big that the only means of communication are cars or buses! All the picturesque places are scattered around the Island which makes it even more difficult to see everything in short amount of time. I can clearly say (after only one day on Jeju) that one needs at least a week to enjoy the Island and its beauty!

With the plane being delayed, we arrived quite late. After finding our hostel, seeing advice on what's best to see and having a quick bite to eat, we left sightseeing only around 3pm! Itv was recommended to us that we go to the Seogwipo city first to see amazing waterfalls - Jeongbang & Cheonjiyeon. The bus journey took around an hour, which again we didn't account for!

Nevertheless, waterfalls were really nice and worth the journey. Jeongbang Waterfall was slightly better than Cheonjiyeong, so if one has time for one of them Jeongbang should be the one. 

Next stop on the way was the Yakcheonsa Temple. I know - how many temples can one see, right? However there was something special about that one. Maybe  because it was already late and dark outside, which added to its beauty? Truth be told, it was massive - much bigger than the ones I've seen so far! Not sure it would have the same effect, should we have visited during a daytime, but oh how mesmerising it was!

That was it for the day. We headed back to the hostel (got lost on the way & ended up at the airport, why not?!) and it's finally time for bed! 

Busan - vol 3

This morning, we were exhausted. We allowed ourselves a sneaky sleep in and left sightseeing only around noon.

First stop was Beomeosa Temple, the head temple of Jogye Order in Korean Buddhism. Built on the slopes of Geumjeongsan Mountain, it offers truly stunning scenery. Finally I found a temple that in looks and feel matches those in Japan! It was quite spiritual to walk on the temple grounds - from the entrance gate through the praying halls all the way to the Beomeosa Temple itself. What added to its beauty were monks that waked amongst us. One monk even bowed when he saw us! Although the temple is located quite far from the centre of Busan it's definitely worth few extra minutes on the tube, as views and overall feeling will leave one speechless!

After satisfying our spirits we headed toward Jagalchi Market to satisfy our stomachs! Jagalchi Market is the biggest fish market in Korea. Crude but affectionate in its own way. It has the vitality unique only to a fish market and things to see, eat and buy are harmonised. It was such an amazing experience to walk through miles and miles of fish stalls! Our appetites were growing and we finished with a plate of sashimi. The owner had tanks with fish, showed us which one he would be preparing, picked it up, killed and gutted the fish in front of us! Could it get any more fresh?! Simply amazing and divine! To die for!

With full stomachs we headed for the Lotte Department. Not to do any shopping but to get all the way up to the Sky Garden to enjoy the panoramic view of Busan. 13 floor was definitely high and I started to feel slightly uncomfortable, especially as it was rather windy and you could actually feel the building moving! Still worth it, as the view is definitely the best one can get in Busan. Free of charge of course!

Thank you Busan, you've been great! Time to fly to Jeju tomorrow!

Busan - vol 2

We started the day with the Eulsukdo Sculpture Park. If you google this place, great images of sculptures come up. And so many of them too, it looks like there are hundreds of sculptures around. Tempted by these images, we made our way to the Eulsukdo Island. It took us good amount of time and a few helpful Koreans to actually find the place. The maps they give you at the infornation centre aren't that precise and you have to use your special orientation (or help from others) quite a lot! When we finally reached the Sculpture Park, we were rather disappointed. Don't get me wrong, what we saw there was great with an enormous level of detail (like the facial hair, etc.), but there were maximum of 10 sculptures! I'm not sure if one can call something a sculpture park if there are only a few sculptures there! At least we saw it and know that's not a place we would necessarily recommend to other visitors!

 

Our next stop was Gamcheon Culture Village. The village is called the Machu Picchu of South Korea. It is a colourful maze of terraced housing that trace back to the period after the Korean War. The village was formed accordingly to the geographical characteristics of the region that is in a unique stair like format. The housing complexes are built so that they don't block adjacent housings. It has a high cultural value to Koreans as this is where history meets modern art and lifestyle. It is definitely a must see when in Busan!

And some modern touch to the village:

After good three hours of walking around Gancheon Culture Village it was time for dinner - and oh how delicious it was! More about it in a special segment on food that is currently in production ;)

At night, we headed towards Gwangalli Beach for its spectacular view of the so called Diamond Bridge (Gwangandaegyo Bridge). It was great to watch the view and relax. We even bought Korean vodka (soju) to help us do just that! Also, quite surprising it is drinkable and in all honesty quite nice! I could get used to it, that's for sure (although not sure it would even replace the Kraken!).

Relaxing was going a little bit too good, cause we missed our last tube home! We were faced with taking the taxi to our hotel. Of course we were worried that it would be horrendously expensive, while in fact we paid less than £5 in total! South Korea is a great place!

Busan - vol 1

We arrived in Busan this morning. The very first thing we saw was a massive banner - Busan, the city of Tomorrow! Our eyes started to spark with hope for more English conversations and much better understanding - especially with directions, buses and food ordering (finger pointing and hoping for something moderate in spices got too risky!). Busan hasn't disappointed yet.

The lady at the information centre - check. Hotel reception - check. Restaurants - check. Surely not everyone is fluent or comfortable in communicating wth us, but it's much better than so far!

Our decision on what to sightsee was mostly affected by the weather. The threat of upcoming rains, made us decide to see the Haeundae district and Haeundae Beach first of all. My friend really wanted to swim in the see and got all ready for what was meant to be 'a representative tourist attraction in Korea'. Instead we found beach like any other, with ridiculously overpriced sunbeds/deckchairs. The sea water was rather cold with majority of people wearing wetsuits rather than swimsuits! But we did spot a few really good looking guys;)

The beach left a lot ti be wished for, but the Dongbaek Park and Dongbaek Island  quickly made up for it! The view from the Island was magnificent. We could see across the bay and even spot few islands in the far distance of the sea! The walk around the Dongbaek was really peaceful and relaxing - we noticed that if there is one thing, we will really remember from South Korea is in fact it's peacefulness! It's not the first time we walked somewhere and it was so chilled and relaxing. Definitely a great country to take time out (we're to see if we say the same after Seoul)!

View from the Dongbaek Park and Island:

We started to get peckish and decided to stop for a quick bite in the local market. We walked through stalls with fresh fresh fish, especially eel, getting slightly more hungry every step in the way. Eventually I've settled for fish tempura - probably bit the most Korean food out there, but how nice and extremly cheap! For four pieces of tempura (octopus, prawn, vegetables and something I still don't know what it was) I paid W2000 that is £1,20! 

Next thing in the list was the Moontan Road and Dalmaji-gil Road, a beautiful walk in the moonlight and a famous driving course. Both selected as one of the eight magnificent views of Korea since old times!

Moontan Road was rather disappointing if not scary! Still not sure if we took the right turn, but we ended up in the think forest with hardly any lamps or lights on the way. If time allows we will try ti return there and find out if it really was the Moontan Road really is the path we took, but for now I would recommend going there during a day rather than night!

Dalmaji-gil Road in the other side was great! We haven't walkes the entire 5km, but views on the way were amazing. 

Busan is definitely a city that starts living after dark. It was buzzing by night with so many people on the streets, majoity staying till late at night. The amount of restaurants left us shocked! We couldn't decide where to eat - we walked good half an hour around and everything looked appealing and full of people. It's definitely a place to be by night!

At the end if a day, we were exhausted - it seemed like we didn't see that much, but in fact we spent over 9hr outside the hostel, constantly on our feet! We finished the day with a local Hite beer in bed and by the time we realised we were fast asleep!