The Adventure Around Korea

Now, for the ‘slightly’ more elaborate version of everything:

The Summer Program at Yonsei ended with no great blow out blast. It was a very quick closing graduation with no grand pomp. It felt a little strange afterward as everyone was leaving, crying and saying there good-byes but Chikae, Kana and I knew we would stay together for another week or so. We ate our last meal with Maki and Joey at our regular restaurant and said good-byes. Afterwards we went back to the dorms and all rushed to pack everything up because the next day was the start of our big adventure.

The next day I put some of my stuff in a friend’s apartment on what could have been the hottest day in Korea. I then met up with Chikae at the bus station and we headed to our first destination, starting our nine day adventure around Korea, Gangneung. We arrived late at night so it was good thing we made reservations at a resort about twenty miles away from the town. The resort operates mainly as a ski resort so the prices were reduced yet it was still amazingly nice and the service great. It definitely was the nicest place that we stayed during our trip. Kana unfortunately could not come with us initially because she was feeling ill and wanted to stay in Seoul to get better.

After a pleasant nights rest Chikae and I boarded a bus and headed to a national park in a city about three hours away. However we quickly found out that buses never follow schedule and always take a good hour longer than they should. So we finally (after about two bus transfers) we arrived at the park. Our first major sight seeing adventure was a hike into the mountains to see some waterfalls. The hike was not strenuous and when we reached the top we were greeted with the sight of a 30 ft waterfall and a cool pool of water perfect for weary feet. We wanted to spend more time but needed to meet Kana and start the long bus journey so we headed back to the resort in the early evening.

Kana came in the late evening and our trio was complete. We headed out the next day towards the middle of Korea to the town where our next hostel/boarding was located. But before we got there we stopped in a town famous for its saunas, and the sauna experience is one that I will not easily forget. This being my first time in the saunas I was not exactly sure what I was getting myself into. It pretty much was a massive pool where about fifty some older naked Korean men sat sweating. Okay, in all fairness it was not bad as it sounds but it definitely was a shock to see the casualness of the naked bodies moving around (I thought Korea was suppose to be a conservative country). The water was certainly hot and nice for a while and thankfully they had a cool bath once it became too much. I was also amazed at the number of other things they had in sauna which included, a wood sauna, a haircut/shaving palor, a sleeping room, a wash/shower room, and a service bar. It felt like a hotel lobby at sometimes, just one where no one wears any clothes.

After the sauna we headed towards the youth hostel which was located in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly it was quite nice with a large room, a computer with internet in the room, and a nice woman who opened her closed restaurant to give us a free dinner. We were very impressed and thought the place didn’t really seem like a youth hostel except for the “out in the middle of no where” location.

We all were feeling a bit lazy after the constant traveling so we got a late start to the day, finally boarding another bus to a town called Dangyang. Right outside of the town there are some famous limestone caves that we explored. It felt a little creepy knowing you were stuck in a mountain and the cave path was definitely made by Koreans for Koreas as fat Americans would never make it through the narrow passage ways. The caves were quite beautiful and inside the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees so it was a relief from the Korean heat and humidity. After the caves we went around the town and saw two of the eight wonders of Dangyang. One was a pagoda on an island in a river and the other was a natural stone bridge. Even though we wanted to see the other six we had to rush back to catch the next bus back to our hostel.

We left our cosy hostel and also left Kana as she was beginning to feel bad again. She took a bus back to Seoul while Chikae and I traveled down to Busan and where we had made reservations at a hotel borderline motel. However, before we went to the hotel we checked out a much sketchier motel. The owner was very insistent that we stay and I had to take my bags away from him before he started carrying them up to the room. After seeing the rooms with the dangling light we knew it was best just to stay at the better hotel.

Busan is an interesting city with a definite different feel from Seoul. The subways are efficient yet often give off this ominous feeling as they are frequently are empty. The city also can be a mismosh of brandnames and Korean family stores. Still the people were quite amiable and when we said we were Americans would instantly fall in love with us helping us find whatever we needed. Case in point we were trying to find a restaurant that the guidebook said was owned by a former North Korean, yet when we arrived at the supposed location it was no where in sight. We asked a convenience store clerk and before we knew it all the other customers (a total of three) had come over and were trying to help out. Eventually some one said that the place had closed but they could take us to a different restaurant and we were led to a very nice place where we ate kalbi.

In Busan we visited an amazing temple up in the mountains. The views from the temple of the sky, mountains and nature were beautiful, as the temple buildings conveniently covered the Busan skyline. The temple was also full of monks walking and doing their daily business. I guess from the pamphlet the temple allowed you to do a temple stay for two or three days and live like the monks do (which requires a 3 am wake up call). The temples were also beautiful but no pictures were permitted inside. After the temple Chikae and I split up. I ended up going to this outdoor concert, part of the Busan International Sea Festival. The music and stage performance was, for lack of a better word very Korean. They had the female vocalist who sang her sad melancholic love song and then an upbeat Korean pop song; the male vocalist sang the happy go lucky pop song and the American song; and the fireworks going off over the stage. The banal show was enhanced however by the sea which provided a very nice backdrop for the concert.

On our last day in Busan I went to the beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean, or more specifically the East Sea (or the Sea of Japan). The water was freezing but still the Koreans were out in mass. After a short time I was shivering and wondering how in the world the Koreans can swim in their intertube floats for hours on end. It wasn’t the best day for the beach either because there was a constant light drizzle. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel and Chikae and I went out to check out the Busan nightlife, but ended up just chatting at a bar til the early morning. It was nice way to end the adventure around Korea. The next day we took a bus back to Seoul, which amazingly only took four some hours when the bus to Busan (which left from a location closer to Busan) took the same amount of time. Um…it is getting late so here I think I am going to end the post and continue updating about my adventures in Seoul at a later date.