Blogs from Seoraksan, Gangwon-do, South Korea, Asia

Do something everyday that scares you. That’s the motto of my 18 year old daughter, Jessica. Luckily for me, as an American living in Asia, accomplishing that is no problem! There’s the little things, like riding a subway throughout a new city without being able to speak or read the language. Or perhaps it’s simply getting lost in the markets – again with no language skills. Then there’s the biggies. The ones you look back on and say, hmmm, now that was a little crazy, but now that I’ve done it, I feel like I can handle traveling the world. For me, that’s just a handful of things. Included in that list would be using a squatty potty – over troughs, mountains of s*#t, or open air behind a rock. Also included would be the art ... read more

As I write this blog my body has only just recovered from the trauma that was Seoraksan, and that was four days ago now… It’s autumn time in Korea and in the true, unique nature of Korean people; everyone pulls on their spandex, jumps on a bus and heads east from Seoul to Seoraksan National Park, home of the third largest mountain in South Korea. To say that the trail was crowded would be an understatement. To illustrate further my point we faced pre-sunrise traffic jams (on foot!) and were frequently bashed by the bandana clad, pole wielding Koreans who seemed to have left their usual friendly demeanours back in the city. We met up with the Seoul Hiking Group and local celebrity/ kook/ all round nice guy Warren at 11pm and drove the three hour ... read more

This past November, some friends and I took a bus from Seoul (서울) to Sokcho (속초시) to visit the famous Soraksan Nature reserve (설악산천연보호구역). At the time, many people had been visiting the park because it is said that the fall season is the most beautiful time to visit. The fall foliage was vibrant and striking with all sorts of colors - luscious red, luminous yellow, carrot orange and a mix of earthy greens and browns. The air was fresh and clean, a nice change from the smog of Seoul. The first thing we did was take a cable car up to the tallest mountain called Sorak Mountain. I am afraid of heights so it was a little terrifying for me to ride the cable car. But it was a neat experience because the scenery was ... read more

Beste mensen, Ik weet niet echt waar ik moet beginnen met wat er de afgelopen drie dagen is gebeurd, dus begin maar bij het begin. In de planning voor dit weekend stond een bezoek van 2 dagen aan Seoraksan park vanaf zaterdag tot zondagavond. We besloten echter om op vrijdag op stap te gaan en waren dus vet laat thuis en na 2 uur slaap bleek dat het misschien niet zo slim was om alsnog naar Seoraksan te gaan om te hiken. Er werd, tot mijn teleurstelling, besloten om de volgende dag te gaan, waardoor we eigenlijk maar 1 dag konden gaan. Ik vond dit zwaar klote want ik had deze trip voorgesteld en wist dat we zowiezo 4 uur moesten reizen om daar te komen, waardoor we eigenlijk maar 1 middag daar konden doorbrengen. Maar ... read more

Seoraksan Hike, Day2 Darrell and Cathy As is typical our our nights in the tent, we managed to get about 12 hours of sleep until at 7am we were woken by a sound something between a loud scratching and a bark from just outide the tent. As I slowly got my bearing and remembered we were high up in the mountains I realised how out of place the sound was. After banging on the side of the tent and shouting a few times, I unzipped the door in time to see a bear about 2/3 of my size running away. When he got about 30m away, he stopped, turned, let off a few more bark/growls and then headed back into the woods. Awesome. We had been told about the bears, but had not really expected ... read more