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

We took the subway from Seoul all the way out to Chuncheon. It is great that the Seoul subway system is so extensive and cheap, but it was a long journey. The subway was packed so it was standing room only. I ended up standing the whole way, for an hour and a half. It was nice looking out of the window watching the city turn into countryside. At Namchuncheon Station there was a coach waiting for us. It was nice to finally sit down. We drove through Chuncheon to Uiam Lake. The drive didn't take too long. We sat near the lake and took in the views. It was a glorious day, sunny but with a nice breeze to stop it getting too hot. Since we were a very big group we had to split ... read more

Today it's Friday - and that makes me happy - as it means the weekend is upon us baby. And this weekend we have a long weekend as it's memorial day on Monday. I'm sitting at my desk right now indulging in rice "That's why I put on weight" cakes from Korea. GOD they are delicious. Here's the good and the bad news of it - the good is that my allergies have COMPLETELY gone away as eveey desssert here is literarlly made up of only rice and sugar (goodbye butter/milk etc!) but the bad news is well it's rice...RICE all the time! However, I am not here to write to you and grumble, so I'll move on as I put the fifth piece of rice cake into my gob! First things first, I'll start with ... read more

Annyong! I'VE TOUCHED DOWN IN SOUTH KOREA BABY! So, I arrived at my EPIK orientation in Daejeon after 16 hours of travelling! That night, I met my awesome roomy Cateline (a lovely Irish girl) , and she took me out on the town (this is another big city a couple of hours out of Seoul) where I met heaps of expats. And got so many emails! ha, gotta make friends somehow. BUT anywho, onwards and upwards, got taken to my apartment last night. And can I just say WOW! This lovely Korean lady Young - my co-teacher - who I'll be teaching with...said it was as big as her apartment (that houses her famiy of 4!) but my god , she wasn't wrong! I'm talking THREE BEDROOMS, a big living area, two balconies....overlooking Chencheon city...very nice! ... read more

Chuseok is a famous Korean Holiday not too unlike Thanksgiving in America. Thanksgiving is one of my all time favorite holidays, and I find myself increasingly sadder knowing I won’t be home to celebrate it this year. While we hope to plan a comparable substitution among friends here in Korea, it’s difficult to match up to the food, booze, and family fun that go hand in hand with Thanksgiving at home in New Hampshire. However, I am sure I can somehow find a way of enjoying myself blacking out at my friends apartment after too much Soju almost as much as I do with Wild Turkey Whiskey back home. Chuseok, though nothing at all like Thanksgiving the way we celebrated it, was an amazing 5 day break from classes and I think it is safe ... read more

Gangcheon is a small place outside of Chuncheon City. There isn't a great deal to do here but its not far to get to it and you can hike or rent an ATV/bike/scooter and drive around like the locals do. How to get there: From Chuncheon: Bus: take a bus from Chuncheon city centre: 3, 5, 50, 50-1 Cost: 1000 won Journey Time: about 30 mins Train: take the Seoul bound train one stop to Gangcheon station Cost: 2,500 won Journey Time: 20 minutes From Seoul: Train: take the Namchuncheon train get of at Gangcheon stn. Cost: 4,000won approx Journey Time: 1hr 45 mins We went by train because we were unsure what local buses from Chuncheon went there. Once we arrived and realized there were three buses that stop outside my front door we were ... read more