Blogs from Gangwon-do, South Korea, Asia - page 12

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Seoraksan May 15th 2007

Seoraksan Hike, Day2Darrell 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 to run ... read more

The river we were following down the mountain

Hiking Seoraksan {Darrell}

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do May 14th 2007

Still smiling

TravellingTandem

Seoraksan Hike, Day1Darrell and Cathy We woke up in the middle of our beachside forest to the sound of fifty year-old women exercising next to us. It seems the ajummas here are far to tough! Within minutes we had packed our backpacks, found the public bathrooms to brush our teeth and caught a bus inland towards Seoraksan, Korea's biggest National Park. We got off the bus along the side of the road and walked the few minutes to the entrance to the hiking trails. As we reached the north entrance to the mountain trails, the friendly park ranger came out of his little booth to give us a fantastic trail map, and casually inform us that the trails are all closed. Apparently we had arrived on exactly the last day of the fire hazard (dry) season. ... read more

Sokcho {Cath}

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Sokcho May 13th 2007

Hello from the east

TravellingTandem

With the last 3 trips to the coast, we decided that this break should be one to the mountains. We settled on the beautiful Seoraksan in the North eastern corner of Korea. It seems that all our trips so far have been characterised by one dominant feature, be it missing busses ALL THE TIME, or being ON TIME absolutely perfectly for absolutely everything... this trip had the 'sense of humour failure'... and the 'well timed rain' characteristics! We headed off first thing in the morning on the EV shuttle into Seoul's outskirts. The first sense of humour failure moment happened with the discovery that while during the day the bus is a much faster means to get into Seoul center than the subway (and less crowded) making it first choice by far, a bus in ... read more

Snowboarding in Korea

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Dunnae January 22nd 2007

Me at Phoenix Park

Santandrea

Let me start off by saying this is a combination entry, the first time I went Snowboarding I forgot my camera, and our company had a “Ski/Work Shop” weekend. Well I finally did it, I went Snowboarding in Korea, and the first time was over New Years holiday, (Monday & Tuesday). I went with my boss, Scott, to a resort called Phoenix Park which is about 3 hours east of Seoul. The park had night skiing, so I snowboarded till 10:00pm Monday night. I must say it was not that bad, the snow was hard packed with some icy spots, and it was crowded but not what I was expecting. There were some differences compared to the ski resorts in the states. One big difference was the fact you can carry your snowboards while you sit ... read more

Broken Bridges

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Seoraksan December 10th 2006

Mangled Mound

Mel and Gareth

Still glowing from the joys of Mo’vember, we set out to conquer the tallest peak in north South Korea…Daecheongbong, in Seoraksan National Park. We made a noble attempt at this same peak early in November, but having expected an 8-hour round trip, we found out at the beginning of the hike that it was just 8-hours to the top (and 6 hours back down), which was simply not do-able in late autumn daylight hours. We had to give up 1 km from the top or risk dying on a mountain-side. While some of our photos may suggest that we’re hell-bent on meeting precisely this end, we’d like to reassure you all that we do it for the views, not for the glorious demise! So this time…(yes, further into the freezy months, we know), we decided to ... read more

Chuncheon

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon November 9th 2006

bigtrip06

We caught a bus from Sokcho to Chuncheon, a major city in Northern Korea. Ciaran managed to "mildly" upset the bus driver over where we put our bags but after a brief standoff we were on our way. Two and half hours later we arrived and found ourselves a dodgy motel shaped like a castle to stay in. The next day we spent most of the morning trying to find the major tourist attraction in the city - the lake which we eventually stumbled across.We visited the statue park beside the lake and a Korean war monument dedicated to Ethiopian Soldiers who died in the war. After that we wandered around but found very little to do. After a lot of walking we headed back and watched a movie in our dodgy motel. Next Stop Seoul ... read more

Seoraksan National Park

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Seoraksan August 14th 2006

Dizzying valley

Lexy925

This weekend, I went to Seoraksan National Park (in the northeast corner of South Korea) with about six other Fulbrighters for a day hike. We had a fabulous time. It was a beautiful place, and the hike was nice and relaxing. It started out with a very bumpy ride, though. We almost missed our 7:30AM bus out of Chuncheon, but fortunately we caught it right in time. However, we were stuck in the back of bus, and it was very bouncy and windy as we made our way through the mountains. So, needless to say, we had a case or two of motion sickness. We wondered if the journey would ever end. But it did, eventually. We transfered buses in a city called Sokcho, and once we got to the national park, it was smooth sailing. ... read more

Food, Friends, and Fun

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon August 6th 2006

Lexy925

I should be writing a speech for my Korean class right now (yes, I am at the point where I can write speeches-- crazy!), but instead I'm writing here. I had a pretty fun week this week, so I figured I'd update as I could. First of all, I had my final round of teaching at Camp Fulbright. I taught a low/low-intermediate level, and it was definitely tougher than the advanced kids. Still, I think it went well, and I'm looking forward to teaching again. In other news, two nights ago, Christina and I went out with our karaoke friends again. They invited us out to dinner (for a local specialty called dakkalbi-- a spicy chicken dish), and so we went on Friday. Afterwards, we got coffee and talked some more. It was really fun seeing ... read more

The Norae-bang (or Karaoke) and All That Jazz

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon July 30th 2006

Lexy925

So, I had my first experience at the norae-bang (karaoke) last night. It was very interesting-- and quite fun-- and goes along with an interesting story. Christina (my roommate) and I were sitting at dinner last night when two Korean girls sat at our table. There are plenty of Koreans in the dining hall at all meals, but usually our two camps (the Fulbrighters and the Koreans) don't converse-- largely due to language issues, obviously. Well, evidently, the two girls who sat down with us spoke English very well and were wondering what all these Americans were doing here. So, at dinner, we had a nice chat with them, and when it was done, one of them said, "We'd love to practice our English. Do you want to go to a norae-bang with us?" Well, Christina ... read more

Almost Officially a Teacher

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon July 29th 2006

A Kind of Swan Lake

Lexy925

This week was a rather eventful week. First, the university where I'm having orientation is currently hosting "Camp Fulbright," an English-intensive, two-week-long camp for Korean elementary to early high school students. So, although former ETAs are leading the bulk of the camp, we each get the chance to lead two classes-- including making lesson plans, etc. So, I taught a real class for the first time on Tuesday. My roommate and I actually co-taught it (we had that option for the first time we did it), and it went over really well! So, that was exciting! This biggest news of this week, however, is that I received my placement for the year. I will be teaching in Yeosu (pronounced Yaw-soo), a city of about 325,000 people on the south coast of Korea. I will be teaching ... read more

Brief history of South Korea

Korea was an independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, a...more history

Forum Topics for Gangwon-do

let's share your infrom...Posts: 1

Snowboarding near SeoulPosts: 4

How to get to Laos from...Posts: 2

Anyone wanna travel aro...Posts: 4

South KoreaPosts: 5

Staying in MokpoPosts: 3

Mud Festival in KoreaPosts: 1

importing AMERICA beefPosts: 3

GWANAK MOUNTAINS.Posts: 1

Finding A Job In South ...Posts: 3

Finding A Job In South ...Posts: 4