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Friday 11th June –Shimonoseki – Busan We both slept very well in our bunks as we were tired and it was nice to sleep in a ‘proper’ bed as opposed to the hard floor in our Japanese hostels. I could quite easily stay in bed but a ‘western’ breakfast waits in the dining room. The breakfast was okay, we had one slice of bacon, two sausages, salad, coffee, croissants and a boiled egg, not quite the fry up pictured on the menu, but still the best breakfast in a while.
The ferry docked at 830am and we disembarked quickly, then went through customs and immigration, we are now officially in Korea! There was a money exchange in the ferry terminal, I could change the Y15000 we had left for Korean won KW154000, which was critical as neither of our cards would work in the overseas ATM at the terminal.
A short walk to the nearest subway station, already two Koreans have been helpful with directions (we didn’t even ask), then a few problems arose with the subway ticket machine but we were able to work it out. We had about 16 stops on the subway, Koreans don’t stare
like the Chinese but they get in your personal space a bit, a lot of the elderly are almost bent in half, something we have not seen before in such numbers. We got off at our stop, Myeongnyun-dong for once, found our hotel within the first five minutes. Our hotel is called Miseong-jang Inn and cost W25, 000 ($31) what a relief after the expense of Japan. Our room looks like it belongs in a 1970’s porn movie, with a circular pink bed with mirrors and red lights, but it is cheap, so who cares?
After dumping our bags, we collected all the items we want to post home and headed back to the subway to Jungang-dong (where we originally got on) to visit the Central Post Office. The subway cost W700-800 ($1) depending on the distance. On the way to the PO, we passed a bank but again our cards didn’t work. Tony has never had any trouble with his card, so it’s a bit of a concern. We found the PO and tried their ATM’s but again no luck, I had Yen left over, otherwise we would have been totally screwed. We packed our parcels for postage
home and paid the W16000 ($20) charge to send each box surface mail which should lighten our backpacks a little. We then set off to find an ATM that accepted our cards, the bank around the corner from the Post Office worked perfectly for both of us, such a relief, we had never had this trouble before, not even in China.
Then it was time to go to the UN Memorial Cemetery, a memorial to all the soldiers killed in the Korean War. We caught the 134 bus to the cemetery, it the journey took over half an hour but eventually we arrived. The cemetery was beautifully maintained but you could feel the sadness hovering over the place (there was a G H Overy buried there but we were unable to find his grave as you weren’t allowed to walk on the grass). It was now late afternoon, too late to go to the temple as intended, so we decided to go to Nampo-dong to watch a movie and have dinner. Neither of us could face the 134 bus again, so we walked about 20 minute to the nearest subway station.
We got off at the wrong stop
and had to ask where we were, people try to help even though they don’t fully understand what it is we are looking for, Korea so far is quite difficult to get around, there is very little written in English. We finally found the correct stop but again set off in the wrong direction, through an underground shopping arcade. Finally, someone pointed us in the right direction and we had to retrace our steps. We found the cinema in a bustling street filled with street vendors, teenagers and fast food restaurants.
We bought tickets for “Troy” which started in about 10 minutes and were told the cinema was down the street from the box office, we raced there and up three flights of stairs making it with time to spare. We had allocated seats but as the cinema only had about 15 people in it, we sat where we liked, until a Korean woman tapped us on the shoulder and made us move because we were in “her” sea, what did it matter, for God’s sake? We moved anyway to keep the peace and settled in for two and a half hours of English escapism. We enjoyed the movie
then went to get dinner at a pizza restaurant that had spare tables. The pizza was a bit expensive W15,500 ($19) but good and we had a decent feed before catching the subway home, we were both feeling a bit weary.
Saturday 12th June –Busan We had the best intentions of getting up early this morning, but it just didn’t happen. We finally left our hotel about 1030am (by the way, when we got home last night about 930pm, there were all these ‘girlie’ cards stuck on the front step, we think this place doubles a s a brothel or offers prostitute services, the cards were gone in the morning). We caught the subway to Beomosa and then wandered around looking for the No.90 bus that takes you to the temple. We found it by walking up the road right off the subway exit. The bus cost W700 (-90c) and dropped us off at the entrance to the temple, the bus was full of Koreans in their hiking gear, expensive boots, vests, backpacks, hiking sticks and all the women had big sun visors on that hid half their face, we had a good laugh at them, they all
took themselves so seriously.
The temple cost W1000 to get in and was pretty average, although the location was very beautiful, the temple looked like it needed a good coat of paint but then we happened upon a section that was very well maintained, we got chased away by a Buddhist monk, which didn’t please Tony at all. After a few photographs we caught the 90 bus again, we had heard that the Beomosa Temple was right next to the Geumjeongsanseong Fortress, so we got off about three stops down the hill where some other hikers got off the bus and followed them.
Goodness knows where they were going but it certainly wasn’t the fortress, we got to a clearing and all we could see was restaurants, so we turned around an walked downhill to find the fortress entrance, but after 20 minutes we were back in town. We walked around the town for about an hour and a half, not really knowing where we were then we asked a taxi to take us to the fortress but he didn’t know where it was (?). Finally, we found the 90 bus at the bus terminal, so we thought
we’d try again to find the fortress.
It cost us W700 (-90c) to go around in a big circle as we ended up back at the bus terminal, the driver must have thought we were really weird, as when we arrived back at the Beomosa Temple, he asked us if we wanted to get off we shook our heads, it seems the temple is the only place the bus goes so clearly our information is wrong. We resorted back to the Lonely Planet and found another way to get to the temple, via Oncheonjang.
Caught the subway to Oncheonjang station and then bus 203 costing W1400 ($1-80) and were dropped off at the east gate of the fortress. The fortress was a big disappointment, apart from the actual gate, the walls wouldn’t have kept anybody out being only about three feet high. The hiking trails were poorly marked and whenever we found any open space, it would be full of basketball, tennis courts or restaurants! We walked for about an hour and a half hours trying to find the exit, neither of us had our boots on, only our sandals, so walking was a bit hard and we
got sick of the disappearing signs (we must have walked over five kilometres but according to the signs it was only one and half). A lot of Koreans drove past us in their big cars, pointless if you aren’t going to hike, we passed many of these dressed in their hiking regalia. We did a lot of uphill work, the weather was glorious, not too hot a shame about the little restaurants on the side of the road, which detracted from the beauty of the area. Finally, we arrived at the cable car which would take us downhill, I have never been so glad to see a cable car, after three hours of walking I had had enough.
A drunk Korean got on our cable car and started to pick a fight with another man, rather a stressful situation when you are high up off the ground in a cable car that is swaying in the wind! Luckily, we made it to terra firma safely and when we got off, nearly all the Koreans on the cable car (apart from the drunk) apologised for his behaviour. Apparently, it brings great shame if a westerner witnesses such behaviour. We then
found we were only a few streets from our hotel, so we walked home, popping in to a local department store to pick up a pizza before heading back to our room and our “porno bed”.
Sunday 13th June –Busan – Gyeong -ju We checked out of the hotel just after 9am and caught the subway to Nopo-dong, where the express bus terminal s located. Our destination was Gyeong-ju, tickets cost W3600 ($4.50) and departure is scheduled for 1010am. We arrived at Gyeong-ju just after 11am and located the Hanjin Hostel after a short walk. Our room costs the same W25,000 ($31) as that in Busan, but no porno bed this time. We decided to rent some bikes for the day at W7000 ($8.75), Tony’s is black and mine is pink with a basket on the front.
First we rode to Chonmachong Tomb, these tombs are unique as they are huge grass covered mounds, we walked around and then were able to go into the tomb of Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb) which contained a wooden burial chamber. This was interesting and we took some photos. We then rode our bikes down to the museum, through a park.
The museum was also interesting some of the artefacts were really, really old, including an impressive bell circa 800AD, definitely the oldest museum we have visited so far.
Then it was back on our bikes and downhill to another tomb, but we accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up riding along the roads which I didn’t like at all. We decided not to ride back the way we had come, so we headed for the main shopping area and had some lunch. After lunch, we rode back to the hostel and did some emailing from their Internet. Took the bikes back just after 5pm and spent the evening in the hostel common room, we met the owner of the hostel who upgraded us to a bigger room, where we have a proper bed instead of a mattress on the floor. Tony spent some time talking to a young English guy about Central Asia, he learnt some valuable information, he’s happy because there is beer in the fridge, I’m not happy because I’m sunburnt.
Monday 14th June – Gyeong -ju - Andong We caught a bus to Andong this morning, it took about three hours (we arrived
about 1pm) and cost just W10,400 ($13). The bus wasn’t an express so it stopped at a few dodgy towns along the way, picking up dodgy fishy-smelling Koreans. When we arrived, we walked down Andong’s main street looking for a hotel. We couldn’t find any of the ones listed in the Lonely Planet and I couldn’t carry my backpack too far due to my sunburn, we still don’t recognise the word for “Hotel”, so we settled for the Samsung Hotel, which is directly opposite the train station. Our room is W30,000 ($37.50) but is nice although the outside of the hotel isn’t appealing. We had a brief rest before setting off for a bakery and the Andong Folk Village and Museum. The bakery was a short walk away and had lots of choice, we settled for dining-in and had rye bread, bacon, scrambled eggs and salad with two types of mustard, very healthy and tasty and bargain at W3500 ($4).
Next, we caught a cab to the Folk Museum for W2500 ($3) and it cost an extra W500 (-60c) entrance fee. The museum was great, as it was a folk museum there were lots of model displays of traditional
Korean life and culture, from birth to death. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get rid of the museum guide, who although was very helpful, spoke all in Korean and we couldn’t understand her, usually people give up after a while, but she was determined to give us a guided tour.
When we finally escaped her clutches, we walked up the hill to the folk village. This was a display of traditional-style buildings, mainly thatched peasants’ farmhouses, but it was great to walk amongst them and to enter the buildings. We spent about half an hour here before walking back towards Andong and flagging down a cab. In the evening, we walked down to the main shopping strip for dinner at Korea’s fast food chain “Lotteria” before picking up some cakes at the bakery on the way back to our room.
Tuesday 15th June – Andong – Sokcho We could not purchase tickets for morning trains/buses to Sokcho, so we must settle for a train at 110pm to Gangneung. Luckily our checkout time is noon, so we spent a lazy morning watching English movies on cable TV. We had an hour wait for our train as the station is only
a five minute walk away. Korean train stations are the cleanest we have ever seen and no one hangs around a la China.
We had a four and a half hour train journey, the trains are quite slow and it seemed to take forever, an old crone behind us just would not shut up for practically the whole journey, even when her friend went to the toilet she continued to babble on. There was a fat lady opposite us who kept stuffing her face the whole way too. A highlight of the journey was a young Korean woman with two kids who missed her stop, it was so funny as all the Koreans in our carriage jumped up and were banging on the windows for the train to stop, which of course, it didn’t, she had to wait until the next stop, about 10 minutes later.
The view from the train was lovely, the countryside is beautiful, little villages here and there which seem to have more Christian churches than houses and spectacular beaches surrounded by barb wire and machine gun turrets to keep the North Koreans out.
We arrived at Gangneung at 545pm, and hopped into
a cab for the bus station, where we boarded our bus to Sokcho, which cost W5300 ($6.60) and departed at 6.20pm. The journey only lasted about an hour, and we were soon in Sokcho hunting for a hotel. There were several located around the bus station, so we picked one that was cheap W20,000 ($25) per night, it’s very basic, but has a cute fluffball dog in the yard, I have been feeding her Pringles, which she likes.
We went for a short walk as it was getting dark, for once we were mistaken for Russians instead of Americans. Dinner was at a Korean chicken restaurant; the fried chicken was very tasty as was the cabbage with its tasty sauce. Tony indulged in the local beer and then we went to an Internet café for an hour.
Wednesday 16th June –Sokcho We have no windows in our room, so it was pitch black when we awoke, it was 830am so we caught the ‘7-1’ bus outside our hotel, which would take us to Seoraksan National Park. The bus took about half an hour so we arrived at the National Park just before 11am. The car park was
full of Korean hikers. Bit foggy but weather was warm and good for hiking.
After paying our W3400 ($4.25) admission to the park, we selected a well-maintained trail and admired the beautiful scenery, it was a shame about the noisy Koreans, they just don’t understand the meaning of QUIET. We saw some cute little chipmunks that bounced out on to the path, we saw quite a few, all cheekily bouncing about, one of them was attacked by a bird, they tumbled into the bushes before the bird twittering away. Tony is annoyed because as soon as we see something, a horde of Koreans would appear and the wildlife would take off (can you blame them?)
We walked past several temples, the stoniest river (no water) we have ever seen and enjoyed the chipmunks and squirrels that we saw. Most of the walk was uphill so we were soon sweating, despite several sets of steps and “rest stops” (restaurants/food places in the middle of the wild). We enjoyed ourselves despite the Koreans, the park is beautiful. We walked for two and a half hours then stopped for a Korean pancake for lunch, W4000 ($5) which was very filling but
yum.
After lunch, we caught the cable car to the peak W7000 ($8.75), Gwongeumseong, and had a short walk to the rocky summit which provided incredible views and was well worth it. By now it was past 2pm, so we decided to catch the cable car back down and go home. While we were standing waiting for the cable car to arrive, a little girl pissed her pants all over the floor (everyone laughed but us). We bought two wooden totem poles W10,000 ($12.50) at the souvenir shop an then it was on the bus home.
Both feeling tired after our walk, but called in to the camera shop on the way back to our hotel, we dropped a film off that morning that had got stuck in Tony’s camera, we lost about two photos when Tony inadvertently opened the back of the camera but the rest came out okay. We had more chicken for dinner before having an early night. Our bus to Seoul leaves early in the morning.
Thursday 17th June –Sokcho – Seoul Our alarm went off at 5.00am as our bus to Seoul leaves at 6.30am. I gave the dog the
rest of the breakfast milk, she was waiting for it today and drank it greedily. We caught a cab to the Express Bus Station and began a three and a half hour journey to the nation’s capital. It rained most of the journey, so we slept most of the way, just outside of Seoul we got caught in a traffic jam for about one and a half hours and crawled the rest of the way into Seoul arriving at 1115am. It was a short walk from the bus station to the subway, as we made our way to our hotel in the Itaewon district.
When we did finally arrive at the Hilltop Hotel, I spat the dummy big time, as it was located on what is locally known as “Hooker Hill”, surrounded by sleazy bars and whorehouses. I told Tony we were leaving in the morning as I refused to stay in Hindley Street. At least the hotel here is reasonably priced ay W25000 ($31) and the room is adequate, it even has its own condom vending machine installed on the wall.
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