Advertisement
We have just had our last official vacation in South Korea. The 5th of May in the United States is usually a holiday for Hispanic people. In Korea the 5th of May is Children’s Day. I am not sure what this means exactly, but we got the day off from work. This gave us a four day weekend so it works for us. Anyway Jenna and I with four friends decided to visit the east coast of Korea. We went to an area known as Sokcho beach and Seoraksan Mountain. It was suppose to be a 3 hour bus ride from our apartment, but with traffic it took about 5 hours. Luckily we had lazy boys for seats, well almost. This bus was really comfortable, almost more comfortable than our hotel.
The area we stayed in had plenty to do. We were a five minute walk to the beach and a 25 minute bus ride to the mountain. The first day we didn't arrive until about eight so we dropped our stuff and headed out to eat. After that we went to the beach and watched the fireworks. Yes in Korea they sell fireworks at the beach!!! Awesome! So
we sat out on the beach for awhile and shot off some roman candles and lit up some sparklers. Then when all the fireworks were gone we decided to head to a norie bong or private karaoke room. They are actually a lot of fun and a good stress reliever. So that was day one. Day two we woke up and hit the beach. One of the guys, Silas and I dug a huge hole in the sand and had a good time. In the picture the hole doesn't look that deep but by the end it was about level with my shoulders when I was inside. After that we took a short hike and saw a small waterfall.
Seoraksan is a beautiful place it is one of the most famous places to hike in Korea. Jenna thought that the mountains were more beautiful than back home because of how much vegetation grew everywhere. We took two hikes in the park, the first was short maybe an hour and a half. Our second hike was longer and harder. We hiked up to a very small cave which took us about 3 hours total. The hike to the cave was
hard; there was a large part of the hike that went directly up hill. Also the last 20 minutes of the hike was at about a 75 to 80 degree incline on rock steps and then on metal stairs built into the side of the mountain. At the end of the trail was a small cave with a small temple inside. The cave was about 8 feet wide by 20 feet deep. In the back of the cave they had a small room that had a statue and candles burning. There was a monk in the cave whose job appeared to be to sit there and pass out candy because she gave us some candy while we rested. It was a perfect spot to rest because it was cool and out of the sun. Also the view was excellent. Hiking down is always easier than up but it was still difficult because we were tired.
During our hike we noticed the river that was flowing through the bottom of the valley and we really really wanted to jump in for two reasons; one it was hot and two it was really beautiful. The only problem was swimming was not
permitted, well if they can see you. So on the way down we happened to wander off the trail and find ourselves a secluded spot on the river behind some huge boulders. I took a short video of the spot we found it was pretty epic. Anyway I ended up only putting my head and legs in because it was freezing the other guy with us Silas just went for it and Jenna of course just sat in the sun. It was a nice end to a beautiful hike.
Our last day was a half day and we spent it on the beach. It was pretty mundane but then a Korean couple asked our group if we wanted to go on a boat ride in the ocean. I was not feeling well so I didn't go but everyone else did I took some pretty good pictures of everyone in the boat. The Korean couple paid for the boat ride and they actually gave us twenty dollars after the boat ride, I think it was for the company... Weird.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.169s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 50; dbt: 0.1096s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Caitlin
non-member comment
I always love your blogs. Looks like you're still having an amazing time!