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Hello from the east
Tired and hungry, but the view always makes up for it 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 rush hour traffic does anything BUT rush!! The wrong terminals we stopped at after our bus trip did little to help 😊
Eventually we were on the way to Sokcho!
The bus trip into the sleepy town was easily one of the most beautiful bus trip I've taken with towering green mountains on either side of the bus and views of
Sokcho Tower
The strange-looking tower that gave us a birds-eye view of the city and the ultra-modern IMAX cinema to its left valleys as far as the eye could see. The higher up into the mountains the bus climbed, the more drizzley the weather became... not a good sign for a weekend to be spent in the mountain! However, the 'Well timed rain' stopped 20min before we arrived leaving the air clean and everything smelling fresh
We decided that due to our later than ideal start, and the touch-and-go-weather, that we should spend the night in Sokcho and head up the mountain first thing in the morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the streets and enjoying the coastline.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, (and another almost 'Sense of humour failure' induced by low blood sugar) we found the light house we'd seen from a lookout building earlier. After grappling with the INTENSE desire to leave it at 'Thats nice' and go and get some food, we climbed the 276 steps (with tanks on empty) to enjoy the view. And wow, was it worth it!
After a spectacular sunset and trying to keep count of the steps on the way down... surprisingly difficult with Darrell counting the money he had in his wallet, counting
Streets of Sokcho
Another typical, fascinating, seaside Korean town the clouds, counting the trees, and then bringing up all the unnecessary topics he could think of... it was Mission Find a Bibimbap (rice, veg and egg yolk in a hot stone bowl) Restaurant! oooh la la... there's nothing like it to hit the spot!
With tummies full up and happy faces on again, we stopped off at the local E-Mart to get food for tommorrow's hike. Round 2 with 'well timed rain'! It started as we walked into the supermarket and stopped when we'd finished the shopping and Darrell finnished pulling his waterproof cover over his backpack!
Ignoring all the Ajumas offering their spare rooms as accomodation (usually about $20) we made a bee line for the beach to find a cosy place to pitch our tent for the night
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David
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Bi Bim Bap
You had Bi Bim Bap :)