A couple of weeks ago we had a three day weekend in honour of Buddha’s Birthday. 아싸! A few of us travelled north to a city called Sokcho. This is that story…
It all started at 4am on Friday when we met up to catch a taxi to the train station in Busan. I was tired. This was my own fault as I had come to the conclusion that the best course of action to deal with this early start was to just not sleep and instead go to a bar and stay there until it was time to leave. I stand by my decision.
The train left at 5:15am and took a long time. We arrived in Gangneung (strangely enough the city where I was originally meant to be going) at 12:30pm. As we neared Gangneung we saw a lot of nice looking beaches, very white sand with clear blue water and all deserted. Of course they were also all fenced off with razor wire due to the relative proximity of our friends in the north, but they were nice too look at all the same.
From Gangneung we took the bus to Sokcho and arrived there at around 3:30pm, it wouldn’t have taken so long but the traffic was pretty heavy going. Still, it could have been worse, I was sitting next to someone on the bus who was meeting her friends from Seoul (3 hours away), they set off at 9am and still hadn’t arrived by the time we pulled into the bus terminal. Sucks to be you!
Sokcho as a city isn’t bad, it’s got some quite good beaches and lots of seafood, which was of zero interest to me except for the monster octopus we saw in a tank in front of a restaurant. I don’t use the term ‘monster’ lightly here, it was immense!
But the main reason we were there was Seoraksan National Park, that was right next to Sokcho. After hanging out on the beach for a bit on the Friday afternoon there was some wandering around the city on Friday night, and a quick trip to a really small amusement park which contained one of the least safe looking rides I think I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible for me to explain the madness that was contained within this contraption but it involved people being spun and jolted out of their seats and then subjected to further spins and jolts until they were a defeated crumpled shadow of their former selves. And it was round. I didn’t have a go.
Come to think of it, I think I saw a photo of it somewhere, wait there a minute please…
Here we are:
Saturday morning came, and we headed off to Seoraksan on a bus that, towards the end of it’s journey, had become so packed full of people that a lack of oxygen was beginning to become somewhat of an issue. We managed to bite and claw our way off the bus and what followed was a series of steps, each more challenging than the last.
First we went up the second highest mountain in the park (going up the highest would have left no time for anything else that day) good views were viewed. It’d be unfair of me not to share them with you, and I may be a lot of things, but unfair is not one of them. Hhhh’enjoy!
Next we went up to a cave at the top of another mountain where a couple of monks lived. Even better views (in my opinion) were viewed, but you can’t see them…I kid I kid. I kid because I love.
There was a trapdoor in the cave, I didn’t see where it went but I am absolutely 100% certain that it led somewhere entirely awesome.
Here’s the cave by the way.
Oh! On the way up we heard a shout from above us which we later decided was most probably Korean for “HEADS!”, it was followed by a fist sized bit of rock which came flying past us and down the mountain. There were a few yells from below but as I didn’t see any blood/corpses on the way down I’m assuming it didn’t hit anyone.
Once we got down from the cave, there was time to soak our feet in some very cold water (pictured below) and then it was time to go.
In the evening it was decided sensible to buy a bunch of soju and snacks from a convenience store and take full advantage of the massive selection of VHS tapes available in the motel where we were staying.
[SIDE NOTE] VHS tapes are very much not obsolete in Korea, in fact you can buy all the newly released movies in VHS format. Weird!
In the end we got through the entire collection of ‘Police Squad’, ‘The Boondock Saints’, and ‘Under Siege 2′. My suggestions of ‘Octopus 8′ and ‘Cannibal Holocaust 2′ were vetoed. For shame!
Awesome VHS based motel
Sunday brought a day of rain. Heavy rain. All day. We went to see the new ‘Robin Hood’ movie, and apart from some of the dodgiest accents since ‘The Transporter’ it was mildly enjoyable.
We caught the overnight bus back to Busan. It took 7 hours but the seats were so big and so comfortable that I almost didn’t want it to end. A taxi back to Jangyu, with a very confused taxi driver who didn’t seem too sure about anything outside of the Busan city boundaries, saw us home about 5ish. Good thing I didn’t have to work until 2 on Monday. Hooray for hagwons!
A bit late now I know, but couldn’t finish without saying ‘Happy Birthday’ to the big man…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
