The Ramblings of Loren Christopher

3-day weekends are always a perfect excuse to take trips around Korea for me.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to go to Baengnyeongdo Island as I planned, but I still had a good time nonetheless.  I went with me friend Nate who lives out in Incheon.

Seoraksan draws in over 3 million visitors each year according to statistics, and let me tell you….being there this past weekend over te holiday, I believed it!!  There were sooo many people in the park.  It’s located on the east coast of the Korean pensinsula and the bus ride which normally would have taken about 4 hours ended up taking us almost 7 hours to get there!  We spent the night in Sokcho Friday, and first thing Saturday morning we headed out into the park.

It was so stunning to be surrounded by mountains again, and such beautiful ones at that!  We ventured through the pathways, maneuvering the crowds of Koreans.  Korean people seems to really enjoy hiking, they go all out with gear, poles, special clothing, backpacks….you name it, they come prepared for hikes.  I always see people on subways or buses who are wearing hiking gear….so it seems like a popular hobby.  Why we didn’t assume it would be insanely crowded this weekend is beyond me, haha.

We quickly started getting annoyed, because what should have been a peaceful and enjoyable experience out in nature was quickly turning into a battle to make our way along the paths.  We decided to sneak off the main walkway and make our own pathway (not exactly legal, there were signs prohibiting it….but we knew we could play the ignorant foreigner card if need be).

It was SO nice to get out in the nature and walk along the rocky rivers.  We didn’t actually hike UP any of the mountains since it looked like it was going to rain any minute (which is eventually did right before we left).

I know I’ve said it many times in this blog after I get back from a quick trip somewhere in Korea, but Nate and I were left sitting there on a giant rock overlooking a big area of the park and we said it again, “Wow.  It is SO nice to get out of Seoul for a bit.  This really does a person good!”  I can’t stress it enough though.

Well, there was also a cable car that takes you up to the top of a mountain that is close to the big Mount Seorak.  I ended up doing this on Sunday morning, but it was raining and my pictures just didn’t come out well at all.  It looked pretty though and I’m sure would be gorgeous if you can actually see the area below the mountain.  So, after hiking along our own pathway along the moutain, accidentally sliding down a ways after I lost my footing on some small rocks (have a small gash on my rear end from that little slip-up, haha), we made our way down to another river and just sat soaking our feet in the cold water.

Why did I never really appreciate nature this much when I was growing up?  My parents took my brother and I on plenty of trips when we were young, to the Rockies, Yellowstone, etc.  I just never remember loving it as much as I do here.  Ah well…we had worked ourselves up a healthy appetite, so we headed back down toward the entrance of the park to grab something to eat.  I guess this area of Korea (Sokcho) has this certain specialty dish, because we had it at a few different places during our trip.  It’s like a stuffed grilled squid.  Not exactly sure what it’s stuffed with, but whatever it is, it’s really delicious.  So much so that I forgot to take a picture of it when it was served, but instead just dug right in!  We also had a tasty seafood pancake, which is one of my favorites.

Well, Nate ended up heading back to Seoul Saturday afternoon….there is a great Latin America Art Exhibit going on in Seoul right now and he was anxious to get back and check it out.  I, on the other hand, rented a room at a “minbak” (a guesthouse kind of like a bed and breakfast) and stayed an extra night.  I explored the park a little more, but sent most of my time in the coastal city of Sokcho, which I’ll write more about next time.  I have to cut this entry short, and I didn’t post at all last week because I had spilled a little Coke on my computer and now my “h’s” and “m’s” don’t work on my keyboard….I’m having to copy/paste them, wich is a pain, haha.  I’m going to the Apple Store soon to have it looked at though.

In the meantime, here are some pictures.