Seorak-san National Park

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm going to let the camera do most of the talking in this post. With a few captions of course. Last weekend we went to Seorak-san National Park, probably the most famous mountain area in Korea. We got up early on Saturday and after a 6 hour combination of buses and subways, eventually arrived in Sokcho on the East coast just as the sun was setting. We wanted to get there with enough time to do some exploring, as we felt Sokcho could be a contender for our second year teaching. It's a small place, population around 90,000, and primarily a fishing port, but it is bountiful in beaches and mountains. Our first stop was Sokcho beach, and it passed with flying colours.

We managed to get on the right bus for Seorak-dong (the park tourist village), but going in completely the wrong direction. Stupid us, we boarded the bus pointing towards some massive mountains with the beach at our back, when it should've been the other way round. After sitting there oblivious for around twenty minutes, we began to realise the bus driver was actually shouting at us, probably telling us we're a pair of twats. After that, a nice taxi driver took us to our destination, and shockingly turned the meter off while he took us to three different motels in order to find a room. What a guy. Then, the motel owner treated us to some free rice and homemade kimchi. Good start. After all the travelling, and a couple of beers, we were genuinely knackered at 9pm. This was a good thing, as my intrepid plan was to get up at 5:30am to start our adventure.

We started so early because....

a) We would have to be finished and on the bus back to Seoul by 5pm to ensure getting the last subway to Ilsan...
b) Seeing the sunrise at a smart temple would be quite a sight....
c) We really wanted to avoid the crowds.

I thought that there would still be a fair crowd of identically clothed Korean hikers up at this time, but we actually basically had our outgoing walk all to ourselves. And thank god, because when we finished at 3pm the place was a bloody circus. I've not been up at that time since having a paper-round, it's feckin cold like. When we got to the front gate it was still very dark, but as you see in the picture above, the camera makes out that it's not. Strange.

The first stop, after me loading up on kimbab, was the temple Shinheung-sa. Just outside the temple is a huge bronze Buddha. It's not quite as big as the one at Beopju-sa (to be fair, that one is standing), but due to it's bulkiness and features, I found this one to be even more impressive. I can't remember how tall it is, but you can see a little lady lighting incence sticks to give you some idea of scale. By now the sun had started to peak into the valley, and it was all very serene.

(Here's a Korean lesson for you folks at home. One of the first words you're likely to require when coming here. It says Hwa Jang Shil. Hwajangshil. So if you meet a Korean you can now impress them with being able to ask where the pisher is)

(Shinheung-sa is not the most exciting temple, but is clearly surrounded by the most picturesque setting I've seen so far.)

From the temple, a relatively easy 50 minute walk brought us to Biseon-dae, a large flat rock area with numerous pools of icy clear water. The area is quite reknowned, and many visitors have carved their names into the rock, some dating from hundreds of years ago.





(Like many mountain areas in Korea, Seorak-san is famous for it's wild mushrooms, and a popular dish in nearby restaurants is Sanchae Bibimbap, utilising the fresh produce of the mountain.)

I think the reason it wasn't as busy as I'd feared, is that we'd missed the height of the popular Autumn colours by a mere week. That said, there was still a fair amount of reds, oranges and yellows. Better than dull green all the way. The trail from Biseon-dae soon enters Cheonbul-dong valley, and gets considerably harder. It was never very steep, this was a valley trail rather than a trail to any peaks, but for the whole duration we were carefully navigating rocks. I don't think there was one moment where there was a nice clear path! Cheonbul-dong valley is flanked by endless spires and pinnacles, and it is said that these took on the form of buddhas to meditating monks. I bet they would if they ate all those mountain mushrooms. We carried on up this valley and reached....The Steps of Doom!

(Look a bit dangerous and rickety? They were.)

I know it must be hard building a stairway up a particularly steep mountainside, but somebody should of had a spirit level on the go. One step actually gave way considerably, and with my heart in my throat, I noticed it was being wedged up betreen the rock face by a big stick. Very safe! All part of the fun of course. It was about this time, finally, that the sun started to make an appearance into this deep valley. Hurrah!

(Roughly from the top of The Steps of Doom. If you look closely you can still see the moon on the left. It paid to hold off and check weather online, until a day as perfect as this came along.)

(A little bit farther on, and I found some odd tiny urinals in a hut. Seriously, these things were tiny, you have to aim really well. Michael J. Fox would have no chance)

After around two and a half hours from Biseon-dae, we reached our destination, Yangpokpo (Yang waterfall), and had lunch. One of my favourite snacks here is chamchi (tuna) kimbab, but due to a shortage of them, I was forced to remember how bland regular kimbabs are. Kimbab, in case I've not covered this, is rice, ham, egg, radish, some brown root, some green leaf, and tuna if you're lucky, all rolled up in seaweed laver. To the untrained eye, it might resemble some kind of sushi. Anyway, they're fantastically cheap as well. While we ate, we had the pleasure of watching a Korean couple take turns climbing up the rock face of the waterfall, just to get their obligatory posing pics on camera. Honestly, as soon as a camera is out here, you see all manner of cheesey poses.

(This is probably my favourite photo of the trip. A short walk from Yangpokpo was a smaller waterfall. The Yin to it's Yang. This really had the feel of an oriental painting. It also reminded me of Karate Kid 2, when Daniel abseiled down a deep gorge to collect a bansai tree for Mr. Miyagi. Only to be bothered by some bullies. I wonder how time has treated Karate Kid 2. Perhaps unfairly lambasted at the time, I think it's ripe for reassessment!)

(At one point during the return journey, my hands were freezing, and the Korean man who was earlier climbing up waterfalls to impress his lady, came to my rescue with some bizarre pad thing. He took it out it's packet, and slapped it on my belly. Somehow this was supposed to warm my hands up. When he first beckoned me over, and rummaged in his bag, I presumed he was going to loan me some gloves, but then I remembered this was Korea, and that would be seen as far too simple a solution. But, yet again, another example of the Korean friendliness. I wore my stomach pad with pride, and shoved my hands in my pockets.)

Inevitably, with the sun now shining brightly the pictures on the way back were much nicer, so I'll just post a selection now.









As we approached the main gate, a fairly respectable 8 hours since our departure, we found ourselves walking alongside a cute old grandmother, who ably demonstrated the two extremes of Korean people. She smiled sweetly, and began to sing a traditional song as we walked through the trees. As she was walking a little bit slow, we eventually bade her farewell and quickened our step, remarking on how peaceful her impromptu song had been. Then, from behind, in thunderous rapture...."Hooooooaaaaaaauuurrrrrrccccchhchchchchchhhchtttttttt!", the mother of all Korean snort-n-spits. The illusion was shattered, but in a way we mostly find comical rather than repulsive.

In conclusion, it was fantastic fun, and Seorak-san is extremely beautiful and mysterious. We plan to go back before we leave Korea, and stay the night in one of the mountain huts. This will probably involve getting wrecked on soju all night, judging by the smell of every single hiker we passed on their early morning descent. Turns out the bus was fully booked, and we had to wait 2 hours, which let us check the beach out under blue skies. Not bad at all. Sokcho, like Gangneung further down the coast, joins Jeju island on the list of second year potential places with beaches and mountains in abundance.



One final memory of Sokcho, is this poor little lad wobbling around the bus station on a bike with stabilizers. The only problem was, the stabilizers were clearly meant for a bike half the size of his, so only one of them could touch the ground at any given time. He rode tilted to the left for a bit, then flopped over onto his right. Genius.