We went to Itaewon...
it's alright, there's really nothing very special about this
place other than a lot of foreigners walking around, and a very
poor service we received at the all-day-breakfast restaurant.
Moving along, lets start this month with the Lotus
Lantern Festival instead. This actually happened at the
end of April but it was a part of Buddha's birthday celebration
in May.
We spent our whole day around Jonggak station. There were a
lot to do and a lot of people participating in every activity
like lantern making and face painting. |
|
My wife was having
a school field trip on May 2. In preparation
for my trip as well, I went to Namdaemun Market to shop for
camping supplies. To get there I took Subway Line 4 and got
off at Hoehyeon Station. About a handful of outdoor stores are
lined-up in this area. I found these stores to be pricy though,
so if you're cheap like me. I suggest you walk around Dongdaemun
Market area. This marketplace is huge and camping gear here
are cheap. Here comes the problem of choosing the right product
for the right bargained price. I ended-up buying my supply at
Gwangjang Market around Jongno 5 (o) Station. The difference
between the store I chose and the others... women in bikini.
(just kidding). Dongdaemun Market and Gwangjang Market are conveniently
located between Jongno 5(o) Station and Dongdaemun Station of
Seoul Line 1.
I left Incheon as soon as my wife boarded the bus for their
school's field trip. I went to Odaesan
National Park to camp and to do a traverse starting at Birobong
Peak. I called the park's office in the morning and I was
told that the trails are open. The representative must've misunderstood
me because only the trail to Birobong Peak was open. It's the
highest peak so I didn't complain. I just had to cut my trip
short. |
  This
is the town of Naksan, where I ended up spending my second night.
I checked in at a Minbak: a cheap small motel with just a foam
style mattress, a bathroom and a tv set that seemed to have
lost its channels. Then I visited Naksansa
Temple for the sunset view of Mt. Seoraksan. It also has
a nice view of Seorak Beach and Naksan Beach in the town's provincial
park. Naksansa Temple is one of the few temples in Korea that
sits at the edge of the sea. |
 |
On Thursday morning,
I snatched my wife from her school's field trip. We then stayed
at the beach for two days.
We woke up Saturday morning with heavy rain. Our plan to explore
Seoraksan National Park was ruined, but we went out there anyway
just not to waste the day. Because of the heavy fog and rain,
we could only walk around for a short time and visit Sinheungsa
Temple. We left the park soon after, and stopped at Sokcho
for a very exciting fish market experience at Daepo Raw Fish
Market... and some food poisoning after that.
We set-off to head home on Sunday May 7. We
checked with our best friend, Tourist Information at the Sokcho
Express Bus Terminal about our bus ride back to Incheon. The
lady told us that this station is only for Seoul, so we ended-up
going to the other station which was close to the Lighthouse
Observatory. We took a long walk around Cheongchoho Lake, and
stopped by the Ceramic Museum.
At the bus station, we learned that buses there are intercity
only. It was totally a waste of time getting there. We took
a local bus back to the Express Bus Terminal to catch the 3:40pm
Incheon bus but it was already sold out, and so as the bus after
that. We were already pissed off. We had about 2:30hrs to kill
before our trip home so we went back to Sokcho
Beach to cool off. |
|
  "Next
stop is Gyeongju, Gyeongju is next". May 13
and 14. This was our next weekend trip. My
wife and I went with a couple of other teachers from our group,
Liz and Sherry.
We left the Seoul Express Bus Terminal a little late for a 4.5hr
travel time, but it seemed like we still managed to visit a
lot of places around downtown
when we arrived. We even sqeezed-in a little picnic time and
a bunch of stops from a bunch of tourist traps.
Bomun
Lake Resort was our next destination of the day, where we
had dinner and a hot spring for the ladies. Our night was spent
afterwards at a small town around Bulguksa |
Temple. The Youth Hostel
cost us W35000 for one room, four people. The place was clean
and people there are very hospitable. The next day, we visited
Bulguksa Temple,
we hiked to the Seukgulam
Grotto and I took a solo hike to Mt.
Tohamsan. Before we left, we took a last stop to the Daereungwon
Tomb Park, aka Tumuli Park.
Our trip home was a bit harsh on the back sides. We were stuck
on the bus for over 5hrs to get to Seoul because of traffic.
Just imagine going from 0 to 40kms/hr every 2mins... and it
had only been 2hrs. The driver, like most of the passengers
got so impatient and took a detour off the highway to avoid
the jam. But we ended up in an even worse situation.
The bus ride to Seoul was finally over, but and more butts,
We still had to go to Incheon and the subway had already been
shut down. We took a cab, the one that has "free (of?)
interpretation".
Passengers=4, destinations=3, no english no korean no understand=priceless. |
|
| We'll go local this
time. May 20 and 21 for a
couple of Grand Parks. Seoul
for the zoo and Incheon
for a leisure walk. |
|
On May 27
we joined Adventure Korea for a trip to the DMZ
(Demilitarized Zone). This is an intensely guarded boarder which
separates the Communist North Korea from the Republic of Korea.
We left Hongik Station at 9:30am and arrived at our first stop:
ImjinGak at 11am to register for the tour. After having lunch
at the Unification Village, we went to visit the Third Infiltration
Tunnel. The tunnel is 1635m long but only about 435m of it is
open for public viewing. We also watched an 8min documentary
about the DMZ at this stop. We moved on to the Dora Observatory
next, where we listened to a lecture by an army representative.
We could also see North Korea and its Guiness-holder flag from
this observatory. Next we went to the Dorasan Train Station.
We got our passport stamped here. Its either we've just become
a part of history or we've just vandalized our passport for
no reason at all... education would be the only clearance. We
went back to ImjinGak for our last tour of the day. Here we
visited the Peace Bell, the Manngbaedan altar and the Freedom
Bridge. |
|
  My
wife and I went for a hike the day after. We went to traverse
the Mt. Munahksan ridge.
A lot of people were enjoying the beautuful weather on the ridge
with us.
After descending at the west end of the mountain, we took a
cab to Arts Center Station and walked around the area. We rested
outside the Art Center by the rose garden and watched a bunch
of kids performing on an outdoor stage. It was surely a nice
day out. |
|
| Election day in Korea.
All the teachers were off from school so a lot of us went to
Incheon Grand park for a group picnic. It was a beautiful day.
Some of us rented bikes, roller blades and some of us just relaxed
and enjoy the conversation. |
| |
2006
Journal : March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December