East Coast of Korea VACATION!

Vacation Time!! 

Hawie and I finally shared vacation time for the first time in a loooonnng time! We usually travel outside of Korea when we share vacation but this time was different. Since we are headed for our gap year of travel in six months or so, we decided to save money.  So, instead of travling outside the country why not knock some things off our "Korea Bucket List?"  After going back and forth we eventually decided to head for the East Coast of Korea. We wanted to knock things off our bucket list but of course also do some climbing. We reserached and found beach bouldering in Donghae, South Korea and decided this was a good jumping off point.  With potential rain, we decided it wasn't worth lugging the crash pad and all of our camping gear with us if there was too much possiblity of rain. It is summer and it is monsoon (rainy season) here in the ROK. With a rough and flexible plan we were off and rolling! Our first destination, Samcheok, bus tickets were purchased and we were ready to go!

Day 1: Getting to Samcheok and Beach Bouldering

Cockadoodle-do the alarm chirped at 5:30am. As we slowly roll ourselves out of bed, the excitement of finally being on vacation was building as we slowly woke up. We arrived at Daejeon Bus Terminal at 6:38am and relaxed and waited for to board our 7:00am bus. The bus from Daejeon to Samcheok was supposed to be a 4:10 minute bus ride. However, this was not the case and took us closer to 5 hours.  Luckily we were so tired from waking up so early, both of us slept a good part of the way. A couple hours in, the bus driver stopped at a notorious Korean truck stop.  Our Korean is ok, but not great. We thought he said we had 30 minutes to be back on the bus but come to find out later it was only 15 minutes. Luckily we were only 5 minutes late. But were reamed out by the adjuma (old woman) sitting next to us. Life goes on adjuma and 5 minutes I'm pretty sure won't make or break your day. ;)

TV action on the bus ride

We arrived in Samcheok around 12pm. We headed right for the Visitor Information office at the bus terminal. We were helped by a very friendly, very fluent English speaking woman. She helped us tremendously with bus times, hotel recommendations and directions. This happens very rarely in Korea so to have someone speak fluently and be helpful in a non-pushy way was fantastic! We checked into Moon Motel for a great price and super nice rooms and headed out to the beach. Our intention was to climb most of the day since it wasn't raining and relax a bit on the beach. An easy, cheap taxi ride to the beach we were in 'aw' of how beautiful it was. Crystal clear blue, green water with jagged rocks jutting out of the coast. Jeongsan/Chuam Beach is famous for Candlestick rock. Apparently it is one of the top places to watch the sunrise in Korea. The sun comes up over the rock (which looks more like a phallic symbol then a candlestick) and looks like the candle has a flame.  We got there and wondered around and explored a bit while trying to figure out where the climbable boulders were. A bit to our dismay, the boulders were over run with Koreans trying to avoid the sun on the beach who didn't want to pay to rent an umbrella. So the few boulders that were climbable weren't accessible due to the Koreans camped out underneath them. So plan B: we found ourselves a spot under a boulder with shade, camped out, took a nap, scoped out the climbs and played in the ocean. It was a really nice relaxing day, even though we couldn't boulder. We came up with a plan to come super early in the morning to avoid the crowds. We were going to try and wait it out for the Koreans to go home but the last bus was at 6:20pm back to town and taxi's weren't an option. So we hitched a ride back on the bus back to town. Being tired and relaxed we ate some local Korean food and hit the hay. :)

Our hotel. Looks not so good from the outside but it was quite nice for the price inside!

Beach views

Chuam Beach

Fair waring...

Candlestick Rock

Beautiful clear water

Day 2: Hwanseongul Cave and Screen Golf

Breakfast and good coffee to start the day

We both love caves and there are a few in the area and it was "supposed" to rain. Which you never really know. In reality, it the humidity gets so high in Korea they assume it must have to rain. So we thought it was a perfect day to hit the caves. After a nice breakfast and coffee at the coffee shop around the corner from the motel, we jumped on a bus and headed to the cave. It's the biggest limestone cave in Korea and one of the biggest in Asia. Once we got there we were pleasantly surprised. The cave was way up in the middle of the mountains, absolutely gorgeous.  Not only that, the Korean crowds were minimal for Korea that day.  We took our time and hiked up to the cave. There was a cable car but no thank you! It was not an easy hike but well worth it! The views were spectacular with the added bonus of an old mill and Korean mountain houses along the way. We got up to the cave and it was huge and super active! Inside there was a trail about a mile long through the cave. It was a bit chilly but felt good from the Korean summer heat. It was an enjoyable trip around the cave! On the way down we ate some lunch in the old Korean mountain house. We had 야채산 비빔밥 (Mountain Vegetable Bi-bim-bab) which is veggies, a fried egg, rice and red pepper paste sauce. It's a common dish we eat but it's nice to have it with the veggies from the mountain. After a nice and satisfying lunch we headed down to the entrance. There were more restored old Korean mountain houses to look at while we waited for the bus. A nice trip back to Samcheok and we were happy.

Hawie always wanted to play screen golf here in Korea and we have never really got a chance. Luckily there was a screen golf place right next to the motel.  We headed up and checked it out. There were two teenage kids who helped us out who were friendly and eager to use the little English that they had. They got us all set up in a room. Hawie, who is a lefty, was forced to use his right hand as the lefty room was being used. Niether one of us very good at golf, we still had fun. Lindsay would swing hard and miss the ball 90 percent of the time. Hawie had a tough time hitting right handed. After about 30 minutes we were about ready to go after a few laughs. We decided we would each go one more time. Hawie went first. He had a good hit! The ball hits the screen and bounces back...usually. Only this time the head of the golf club also came flying back. Hawie had broken the club! After the initial shock we started hysterically laughing. Almost on cue the two teens that work at the place knocked and entered. The expression on the boy's face was priceless as he remarked, "oh....strong man!" as he giggled. We tried to tell them.we were finished but they didn't get it. So we followed them out. At the front desk we asked how much it was. We definitely did NOT expect the answer of "free!" We tried to insist we pay for club or at least a 9 hole game but they refused. The kids giggled along with us as we thanked them and flabbergasted walked out. Apparently practice is free. Good to note. ;)

Old mill on the way up to the caves. 

You can opt to take a cable car up but we opted out.

Stairs up to the cave. There were many of them! 

Nice little waterfall on the way up.

Traditional old mountain house converted to a restaurant we ate at on the way down.

Mountain veggie bi-bim-bap!

Beautiful Korea mountainside scenery

Old traditional houses

Barefoot massage. Common in Korea along walking paths.

Not my forte!

Opps! 

Day 3: Early morning boulder sesh and some phallicies....

The day started super early.

We got up at 5:20am. The plan was to catch the 6:30am bus to Chuam beach for some early morning bouldering. We got some canned coffee and yogurt the previous night to save some time. But poor Lindsay put the yogurt in the freezer by accident. We got to the bus stop and realized we had the wrong times and the bus was at 7:30am not 6:30am like we thought. Sigh.... so we decided to take a taxi... Again.... we got there and it was perfect.... only a few people taking a stroll on the beach. The boulders were ours... we scouted some out and started on the far end of the boulders. Easy top out and down climb... one, two, three and we conquered the small boulder. Front and back. We needed a better challenge. On to the next one. A bit more challenging. I managed to get it on the first try. Lindsay got it on the second try. On to the third boulder. We both looked at it and hesitated a bit. Wasn't necessarily the hardest problem in the world but damn those rocks were sharp. We battled with it fiercely finally Lindsay conquered it but she had to get angry. She named it Monkey Shark Bite. I tried and tried. The rocks cut my hands and I finally gave up. I just couldn't hold on any more. So i did it backwards ... The reverse Monkey Shark Bite if you will. This concluded the bouldering session. It was around 10am and getting hot. We decided to take a swim in the ocean. I think Lindsay found her new love. I don't think Lindsay has ever swam that much in the ocean in her life. While Lindsay called her family on Skype I was swimming. She joined me after the Skype call but her swim was short lived as she saw a crab in the water and bolted for the beach. In her frantic escape from the little crab another crab appeared to her right. This crab was huge. 5 times the size of a normal crab. After that Lindsay was done swimming. After packing up, a nice Korean man from the "sea police" came over and we had a really pleasant conversation. He was intrigued by the bouldering pad. As anyone who boulders in Korea knows. Koreans stare at you a lot more with a big "mattress" strapped to your back. We made our way to the bus stop and we had a cold drink. Lindsay going for the ice Americano and me... What else the Ice Looibos tea. *ugh* Rooibos tea I mean.

 

Cold drinks after an awesome morning

Next up...off to see some Phallacies............

We got on the bus back to Samcheok. Got changed and headed out the door again, this time a 40 min bus ride to Haesindang park. The bus driver was super friendly and he was smiles all the way listening to two old ladies gossip. After 40 min passed we thought we might have missed our stop and so asked the bus driver in broken Korean. Ten minutes  later he told us to get off. An old man also got off and he guided us down into the village. he shoved us a shortcut to take and then headed back up the hill. The people on the east coast are very friendly. We have arrived!!! It was super hot so we decided to both buy hats, or rather Lindsay bought one and i thought. what the heck.

A temple for the virgin who drowned

But now i have to tell you the story behind Haesindang park. A long time ago a virgin woman drowned in the ocean at Haesindang. After she died it seems that all the fish went away so the people were starving. One day a man exposed himself to the ocean. after that the fish came back. so it is believed that she gets lonely and to please her and give her something to look at they placed sculptures of big male organs (if I can call them that) facing the ocean. There is also a shrine for her where you can pray to her. There is also a very interesting fishing museum. the phallic symbols themselves are very comical. Some are smiling and some look angry. Most of them have faces. A lot of different artists sculpted them so you can see many impressions. After we completed the museum and park we realized the next bus is pretty close. So we bolted across the park and down to the village and up again to the bus stop. for a moment we thought we might not have the right times... but thankfully the bus came. back we headed into town for some R&R.

We got back to town and headed out for food. We had no idea what a mission it would become. Being in Korea so long we became pretty picky about what to eat.... So out we went. We ended up walking around for about 20 min and decided to go to this "Korean restaurant" as it was rightly named. We walked in and sat down. Looked at the menu and decided we wanted to get the galbi or rather beef that is cut into smaller pieces that you bbq. It was a bit pricey at 30 dollars. So we asked them is this for two people. Turns out that 30 dollars worth of meat was only 170g and we had to order two portions. 60 dollars for 340g beef!!! No way. But of course we saw it was the Korean Hanwoo beef that they pride themselves on. We then decided to go for pork. Only 10 Dollars per person. But oh no we had to order for 3 people we cant just order for 2 people. So we got up said thank you and walked out. The quality was defiantly not worth the price. Next, we popped into an "Italian" place but is should have been called a pizza joint because that is all they had (That was out seeing we had that the previous day). We were starting to get tired of looking and decided to head to our old trusty "kimbab chungook" or rather kimbab heaven. On our way there Lindsay saw out of the corner of her eye a neon sighn blinking in the night  *Galbi*. We went in and sat down. Looking a little confused about what was going on. Nobody seemed to help us. Then we started to figure out it was a buffet. The staff was very friendly and helped us as soon as they saw we were a little confused. It was a family owned place and the food was amazing. 14 dollars all you can eat. Meat galore and lots and lots of side dishes. We stuffed ourselves good and headed out after a long but great day.

 


Day 4: Seaside Train and Beach Mania

Prepare to board!

We thought it would be fun to be tourists and take the Seaside Train and to explore a new city. The Seaside Train (바다열차)  in Korea is a famous tourist attraction traveling over 58km and connecting Gangneung, Donghae, and Samcheok. Running along the beautiful East Coast, every seat is tailored to see the ocean and windows are larger than those in regular trains for visitors to overlook the majestic waves, elegant beaches, and the emerald-blue ocean. Revamping three passenger cars, the Sea Train boasts a unique façade, seamlessly intermingling with the surrounding coast.

The Sea Train departs from Gangneung Station and arrives at Samcheok Station via Jeongdongjin, Mukho, Donghae, Chuam, and Samcheok Beach. The full course takes approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. The tour offers a unique opportunity for visitors to enjoy the blue ocean on the East Coast and its colorful personalities changing every season. Each stopping station is also unique in its own way, adding to the pleasure of the tour.

Inside of the Seaside train

Woo hoo! Yeah we're on the train!

View from train

We didn't win at BINGO. :(

At the closest station in the world to the ocean.

At the seaside train station

We booked tickets at the information booth in Samcheok a few days before and luckily got some of the last tickets. We were headed up to Gangneung, another coastal city of Korea. We got up early and had an 8:30am train. We said goodbye to our awesome motel and Samcheok and headed out. The train was pretty cool. The seats face the ocean and the windows are huge.  The train didn't run along the sea the entire way but it was cool to see how the East coast country Koreans live. They had things like Bingo and singing and other forms of entertainment on the train as we went. We stopped at a train station in the Guiness Book of World Records for the closest train station to the ocean in the world. It was a nice little hour and 20 minute trip up the coast on teh seaside train. Well worth it! We arrived in

Gyeonpo Beach Gangneung.
That's the way they roll in the ROK at the beach

Gangneung and took a taxi to the bus terminal and bought our tickets home for the next day.  Then we headed out to scout out a hotel. After a few frustrating tries we found a decent place and the adjuma was very nice! We then made a plan. We were a bit pooped out so we decided that we were going to go check out the famous beach in Gangneung. After a quick lunch we jumped on teh bus which was super easy.  The East coast seems to be more tourist oriented and friendly then the west coast. The bus just hit all the main tourist spots and runs every 10 minutes. Fantastic! On the way to the beach we spot people in Surrey bikes. The bikes with four wheels and a steering wheel and cover over it. In the US we usually find them in beach areas as well (on the East coast anyway).

Our ride

We got excited and before we landed in the beach area decided that was a  must do! We arrived and got settled a bit.  We went out to check out the beach. That day was a bit cloudy and cooler. The beach was wall to wall people but a true Korean experience. We then went back and rented a surrey bike. There's a lake directly across the way from the beach and you can take the surrey bike around the lake which is 4.5K ( a bit under 3 miles) around with statues and nice places to sit. We were determined to get the surrey at top speeds and make it all the way around in an hour. At the time the distance looked huge and as hard as we tried we couldn't seem to get the surrey to go very fast. :) The little old guy who ran the surrey bike place jumped in the surrey with us and steered us through the traffic to cross the street which we found to be a bit of a mission when we returned.  It was nice of him to drive us over there! Thank you adjushi! ;) We had a blast driving the surrey around the lake. We raced people, turned it around a few times, got to top speeds down hills and lost a hat we went so fast. Hahaha. We thought we wouldn't make it around in an hour, which is how long we rented it for, but much to our surprise we made it around in 30 minutes. Hawie being hot and having enough after crossing the street with the surrey, we decided to give it back at our record time and head to the beach. We rented an umbrella at the beach and chilled and Hawie swam. I was too chilly. I people watched instead. We are not typically beach people but this vacation was really nice. We had both been working hard it we took the time to relax a bit. :)

Sherlock!

A fantastic speed surrey driver

Snacks outside the convenience store

Only in Korea can you get ocean
side food delivery service. Unbelievable!

Where we rented our bike

Koreans can't swim.....

Chillin at Gyeonpo beach

Our umbrella Hawie insisted on getting.
Nothing like the full experience!

That night we tried to find a specific place to eat that we read about on a blog somewhere. We were resourceful and found it but of course the only day it was closed was Tuesday. We at least knew where it was and went instead for an awesome western breakfast the next morning. So not all was lost.  We ended up eating Dduk Galbi (Chicken in a fry pan with red pepper sauce, veggies and pressed rice cakes).  Then had a few beers out on our last night on the town. We were a little sad our vacation was coming to an end. :(

Day 5: Breakfast and home

Our vacation was definetly coming to an end.  We went back to So-Zak's All American Breakfast for none other than...breakfast! It was an awesome atmosophere, good music, good prices and good company. It's owned by an American guy and his Korean wife.  This may not sound exciting to most people but for us it was a huge treat! It's very rare that you can find a good (non korean influenced) western breakfast and at such a good price! It was the perfect way to top off our vacation. We already had our bus tickets so we headed back to the station after a wonderful morning and then hopped on the bus and off we went back to Daejeon.  All in all, we had a well rounded fantastic trip! Especially for our last vacation before we head for our gap year of travel around the globe in 6 months. So for now...peace out and we will update ya'll soon! :)