Day one of my Korea trip, and I already regretted it. I overlooked the traffic in Seoul, so my commute to Sokcho took a lot longer than expected. I didn’t get to Sokcho until 7 (expected arrival time was ~5), lost and confused at the bus terminal. Still trying to figure out Kakao map & Naver map, I turned to Google maps as my last hope. Despite its awful direction, I was able to locate roughly where my Airbnb was. Following the instructions given by my hostess, with some wandering around, I finally found it hidden in a small alley of a residential area.
I was warmly welcomed by the hostess’ mom, and miraculously communicated with her, despite the language barrier (she doesn’t speak English, nor do I speak Korean).
Apparently my place was within 5min walking distance away from the Sokcho Traditional Market, which closes at 8. So without any delay, I grabbed my camera & jacket, and rushed to the market.
Many of the booths were already closed by the time I arrived, while many of the remaining ones were in the process of shutting down (so cleaning-up with remaining food on-sale). So the market was mostly empty, with crowds scattered around few booths.
The first booth that grabbed my attention was a squid-bun booth with crowds & a camera man. I examined the shop more, in search of some familiar languages. Without much luck, though I did notice many posters hanging on the top, starring various Korean celebrities. Finally 2 caucasians stopped by the booth, so I immediately asked them if they knew the difference between the different colored buns. Looking lost together, the shop owner finally pulled-out an English translated version of the menu. Feeling much more confident, I quickly pointed at the pumpkin-flavored squid bun. The bun was super soft, and had a rich pumpkin flavor. There wasn’t a lot of squid in the fillings. Overall, it was good, and I’d like to try the sweet red bean bun next time.
Second stop, the famous Sokcho squid sundae — basically squid stuffed with fried rice, dipped in egg mixings, then fried. It was an unexpected surprise & a pleasant experience, considering my original plan was to try the squid sundae in the Abai Village across the bridge.
I was wandering around in the mostly emptied/quiet market, drawn by the smell of delicious food, I stopped in front of the shop, snapped a photo while the lady was cooking the squid sundae. She looked at me, and asked me a question that I obviously did not understand. Awkwardly, I pointed at my ear and waved my hand, whiled told her in English that I do not understand Korean. She continued speaking Korean to me while pointed at the food. Cluelessly, I just stared blindly at her, not knowing what to say.
Luckily a lady nearby volunteered to translate for me, so I told her that I’d love to try the squid sundae, what was the smallest portion I could buy? The owner first offered 5 pieces for 3,000won, but when I gave her the money, it somehow became 4,000won for the entire plate. I had no idea what was going on, but the nice lady told me it was a good deal, and I should just enjoy the meal. So I thanked them both, and walked away, eating in satisfaction. Oddly though, after few pieces of these squid sundae, it became spicy.
Thanks to few of the Korean dramas I’ve watched recently, fried chicken & soju became THE Korean food. After walking passed so many fried chicken booths, I finally decided to try a small portion from a closing shop. Unfortunately the chicken was cold, hence tasted awful. I ended up throwing it away.
I later remembered there was an AYCE seafood BBQ shop nearby. Except by the time I arrived, last call was already finished. I thought Asian cities had late opening hours? Clearly another misconception.
Confirmed with the map, Abai Village was right across the river from me, with the Gaetbae Boat terminal probably 100m to my right. Since it was after hour, my only option was to walk across the bridge via a long detour. It was a lonely walk, with minimal lighting, no other pedestrians, and barely any cars.
I remembered reading somewhere the bridge piers were decorated with murals. So I paid extra attention looking for the paintings after I crossed the bridge. Except I saw nothing for the first few piers I passed. With some doubts, I continued walking until an open area under the bridge, and I was amazing at what I saw. To the right was the statue of the Autumn in My Heart, behind me was a nice mural of a ship, spans across the entire pier. In front was 2 additional displays of what I assumed Sokcho culture.
Honestly I was disappointed at the statues — they looked ugly, definitely did not look at the actor/actress from the drama at all. On the other hand, I was impressed with the unexpected cultural displays. I wondered if there will be an information booth/guide during business hour, explaining them.
Continued wandering into the asleep Abai Village with no particular goals in mind. Based on the information I read online, Abai Village consisted mostly of North Koreans from during the war & their descendants. The word “Abai” also means “father” or “an aged person” in Korean. Once again, I wished I was fluent in Korean, so that I could communicate with the villagers & listen to their stories.
Again stopped in front of a restaurant, taking picture of the displayed bottles. The restaurant owner saw me, and asked if I wanted to dine-in (I guessed). She pointed to the squid sunbae picture from the wall, after I told her that I did not speak Korean. I shook my head, since I already had it in the market. Few minute later she pointed at a plate of appetizing fishes. I happily nodded, and was invited inside for a seating.
She again pointed at the fish dish from the wall with a price label for 2, and with a calculator showed me the price she’d charge me for, which was half of what was written on the wall. I nodded with a thank you, and started examine the place. The wall was entirely covered in graffiti, with heart-shaped cards scattering around. I felt it was cute & warmhearted, also reminded me of the Facebook wall, friends and I loved to draw on during our visits.
The owner soon gave me the bottle of soda soju (again read online it was something unique to Sokcho) and a salad rice bowl with sauce on the side. She also told me to mix the sauce with the salad, and wished me a bon appetit (I guessed from her body language, since Korean was meaningless to me).
I was not a fan of the soda soju, partly because it was sparkling (as the name suggested). Scared by the redness of the sauce, I tasted a little with the tip of my chopstick. To my surprise, it was sweet (I guess it was sweet-chili?). The rice temperature was just right, very comfortable to eat. The sprouts felt really fresh, I liked it a lot.
4 smaller plates of side dishes soon came unexpectedly. I was half-full by the time the main dish was served. I was surprised to see white-colored kimchi, and it tasted rather vinaigrette. The marinated raw shrimp was amazing though, very sweet, very fresh. Also the purple-colored thin crispy thread was addicting, though I had no idea what it was, some kind of seafood.
The fish came along with another small pot of weird tasted soup. Felt like water boiled pork blood, with random spices added as the final touch — the spices were very distinct & did not dissolve into the soup at all. I also had to add the baby shrimps myself.
The fishes were charcoal grilled, some was saltier than others. One of them also reminded me of the mackerel, though not as fishy. Unfortunately, I only had the stomach to finish one of the 3 fishes. With guilt, I asked for the bill, leaving the other 2 half-finished.
The following morning, waking up in time for sunrise, I went to the Yeonggeumjeong Sunrise Pavilion (靈琴亭). After getting here, I learnt there are actually 2 pavilions — one situated on top of a small hill, while the other stretched out into ocean. The hill pavilion had a nice panoramic view of Sokcho, while the ocean pavilion was great for waves.
Korean map really sucks when it comes to public transportation in Sokcho! My next destination after the sunrise pavilion was Seoraksan National Park, where I could get to via public bus 7 or 7–1. So I waited at the bus stop near the pavilion, and checked on Kakao map (I never figured out how to use Naver map, and after meeting up with a Korean friend in Seoul, turned out I had a bizarre version of the app. That’s another story) for its next arrival time. To my surprised, there wasn’t any scheduled departures. I then switched to Google map, only learnt the next (and only) bus leaves in roughly 90min.
Impatiently, I walked towards the bus terminal, hoping to grab a taxi. As I walked toward the parked taxi, I saw bus 7 slowly approaching from the intersection. So I rushed back to the bus stop & hopped on the bus.
The bus was nearly empty when I hopped on, and the seats were very comfortable with leathered cover & cushioning, felt like coaches. On the downside, though, there wasn’t a lot of seating, with only 1 column per side. So after few stops, the bus became packed.
There were many Seoraksan-related stops along the way (one even felt like a visitor center). I decided to follow the crowd & hopped out at the final stop, which was a parking lot next to the entrance gate.
Named as one of the best fall foliage sites of Korea, Seoraksan has many great short day hikes, varying from 30min to 2hr in length. Some of the trails consisted of rich history/culture sites, for example the Baekdamsa Temple was built during the Silla Kingdom (first Korean Kingdom); the Biseondae Rocks has many engraved calligraphy poems. Other trails are great for nature enjoyment, namely the Ulsanbawi Rock is labeled with breathtaking panoramic views; and the Yongso Falls is said to be a magical place.
With all these research notes in mind, I had great expectations of this park. Unfortunately, due to tight scheduling (I had to return to Seoul that evening for an 8pm flight to Jeju), I did not have much luxurious time to enjoy this place. As a result, I decided to take the cable-car to the Gwongeumseong Fortress, which has a round-trip fee of 10,000won.
There is a mandatory cash-only entrance fee of 3,500won to Seoraksan National Park. Tickets are sold in a small building on the left-hand-side, ~50m after the gate from the picture above. It should be really obvious, as the front was surrounded by a large crowd of people. There are signs all over the window regarding “cable car tickets are not sold here”. So I asked the reception where to buy the cable car tickets, except he spoke no English.
Without much choice, I purchased the park entrance ticket, and walked into the park. I was welcomed by many colorful trees along the path, though I expected more from a “best fall foliage park”. Sure the trees had a wide range of colors, but most were green, with random red, orange, yellow colored trees scattered around. And almost beneath every colored trees, there were a group of people posing for photos.
Slowly strolling along the path, searching for signs to buy the cable car tickets, I soon arrived at a plaza. It immediately became obvious to me that cable car tickets were sold in the building to my left, as a yellow cable car was on display near the building.
I asked for a ticket to the next available ride, and it was 50min from now, where I was expected to wait by the boarding gate (upstairs) 5min prior to the scheduled departure time.
With an ample amount of time, I decided to visit the Sinheungsa Temple, a 30min round-trip hike based on the directory outside of the door.
I saw the temple gate shortly after I walked pass the plaza, which was extremely deceiving, because I thought I had already arrived (and wondered about the completely-off time estimate).
I continued following the crowd, and saw an enormous sized Buddha statue. There were some locals praying, but mostly were tourists taking pictures.
There was a pile of written roof tiles neatly placed along the edge of the square. I overheard someone said historically it is believed if one writes down the wish on a tile, and pray wholeheartedly to the Buddha, then the wish will come true.
Continued walking, I saw a sign about “meditation in progress, please be quiet”, and an arrow pointed to the right. Following the arrow, I finally arrived at the temple, roughly 10min after the Sinheungsa gate.
It was a small peaceful temple situated in the middle of a forest, with walls fully covered in ivy, and another smaller temple diagonally across, separated by a small nearly-dried stream.
I also saw couple banner displays with Templestay logo, something I’d like to try if coming back for the next time. Frankly, I’ve thought about experiencing Templestay after learning about its concepts. It should be a cool and unique experience. Though it requires many hours of time commitment, not entirely ideal for my typical trips.
Personally, due to the language barrier, I didn’t enjoy the cable car ride. I was confused the moment I arrived at the boarding gate. There were many people in various groups, Korean instructions were given in the background, plus a LED board alternated between 2 time slots, one of which was my scheduled boarding time.
Moments later, I showed my ticket to the gentleman in uniform, who then pointed me to a line. It was merely “follow the person in front” onward. During the cable car ride, I believed (pure guesses) the audio briefed about the history about the cable car & possibly the Gwongeumseong Fortress. I simply looked outside the window, enjoying a bird-eye view of the park.
After some minutes, I departed the cable car along with everyone else, and followed the stairs to the peak. It was much prettier at the top, with all trees finished changing colors, some even had leaves all fallen-out. So the hike was much more pleasant, though crowded with 2-way traffic on a narrow stairway.
The view at the fortress looked completely different, and somewhat reminded me of Yosemite. Instead of seeing more trees, it was about rock formations. Similar to many other lookout places, where was a sign labelling the POIs.
