Lucky for us we defied the laws of Chuseok, and didn't get stuck in traffic - going east out of Seoul a pleasure because all of the traffic was headed somewhere else. (Theories are that it was because most people travel south, few east, and because Chuseok fell on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday less people were willing to travel.)
Seoraksan is said to be one of the more beautiful national parks in all of the Korean peninsula, and we sure weren't disappointed. We didn't get to see a large part of it, I'm sure the parts where tourist don't frequent are really nice, they're just hard to access without a car. What we saw, we definitely enjoyed. We stayed at Hanwha resort and had a terrific weekend at Waterpia & Seoraksan National Park. Guidebooks say the drive takes 4.5 hours, we made it in 2.5 hours each direction on a Hanwha resort bus for 30,000 Won roundtrip. Here's the park in pictures.
Take the cable car & hike a peak for a view of the ocean.
The photo op cable car.
The cable car to a peak.
That's the city of Sokcho and East Sea in the background (or Sea of Japan as it's known in much of the world).
Opposite view from the peak are these great rocky peaks.
Stop by the Sinheungsa Buddhist Temple (they're a recurring theme for mountain hikes).
The bronze buddha is 40-50 feet tall.
entrance gate
large statues in the entrance gate
not a shabby location
main temple
now which way?
entrance gate
large statues in the entrance gate
not a shabby location
main temple
now which way?
Hiking up to Heundeul Bawi and Ulsan Bawi
This is the least crowded trails we'd seen in Korea.
Heundeul Bawi is a 16 tonne boulder that you can rock back and forth. Yes we're wearing couple's shirts.
There's a temple built on rocks.
And another one built in rocks.
There's a bear warning not to fall off rocks, and Koreans "sunbathing" on rocks with every bit of skin covered.
Ulsan Bawi is a large granite cliff. It stands at 873meters, and takes 808 stairs to get to the top.
Trees were growing out of rocks, and stairs stuck precariously on rocks.
808 is a lot of stairs.
The rocky peak gives a great 360 degree view, and was the highlight of the Seoraksan trip.
Red pepper love from Korea.
Trees were growing out of rocks, and stairs stuck precariously on rocks.
808 is a lot of stairs.
The rocky peak gives a great 360 degree view, and was the highlight of the Seoraksan trip.
Red pepper love from Korea.
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
October 15, 2009
Den & Sue
October 19, 2009
DADDIO
October 19, 2009
Linda