====================================================================== Title: Korean Vacation 2021 Date: 2021-11-06 Link: https://spool-five.com/vacation/korean_vacation/ Word Count: 2560 ====================================================================== Seoul ----- -Thursday, September 2nd- Left the apartment and travelled to Seoul. The directors husband called me after I left to get the door code for the apartment. He apologised for not saying goodbye to me in person, it was so nice. That evening, I walked by a really nice river/stream near the hotel (near the City Hall station). I also happened upon a big, Catholic church (the central catholic church for Seoul I think). There was a little grotto where you could pray outside, so I sat for a while and said some prayers for Granny. [1] =>[1] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210902_111036.jpg [2] =>[2] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210902_165725.jpg [3] =>[3] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210902_171037.jpg [4] =>[4] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210902_171115.jpg [5] =>[5] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210902_175445.jpg -Friday, September 3rd- Went cycling. It was great! Cycled across the Han, then down to Yeoido. Ended up cycling all the way around the little Yeoido island thing, then finally making it into the park from the other side. Cycled around the park for a bit, but was getting paranoid about the bike rental system, so found a place to drop the bike off and got the subway back home. Had a coffee and a vape at the same place I would've had one more than a year earlier, when waiting for Texas. Met Michelle at Jamsil for dinner. [6] =>[6] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210903_131656_rotate.jpg [7] =>[7] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210903_131704.jpg [8] =>[8] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210903_135706.jpg -Saturday, September 4th- Went to meet SeonJeong at Seoul Station. She was giggly and nervous. I wore my shirt inside-out and she spotted it right away and helped me fix it. We walked from the station to the hotel. We passed lots of homeless people around the station. Later, we went to the palace near the hotel, and then walked around Myeong-dong. [9] =>[9] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210904_152936.jpg [10] =>[10] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210904_153129.jpg [11] =>[11] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210904_154640.jpg [12] =>[12] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210904_160306.jpg -Sunday, September 5th- We went cycling for a while. We crossed the Han river again, this time on a different bridge than I had gone on the previous Friday. The bridge was cool, it had a 'hill' kind of thing on it and it was fun to cycle down. She cycled really slowly in general, but we managed to travel quite far. We got the subway back from the 'rich' area of Seoul. Can't remember the name now. I also found out that one of the kids at the Hagwon (not from my classes) had tested positive for Covid. So, there was a bit of a panic. We went to get tested on Sunday, before cycling. There was a testing place very close to the hotel. We got the results early the next morning, they were negative. We had already changed our plans a bit though, deciding to stay in Seoul and extra day, to wait for the test results. [13] =>[13] https://spool-five.com/korimg//IMG_20210905_163456.jpg [14] =>[14] https://spool-five.com/korimg//IMG_20210905_175753.jpg -Monday, September 6th- We went to the National Museum of Korea. It was great. I didn't have to read any of the descriptions on anything, because SeonJeong already knew about everything (and much more). She told me a lot about the history of Korea and I loved listening to her. She seemed to know lots of interesting details about all kinds of people. Bought some presents for Briana and Gillian at the gift shop. [15] =>[15] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_153022.jpg [16] =>[16] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_153646.jpg [17] =>[17] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_154042.jpg [18] =>[18] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_154532.jpg [19] =>[19] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_160101.jpg [20] =>[20] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_161834.jpg [21] =>[21] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_162910.jpg [22] =>[22] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_163307.jpg [23] =>[23] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_164648.jpg [24] =>[24] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210906_174853.jpg Sokcho ------ -Tuesday, September 7th- 'Moving day' (this seemed to be a common term in Korea, both the director and Seonjeong used it to refer to travelling days). We went from Seoul to Sokcho. It was actually much quicker than I thought. The bus-ride was only just over two hours. We went to the pension from Sokcho. It seemed a bit iffy at first, but it was actually great. Probably my favourite place to stay out of all the hotels. There was a central, square room, with a bed and TV, and then two 'balcony' areas (they were closed off by windows, but still felt like balconies), one was a kitchen, and the other a dining area. The view from the dining area was incredible. There was a restaurant right next to the pension, so we went there for food. It was incredibly over-priced, but it had outdoor seating and the view was perfect. It was raining all day, but it was still warm. After eating, we walked around a nearby, small forest. It said the forest had been left there to shield the nearby Hanok village. It was quiet and beautiful. There was an old, manual mill thing. We both pushed it together with out feet. [25] =>[25] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_154035.jpg [26] =>[26] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_162013.jpg [27] =>[27] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_164227.jpg [28] =>[28] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_165736.jpg [29] =>[29] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_165830.jpg [30] =>[30] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210907_170036.jpg [31] =>[31] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210908_094511.jpg -Wednesday, September 8th- Our first day at Seoraksan. The guy from the pension actually gave us a lift there! SeonJeong loved that. On the way, we passed a lot of derelict 'resort' buildings - huge hotels and holiday villages that were falling apart and looked like ghost towns. I wondered a lot about how it happened. It looked incredible though, straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie. Seoraksan park itself was stunning. Definitely the highlight of the whole trip. It was probably the first time I was ever in a landscape like that, surrounded by such huge mountains. We visited a temple there, walked for a while toward a 'rocking rock' (we didn't make it all the way), then went for food. Oh, before the temple we also saw a huge statue of Buddha. Seonjeong taught me how to bow properly to Buddha. You have to bow either three or seven times. You start standing, 'gather' your prayer into a prayer-shape with your hands, then kneel and bow your head to the ground and lift your palms upward. Then you stand up again and repeat it all. You only put your palms up for Buddha. For a family member, for example, you keep your hands together. Also, you bow once for someone alive, and twice for someone dead. We had some Mackggoli (not sure how to spell this) with lunch and were both a bit tipsy. We got on the cable car and rode to the top of the mountain. Going there in a 'tipsy' state wasn't the best idea! I was extra-paranoid about someone (either me or her) falling off. It turned out fine though. It was misty that day, so we couldn't actually see much from the top of the mountain. It was still amazing to walk around somewhere so high up, even surrounded by mist. The mist made it all seem a bit more magical actually. After climbing to the highest (or, as high as I felt comfortable going in our drunken state!) point, we sat for a while and ate ice-cream. 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We checked out of the pension at around 10:30 and made our way into town. We were four hours early for the hotel check-in, so we left our stuff there and wandered down to the beach. The beach was beautiful. We sat on a bench under some trees for a while. Then, one of the 'swing chairs' became available and we rushed down for that. Those chairs would become 'ours' for the rest of our stay in Sokcho. Every time we would go to the beach, we'd sit on them relaxing. Usually, SeonJeong would lie against me and I would sit watching people or reading. It was so peaceful. After hanging out on the beach for a while, we went to a seafood/sashimi place next to the beach. I've never eaten so many fish in my life! It was actually delicious, especially with the Mackggoli. I was extra happy because SeonJeong seemed to love it so much. At one point I did eat a particularly strong fish (some kind of shellfish) and that slowed me down a lot. I became a lot more cautious and reluctant to dive into the rest of the meal after that. Still, we finished most of it between us, and made our way back to the hotel, where we relaxed for the rest of the day. [54] =>[54] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210909_113353.jpg [55] =>[55] https://spool-five.com/korimg/signal-2021-09-09-113632_1.jpg -Friday, September 10th- We visited Naksansa temple on Friday. It was a little south of Sokcho, not very far at all. It was wonderful. The whole temple 'complex' stood on a little forested penninsula jutting out into the sea. I loved every part of the area. You could actually go inside some of the temple buildings, which was a first for me. We made our way to the top of the complex, where there was a gigantic 'sea' Buddha. We had some ice-cream and some kind of Korean tea there (a 'five taste' berry tea). I wrote a 'wish' about Mayo winning the all-Ireland, and SeonJeong wrote one for her family. Then, we made our way down again. We visited the main temple-building, which was stunning inside. There were thousands of interesting decorations filling it. Then, we had some coffee overlooking the sea. We fed some tiny birds and bought some things from the gift shop. When we got back from Naksansa, we wen't down to the beach for a while. Then, we went for food at an 'Italian/Spanish' place near the beach. It was really good. I just got a tomato/beef spaghetti thing, but tasted different because the sauce was a bit spicy. It was delicious! I had wine with it, and we wanted another drink, so after we got some beers and the convience store and went down to the beach again to drink them. [56] =>[56] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_134103.jpg [57] =>[57] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_135851.jpg [58] =>[58] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_140352.jpg [59] =>[59] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_141620.jpg [60] =>[60] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_144905.jpg [61] =>[61] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210910_190034.jpg [62] =>[62] https://spool-five.com/korimg/signal-2021-09-10-152052.jpg [63] =>[63] https://spool-five.com/korimg/signal-2021-09-10-194830.jpg [64] =>[64] https://spool-five.com/korimg/signal-2021-09-10-194830_2.jpg [65] =>[65] https://spool-five.com/korimg/signal-2021-09-10-194910.jpg -Saturday, September 11th- Saturday was kind of a 'rest day' in the vacation. Still, we ended up going down to the beach in the late afternoon. It was much busier than the other days. There were speed-boats taking people up and down the waterline. It looked fun, but also terrifying. Needless to say, I wasn't brave enough to try it myself! But, it was fun watching others on it. This was also the only day the water was 'calm' at the beach, I should've gone swimming! Every other day it was too rough/dangerous. -Sunday, September 12th- Back to Seoraksan park. This time we went on a different trail that took us alongside a river/series of waterfalls that meandered along the mountains. Every part of the walk was so beautiful. We rested on rocks by the riverside. Little chipmunks would come from the forest to be fed by the people there. They came up so close to us! The final part of the trail was a 900-step climb to get a final view of the biggest waterfall. Somehow, we made it to the top! It really wasn't easy, though. We were so proud of ourselves for making it. Coming back down was even more difficult. Our legs were already tired from climbing so far, so around halfway down, they started feeling like 'jelly'. Every step we took, we could feel our legs shaking. The remainder of the journey back down wasn't easy either. At the bottom, I had an ice coffee, and SeonJeong had a delicious lemonade/honey drink. [66] =>[66] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_124446.jpg [67] =>[67] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_132041.jpg [68] =>[68] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_132534.jpg [69] =>[69] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_132859.jpg [70] =>[70] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_142248.jpg [71] =>[71] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210912_155121.jpg -Monday, September 13th- After Sunday's trip to the waterfalls, our legs (especially SeonJeongs) couldn't take any more heave exertion, so the rest of the trips were much shorter and more leisurly. On Monday, we just walked along a little walkway that circled around the nearest peninsula. Even though it was short, it was still really beautiful (helped a lot by the beautiful weather we had for these last few days - sunny, with fluffy clouds, and a nice, strong breeze). There was a barbed-wire fence around a lot of it, a remainder from the times when North Korean submarines would sneak into those areas. [72] =>[72] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210913_142129.jpg [73] =>[73] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210913_143208.jpg [74] =>[74] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210913_143511.jpg [75] =>[75] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210913_143812.jpg [76] =>[76] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210913_154713.jpg -Tuesday, September 14th- Again, we took it easy on this day. We took a bus to the other side of Sokcho (we were on the South side, so we went North). The streets we passed through looked 'familiar' to me, they looked similar to high-streets in UK/Ireland. It was the first time in Korea I had seen a city laid-out like that. Then, we went to a lighthouse/observatory, and back down to a popular 'sunrise' location - a Korean-style/Hanok-style gazebo jutting out into the waves. The waves were strong that day, and it was so mesmerising to look down at them crashing into the rocks. [77] =>[77] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210914_141050.jpg [78] =>[78] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210914_141441.jpg Seoul (again) ------------- -Wednesday, September 15th- Our last 'moving day'. We had breakfast on the hotel roof with stunning views. The journey back to Seoul took much longer than the outbound journey. There were road-works along the way, and heavy (chuseok-influenced?) traffic in Seoul. We made it to our destination though, the last hotel, which was far smaller than any of the previous ones. We ate chicken together. We lay together for a long time, talking and holding each other. The room only had one, tiny window, with 'bar-like' patterns outside it (part of the buildings design). It made the room feel like a prison. Not in a bad way though. I imagined our story, our experiences, being locked up inside us, safe there forever. [79] =>[79] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210915_111613.jpg [80] =>[80] https://spool-five.com/korimg/IMG_20210915_111626.jpg -Thursday, September 16th- We had breakfast and went to Seoul Station together. We said goodbye on the platform. As soon as she stepped on the train, I felt like I wanted to cry. I still couldn't though. It's been more than twenty years now since I've cried. I came close this time, close as I ever came. In the evening I went back to Dasan, to get my stuff from Ebone's. It was weird seeing the city again. Some things had already changed. I cycled my bike from my house to Ebone's. We played her new Nintendo Switch together until Yong got home. Then, we ordered chicken and watched the last episodes of Rick and Morty. It was late by the time I left. We wandered around together looking for the right bus stop. In the end, I got a taxi. The taxi driver was a nice, old man. He sped the whole way to the hotel. It felt strange, it felt like, after everything, after my almost two years in Korea, I was speeding home, too quickly.