Seasonal
After all the stomach stretching and exercise at Chuncheon, we hopped on the bus for our coastal destination of Sokcho. The ride along curvy roads was shorter than we expected and we had arrived and found a motel by lunch time. Lucky for us, we were staying at a place 3 blocks from the beach and a 25 minute bus ride to Seoraksan National Park, one of the most beautiful in the country – so we’re told. We had also been told to avoid going in July because not only is it the rainy season, but it is also the high-season for crowds. The rainy part was true enough because it has pretty much rained every day we’ve been in Korea, however, I don’t think this “high season” has started yet. Places here seem to be eerily closed and the streets kind of empty, like a town at the beginning of a Stephen King novel.
Our first day was spent being lazy on the beach. I don’t know how we got so lucky as to get a full day of sun with a light breeze off the water. It was a Monday, too, so while most people were at work (suckers) we almost had the beach to ourselves.
We are now no longer as white as we once were. We’re kind of red right now, actually; no more beach days for awhile.
Anyway, we wanted to test out the hiking in the area so, today, took advantage of the cooler, overcast weather and headed for the hills. Indeed, it is a beautiful park, not unlike the Alberta national parks, but it must be spectacular in the autumn when the trees are turning.
One thing that was fairly different than what I’m used to while hiking is the restaurants. We hiked a couple of different routes and each was interrupted by a restaurant every 1.5km or so. It was odd, to round a bend and come across a couple dozen tables set up outdoors adjacent to a fully functioning kitchen, freezers of ice cream, fridges full of pop and beer and Korean pop music drifting out into the wilderness. Even the chipmunks must know the lyrics by now.