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We took a 3.5 hour bus from Seoul to Sokcho, a town in the North East region and quite close to the border. It was our first hostel of the trip and we had forgotten how good hostels can be when one is travelling. This one was called "the House" and was extremely clean, our room had air-con and TV along with the emergency escape kit, which like Seoul included a long length of rope - This time only on the third floor, so our abseiling skills would be far less critical.
The real plus of a hostel is the camaraderie and willingness to interact - Staying with us were a 3 Germans (Chris, Eva and Life) 1 American (Don) 1 Israeli (Azie), A Swiss girl (Murial) and a French Girl (Celine).
We all decided to go out for dinner together and Life (what a name) could speak Korean, so for once we actually knew what we were ordering (except for a side dish that turned out to be fried silkworm pupae). We all went back to the hostel picking up beer and Soju on the way and spent a few hours trading travelling stories and putting the world right, finally getting to bed about 3:00am.
The Seoraksan national park was on our doorstep, famous for amazing mountain scenery and hiking trails. However, the first day was cloudy and there would be low cloud hanging over the mountains, so we stayed in town. Hiring bikes we cycled around the local lake and walked part of the coastline.
The weather turned in our favour the next day, so we hopped on a local bus to the national park entrance and were immediately stunned with it's beauty. We selected a fairly modest 7 Kilometer jaunt to the waterfalls, which turned out to be up the side of a Mountain, partly trails and partly large sections of steep, almost vertical steps (I think the distance was measured on a flat map - Ignoring the principles of Pythagoras).
Along the way we met a Korean couple, the guy was 84 and looked like he would struggle getting to the shops, the woman slightly younger ……. They passed us on the trail. We could not let this happen so we surged and overtook them but they were relentless, every time we paused, there they were right up to us again (we could not believe it) …… She even had a walking stick but still they came …… Finally, we reached the top (ahead of them) but it wasn't the top. There was a final 0.4-kilometre vertical climb to finish and the other couple started off ahead of us ……... The race was on.
The view from the top was absolutely stunning, taking in the mountains, waterfalls and the sea ……. Wow, totally spectacular and well worth the pain and effort. A stairway to heaven indeed.
- comments
Carol Wow sounded well worth it. Fried silk worm pupae - you gotta be kidding !
Maureen P Yes...., but who won the race?
Rachel First observation it’s a while since you’ve spent time with and spoken about your family. You can’t beat a good beer and Chin wag. Very much looking forward to ours in 6 months. Can’t say I’m looking forward to the 3am finish but it will be fun I know that. Isn’t the world a marvellous place. The scenery and mountains were fabulous. As you say a real stairway to heaven.