Gangwon-do (July 2015)

I was never that fond of Korean summer — it is way worse than where I am from — everything is sticky or just sticks to you because of the humidity. However, I got sick every time I went to the Philippines for school break, so my parents and I decided that I stay in Korea before my last semester in graduate school. My parents cannot risk that I get sick, as I was going to be busy with thesis and they just wanted me to be done with it and go home.

And so, it happened. I had to stay in Seoul that summer. My boyfriend and I were too occupied with school months before and had no definite plans. One of us suggested (it was probably me, since my boyfriend is not really the spontaneous type) to go out of town even for just two or three days and save ourselves from the all-we-see-are-gigantic-buildings-and-all-we-look-at-are-books mess that we were in. Since the last place we went to was Busan (located south of South Korea), we agreed to travel somewhere in another direction. We deliberated going to Jeolla-do or Gyeongsan-do, but finally decided to visit Gangwon-do, which is located east of the country.

Day One

My boyfriend rented a car for the trip. He did not want to create unnecessary suffering for ourselves by carrying luggages and materials for a three-day vacation. Renting a car was better because the places we planned to visit were quite distant from one another. Using public transportation seemed like an inconvenience in the middle of a humid summer with scattered rain showers. We were proven how smart this choice was later on.

Gangwon-do is a huge province in South Korea. It would usually take you three to four hours to get there from Seoul if you use a private vehicle. The weather was extremely summery and bright on our way to Gangwon-do. The roads were clear too, considering it is summer and everyone might be out on a vacation just like us. Korean highways are actually picturesque. Except for the constant fear of overspeeding, our ride had been smooth.

We arrived in Sokcho past lunch time. My boyfriend was the one who searched the best places to eat in the area, so he took me to this authentic Korean restaurant that sells a range of white tofu menu. The architecture of the restaurant itself exhibits an atmosphere you can only feel when you are in a Korean province. No unnecessary tall buildings on the backdrop either!

We arrived in the pension around four o’clock in the afternoon. The beach was calling us out already, but we still had some errands to run before having fun under the sun! After leaving our luggages in our room (and taking some more pictures), we went to the grocery two blocks away to buy the food we would be preparing and eating in our two-night stay.

On our way home from the grocery, we witnessed the beautiful sunset and just had to pause for a moment to enjoy the view.

For dinner, we prepared the food we bought from the grocery earlier and set up the barbeque grill provided by the pension we were staying in. It is really wonderful spending time with someone you love, eating barbeque over wine, while overhearing the relaxing sound of the sea some meters away from where you are sitting. That was, eventually, the end of the first day.

Day Two

We woke up early on the second day to catch the sunrise, which picture you can see on the header of this post. For summer, the early morning breeze was cool (or was it because it was bound to rain?). I cooked pancakes for us to eat, and we got ourselves ready to visit the famous Seoraksan.

Seoraksan National Park is actually quite vast. At the foot of the mountain, you can find a lot of Buddhist statues and sculptures. The mountains likewise house numerous Buddhist temples. My boyfriend and I could not cover its entirety, since that typically requires extreme mountain hiking for which I have no gear nor energy for. Instead, we decided to visit the Gwongeumseong Fortress located at the other side of the cable car.

Upon reaching the end of the ride, it had been quite a steep walk leading to the top of the mountain. I was actually thankful that the weather was not as sunny and humid as I was expecting it would be. The atmosphere was moist and cool, probably also because we were at the top of the mountain. Hiking while taking pictures had been sort of effortless because of that.

Below are more pictures of the hike leading to the top of the mountain.

We took a lot of pictures of ourselves upon reaching the peak of the mountain, but I won’t be putting those here. Those pictures were silly and embarrassing. Anyway, I wanted to particularly show you the photo below as a proof that we actually reached the top. If the clouds were not hovering, you would be able to see the mistifying range of mountains and the (deathly!) ground view. I could not walk without shaking and having the fear of slippering and throwing myself into the void. This earned a fit of laughter from my boyfriend, who kept teasing me endlessly to walk further.

More so, it started to drizzle while we were at the peak of the mountain. We had to cut our stay short and go back before it rains harder and before we find ourselves stuck waiting for the cable car ride back to the main entrance. Nevertheless, we had some hotteok (during summer!) before heading back.

Upon our arrival to the pension, we rested for an hour and ate late lunch (our leftover from last night’s dinner). Even if it was windy, my boyfriend and I challenged ourselves to a swim. Despite coming from a tropical country, I lost the dare because it was too cold and the waves were intense!

We finished our swim in the swimming pool of the pension. We cooked our own dinner once again afterwards, but not in the grilling area this time. Later on, we went outside for a stroll and then called it a day.

Day Three

Now we are on the last day of our trip. It felt like the rain kept getting stronger the longer we stay in Gangwon-do. We prepared to leave the pension and go directly to Pyeongchang. My boyfriend suggested visiting the Sheep Ranch in the area, since it is a popular site for locals.

The lovely thing about visiting during the rainy season is the apparent lack of tourists! We were two of the very few visitors, and we got to feed the animals. The animals were not stressed out either, so I sort of wondered how much anxiety they are in during the peak season.

After such a fun and wet tour in the ranch, we drove back to Seoul. We stopped for lunch on our way, and had what is known as the specialty dish in Gangwon-do, dakgalbi! Dakgalbi is made of marinated chicken stir-fried with rice cakes, vegetables, gochujang, and melted cheese!

It has been such an enjoyable three-day trip. It made me somehow sad since it was my last summer in Korea as a graduate student. Moreover, it has been a year already as of writing, so I have been reminiscing. Even though summer is the worst time to visit, I am actually thinking when I will be able to visit Korea (especially Gangwon-do) once again.