I'm going to write this blog with more detail than I normally provide because I discovered while researching this trip that the majority of information available is on blogs like my own. Also, a lot of the information is outdated an incorrect. So, if you came across this blog while researching your own adventure, read away. All information is up-to-date as of May 2010!
Saturday morning started early... 7am. Don't laugh... we don't get home from work to eat dinner/shower/pack until 11:30pm! Nick and I met Michelle and Sandra at the Express bus terminal, which was luckily only subway stops away from my apartment! Made the morning easy to deal with. We arrived at the subway and had to navigate through the biggest subway station ever to find the bus station. It literally took us 25 mins to walk from the train to the bus station! Crazy! After purchasing our tickets (23,000w for the first-class bus, buses leave at least once an hour) we settled into our seats for the 4 hour trek to Samcheok.
The bus ride was pretty painless.. we played video games, listened to music, and played UNO to pass the time. The rest stop was a nice break... we picked up some snacks and got to stretch our legs.
After arriving in Samcheok our first stop was the tourist information center directly outside the bus terminal, which happened to be closed. We decided to brave it on our own and start walking through town in the direction our map showed the ocean. You can't see the ocean from the bus station... so we were hoping we would end up there! After walking for 20 or so mins and having no luck, we decided to stop and ask a lady at the pharmacy if we were heading the right way. It turns out it was a much longer walk than we expected, so we hopped in a cab and rode the rest of the way. The harbor was amazing. Huge boats along side small little fishing boats, street lined with tanks of fish outside restaurants, waiting to be eaten. It was busy and smelly and wonderful! Getting towards the end of the harbor main street we got out when we saw a min-bak. A min-bak is a small guest house that is an alternative to hotels. We wanted to stay on the beach, so this was our best bet. (Note to foreigners, the min-baks are above a couple seafood restaurants and only in Korean... so if you don't speak Korean you will have a hard time locating one.) We made our way into the min-bak and uploaded our bags. We only paid 40,000w for the night... which is supppper cheap! Score!
After we were settled we jumped in another taxi and took the 5-7 min drive back downtown. We walked around a little bit and found a korean restaurant to have some lunch. Delish! We then went back to the tourist information center to get the times for the bus going to Haeshindang Folk Village (it's bus 24, comes fairly often by the car rental place with the red sign at the end of the bus terminal road... you'll see it!). After 40 minutes on a curvy road we finally arrived at the park. What other blog say is correct... the bus driver will start making a small commotion in Korean to tell people who want to go to the park to get off. You can't really see it from the road, and nothing is in English. It's by far the most popular stop at the 40 min mark, so if you see a bunch of people piling off the bus, you're probably there! Here is the entrance!
Here are some pictures we took at the park...enjoy!
After the fun day at the park we hung out on the beach waiting for the 6:30pm bus (which may be the last of the day). What I didn't see on any research for this trip is where to get the bus! You can walk up the length of the park and catch the bus at the top.... or you can exit by the beach and walk past all the fish vendors, past the light house, and out to the road. Once on the road, go right and walk for probably 5 mins until you see the bus stop on the right side. There is no sidewalk... so just watch for cars! There is a tourist info booth near the exit, but he told us the wrong information for the bus stop... so, trust him at your own risk!
Once back in Samcheok we walked around the harbor looking for dinner... which turned into quite the ordeal. Michlle and I weren't into eating raw fish or clams or squid... any of that stuff! So we decided to eat ramen, and let San and Nick eat the fishy stuff. Some of the restaurants we looked at were $150 for some fish! Holy moly... you think it'd be cheaper on the beach! We opted for eating at the restaurant under our min-bak for a reasonable price, and they let Michelle and I bring outside food to the table so we could all eat together. They were really nice!
Staying the night in the min-bak was interesting. They had the heat on, so the floor was scorching hot! It wouldn't have been bad if the weather hadn't have been so warm! Some drunk/rowdy guys made quite the racket at 3am... but other than that the night was pretty uneventful. Our TV even had English shows on!
Sunday was one mis-hap after another, but turned into a really fun day. We got some breakfast at Dunkin Donuts in town... then went to catch the bus to the cave systems near Samcheok. Well, not one.. but two people told us the wrong place to wait for the bus... so we ended up missing it. The next bus wasn't for hours, so we decided to make a plan B. We started out at the Buddhist Temple, which was windy and crisp and beautiful to look at!
Next stop was the Beach Sculpture Park. Don't let the name fool you... it's actually on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Sometimes Koreans confuse beach and ocean... blah. After the luster wore off (20 mins) we caught a taxi back to the min-bak to gather our bags. Next was some yummy lunch, a little shopping, then back to the bus terminal. The ride was quiet. Played a few games, napped a little, snacked a little.
So, the weekend was amazing.... I'm SOOO happy we went. It was the perfect break.
<3
These are only a few of the 200 pics we took over the weekend... check my facebook for the whole she-bang!
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