lao-ocean-girl

We arrived in Kangneung a little later than expected because Readon woke up late, and we were behind schedule by about two hours. One we arrived on the East coast, we made Seorak-san our main excursion for the day. Our first stop was some temple on the way to Yangyang. As you can see, I’m not good with remembering things.

[Check out the entire Flickr album HERE.]

After a short stop there, we made it to a small lighthouse on the coast. Lo and behold, what did we see along the path?!

A few years ago, a photographer snapped this photo of us at the Yangyang Salmon Festival, and it has been used ever since for advertisement for the festival.

We then took the backroads to some “famous” restaurant for lunch. By the looks of it, I’m on a dongdongju binge. By binge, I mean 2-3 cups.

Unfortunately, Ras didn’t fully understand what we were having for lunch. Cold noodle soup is actually one of the few Korean foods he dislikes. It tasted good, but I personally prefer hot soups too.

Outside the restaurant were beautiful rice fields. It’s harvest time.

I had forgotten my lens cap in the restaurant and ran back inside to retrieve it. While I was gone, Ras snapped this photo.

“Oh no! Raswan, watch out! The creepy serial killer in the back seat is about to slit your throat!!!!”

We finally made it to Seorak-san as the sun was setting and people were leaving the grounds. It was getting dark, but we made it there, so we decided to at least take the 8000 won cable car up.

In the picture above, you can see Sokcho city to the left, and the ocean is in the horizon. Only 10% of the trees there were ablaze with Fall’s reds, oranges, or yellows. Still, the few I saw were very beautiful.

At the top, I had some guy take a picture of the three of us. The annoying thing is, he only took ONE! Come on, it’s digital. It doesn’t cost any more money to take 5 pictures and let the owner of the camera choose the best one. Instead, I had to choose the ONLY one. (I’m sure Reardon didn’t appreciate that photo, but hey… what can I do?)

It was really cold – about 10 degrees Celsius, and REALLY windy. From the photo, it looks like I’m have a great time, but look carefully at my fist. You just might see drops of blood trickling from my hand because my fingernails are dug in so deeply into my palms, due to the excruciating cold.

The boys tried to keep from falling down the mountain.

Happy to get back in the car, we drove back to Kangneung and checked into the Donga Hotel. Rooms were 40,000 or 50,000 won, and we chose the latter. I’d highly recommend it since it’s stumbling distance home from any downtown bar or restaurant.

The night was spent at The Warehouse, where there was a pool tournament going on. Raswan beat “big Ryan,” but lost the next round.

In the above picture is Lee, Raswan, and John. Lee is Ras’ former boss of three years and the two of them started “The Warehouse” when Ras was still in Kangneung.

The next day, we decided not to go the the Yangyang Salmon festival because 1) we didn’t pre-register to catch a salmon, 2) it’s only fun when you’re actually catching a fish there, and 3) it was TOO cold. Instead, we drove out to the countryside and had coffee at the Terarosa Coffee Factory. Ras and I had been there three years ago when it first opened. Back then, they served only coffee, and no food. It has expanded quite a bit.

I couldn’t pass up dessert with coffee! Here we have tiramisu and cheese cake. The tiramisu was delicious!

After coffee, we headed for Gyeongpo Beach. Reardon told us that the minbaks and mom and pop stores had all been torn down during the time PyeongChang was bidding for the Winter Olympics. It seems none of those people on the beach had any land rights to the property, and were just squatting there.

Before: May 2006 (See the green Family Mart sign in the back?)

After: Now (The Family Mart sign is under the sun.)

We then went to the Hyundai Hotel for a glass of wine before going back home. It was a beautiful day and the view was equally as beautiful. If you haven’t been, definitely make a trip out to Kangneung. It’ll be worth it, especially in the summer.

Back home we go…

Here’s a piece of advice to end this long post. If you’re ever on a road trip with friends, playing “20 Questions” with adults in not fun. Raswan chose “Tiger Wood’s Gatorade contract” and “the Maldives,” while I chose a “horseshoe.”