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| Outside Gwangju train station |
For the past two weeks, I, have been on holiday. While Sam went to Florida, I decided to go traveling a bit around Korea - but I might have gotten a little carried away with the camera. Because I have so many pictures, I might use 1 or 2 or 3 or more entries to describe my trip. Here goes!
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| Move Star! |
I met JayHyun at the bus station at 1:00 – we headed to Busan, where we took a bus to Gwangju. It was dark when we got there, so we decided to try and head downtown, thinking there would be something to do and a place to stay there. We found a map sign right outside the station, so we took a picture and tried to follow it. Unfortunately we were directionally challenged and ended up going the wrong direction. We turned around and decided just to get a hotel around the station. We found a place, went up, and noticed the computer in the corner! Perfect! Research time!
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| Hotel Hallway |
JayHyun found a place to eat so we decided to try and go there! We left, heading for the subway station. Unfortunately we again were directionally challenged and headed in the wrong direction. Giving up, we took a taxi to the restaurant. I’m not sure exactly why this place was special – there were autographs on the wall though, and the food was really really good! Because the taxi was so expensive on the way up there, we found the subway and headed back on it. Then, sat around watching tv and eventually crashed for the night.
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| JayHyun with the side dishes! |
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| Main Course! |
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| Subway Ride |
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| Just a cute little Mascot |
On Monday, we woke up as early as we could – we were heading to the mountains! We hightailed it to the bus station where we got a ticket to somewhere (I forgot). We got to the terminal there, and people were telling us we couldn’t go up to Songgwang-sa (the temple we wanted to see in Jogyesan Provincial Park) because there was too much snow. Luckily for us, a bus came in about 5 minutes that could take us up – so we went.
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| Path to the Park |
Songgwang-Sa is an important temple because it is one of the oldest Zen temples in Korea, as well as being in the movie Little Monk. We walked through the park up to the temple – there was no one around and snow EVERYWHERE.
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| Entrance Gate |
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| Just a monk walking down the road...no big deal |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| Songgwang-Sa |
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| After temple hike |
I really liked just walking in the snow – no one jibbergabbering or getting in my walking space. It was nice. The temple was beautiful too – we took a few pictures then kept walking through the park – we had some time to kill before the bus came to take us back to Gwangju.
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| After temple hike |
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| Snack Bar! |
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| Mugak-sa Temple |
When we arrived, we took the subway to May 18th memorial Park, where we saw another temple (Mugak-sa Temple), a tower (Owolru Tower), and the memorial for the May 18th Massacre.
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| Mugak-sa Temple |
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| Memorial for the May 18th Massacre |
After eating lunch, we headed back to the bus station yet again – this time destination Mokpo. When we arrived, it was again dark. We found a bus that took us to the train station, where we were able to procure a map and figure out what was going on.
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| Street Lights of Mokpo |
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| Street Lights of Mokpo |
We took a little walk up to Yudalsan Park, where we spent a good chuck of time running around taking pictures. Eventually we got to cold and hungry so we headed back to town to eat and sleep.
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| Yudalsan Park |
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| Yudalsan Park |
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| Yudalsan Park |
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| Yudalsan Park |
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| Our TV and complementary toothbrushes |
When it was time to find a hotel, we headed back to the train station area to scope the scene. All of a sudden I’m accosted by a little old woman making sleeping gestures at me. JayHyun comes to my rescue and starting speaking to her. She wanted to rent out a room to us for 15,000 a night. Suddenly we were walking up so creaky old staircase after this creaky old woman, who showed us a tiny little room with some blankets on the floor and a TV in the corner. And that was where we were sleeping! It wasn’t the cleanest place ever, and there was no hot water for a shower – but it was cheap and it was warm.
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The bed
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The next day we woke up early to head to Oedal-Do, a tiny little island knows as "Love Island". We walked to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry over to the island.
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| Ferry Ride |
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| Sunrise on the way there |
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| Sleeping on the Ferry - there are little wooden blocks you can use for pillows! |
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When we arrived on the island, it was completely deserted! It was like a love island ghost park!
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| Welcome to the island! Not as green-looking as the map indicates. |
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| Empty swimming pool |
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| Ice and snow |
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| When no one is around, the tiki-huts just fall apart! |
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| The sandy beach..... of trash. |
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| Staircase up to the garden. |
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| Love Garden! |
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| The ponds were frozen, so we took the opportunity to take pictures with some statues! |
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| They were some good pictures! |
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| Another beautiful beach on Love Island |
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| Lighthouse |
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| Just a little something I picked up on the ferry ride back to Mokpo! |
While on the ferry, we met a women from Incheon who was also traveling around Korea. She recommended a restaurant for us to try.
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| A museum display of our lunch - octopus soup! |
After eating, we headed to a few museums, then wandered over to see The Gatbawi rocks, two rock formations that people think are the shape of two monks wearing straw hats.
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| Hanging out at the Natural History Museum |
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| The Gatbawi Rocks during the day |
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| LIGHT SHOW! |
After rock viewing and some dinner, we headed off to Wando, the next stop on our itinerary.
The next morning, we awoke and boarded a ferry to Bogildo, a nearby island. On this island was the garden Seyeonjeon, built by a famous poet. Nearby was a park that was supposed to have his poems hanging from trees.
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| Another sunrise boat ride. |
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| The walk to the garden |
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| Seyeonjeon Garden |
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| Seyeonjeon garden |
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| The nearby park - these poem are NOT in the trees |
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| Just waiting for the ferry to come pick us back up |
After we arrived back to Mokpo, JayHyun headed back to Pohang and I stayed in town. I still wanted to see Wando tower and Wando's famous rock beach that I had been hearing about.
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| Walk to the Tower |
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| View from the Tower |
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| Wando Tower |
After viewing the tower, I managed to get a ride to the beach. By then it was dark, but it was still a really great night. I was able to get a taxi back to Wando, and sleep in my first JimJilBang
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| What the Beach looked like at night |
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| What it would have looked like if it had been daytime and I had someone to take a picture of me on it |
A JimJilBang is a Korean Sauna open 24hours. You go in and take a shower with 20-30 of your new closest friends. Then, you put on the special outfit they give you and head upstairs to mingle. You have the option of going into the hot room, going into the cold room, going into the cafeteria, going into the TV room, or going into the sleeping room. Because there is a sleeping room and the place is open 24hours, many people choose to sleep here.
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| JimJilBang |
My Experience: This was going to be my first time at a JimJilBang. I was a bit scared, but of course, I am SO brave so I did it anyway! I walk into the bath room and am completely flabbergasted! There are naked women around me everywhere! Old woman, young woman, children, every type and every age! At first I was a little weirded out, but I got over it and relaxed. I put my things in a locker and headed to the shower room to get clean. I took a shower, sat in a hot tub for a while, then headed back in to get dressed. This is where the trouble started - I didn't know what to do! Do i put on this outfit they gave me, or just wear my clothes and change there? And where is there? And do I bring my stuff with me? So many questions, and of course I was unable to ask anyone! Lucky, I spied a little old woman wearing the same outfit that I was holding in my hand! She must be going to the same place! I was able to convey to her that I had no idea what I was doing, so she gestured for me to put the outfit on now, and leave my stuff in a locker. When she saw I was ready she went to a door and beckoned me through. She was ahead of me the whole time, so i would walk behind her and she would continue to beckon. Because she was so old and small, it reminded me of a horror movie, where someone is following a creepy old ghost woman through a haunted house, because she would get ahead, point and beckoned, and then rush off. We went upstairs and she called me over to a blanket pile to get a blanket. When I got my blanket and looked around, she was calling me over to a little cave. When I went into the little cave, she was sitting on the floor and patting the ground next to her. I guess that was where I was supposed to sleep. I think I should take a minute and explain this "cave". It was a little cave, but it was a very hot little cave. It was a heat room and VERY heated. I laid down next to her, but was almost suffocated by the heat! I don't know how, but she was able to fall right asleep! As soon as I heard her breathing, I headed to a different and less intense room and proceeded to seep in a comfortable temperature.
I will continue this adventure in another blog.....I think this one is getting a bit long - just look for Part2!
Songgwang-Sa is an important temple because it is one of the oldest Zen temples in Korea, as well as being in the movie Little Monk. We walked through the park up to the temple – there was no one around and snow EVERYWHERE.
haha @ all these creaky little old ladies you meet!
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