Sokcho and Seoroksan NP

My next journey was Sokcho and Seoroksan National Park. The plan was simple. My bus was at 10:30. Maps projected it taking 45 minutes by bus to arrive at the bus station. I decided to leave at 8:45, giving myself double the projected journey time… it was not simple. I arrived at my first bus stop with all my stuff on my back, crossing the street 3 times before I find it. I looked at the Korean sign and saw the bus number written on the sign. “Good I’m at the right place” I thought. I read the bus comes every 10-15 minutes. Not a problem. Others waited with me. I ask a Korean girl if I’m at the right stop. She says yes. 10 minutes pass and I think ‘wow I must have just missed the bus’… 20 minutes pass and I think ‘oh the buses must be late’. 25 minutes pass, the bus drives by, it does not stop. Myself and 3 Koreans start to run after it. It continues on. I run after it until the next bus stop. It doesn’t stop there either. The stress begins. ‘Not to worry’ I think to myself. Maybe the next will come ‘I’ll give it 5 minutes’. It doesn’t come. While I wait I look up an alternative bus. I jog to the new bus stop. My phone says it won’t come for 30 minutes… I look at other options…. Another bus around the corner is supposed to come in 5 that will take me there… I run to the next block. 12 kilos bouncing on my back. The sign says this bus won’t come for 35 minutes. I run back. As I run, the bus goes by. I want to scream. I’m now projected to get to the next bus station at 10:23 if the bus shows up when it says it will. I wait. I download the taxi app. It requires all my personal information. Annoyed I begin to fill it in. The bus arrives. I’m projected to arrive at 10:28 now. The bus stops at the station, I sprint to my terminal. There is no bus there. It’s 10:28. I think *maybe my bus is late*. It’s 10:34. Frick. Nobody is even around. 10:37, I get ready to leave to buy a new ticket. A German guy shows up, he says hes on the 10:40 bus to the same city. I pause. I check my ticket. My bus is the 10:40 bus. 1 minute later it arrives and I get on. Relieved. I pass out for the 3 hour bus ride, exhausted.

When the bus arrives in Sokcho I’m happy to be there and plan to relax for the afternoon. I take my stuff to the hotel, which is just across the street and find the German guy. We drop out bags and walk to towards the beach together. As we walk we are stopped by two Korean women. I know something is up immediately. They approach us as a pair, side by side, really demanding our attention. It’s clear they want something, and are not just being friendly. 

Before traveling to any new country I look up the common scams that take in tourists. When you don’t know a culture or an area its really easy to be taken in by something that would be obvious to a local because ou are in the midst of the newness and everything feels a bit unfamiliar, so I make sure I know what to look out for. The common scam, if you can call it that, in Korea is cultists. They approach foreigners, who are often isolated in Korea and easy to pick out, and try to get them to join their cults or be used in their propaganda. A friend of a friend at my last hostel ended up being taken in with some cultists for an entire day before realizing what was happening as they often offer to show foreigners ‘an authentic Korean cultural experience’ if you just get on the bus with them. (If this isn’t a huge red flag idk what is, but I think its easier than it sounds to be taken in, I talk with random strangers and take suggestions of things to do from them all day everyday, I just don’t get on a bus with them, but I can imagine a situation where you don’t really realize what you are doing).

So as these girls approached and said ‘Hello can we speak with you please?’. I immediately said, “no thanks!” And continued walking. My German friend did not read up about the cults and said “Oh! Do you want to practice English!? She’s American, shes speaks really good English!” (His English is perfectly good so it’s not like he couldn’t have spoken with them if that’s what they wanted). As he stopped to talk I realized he did not know what was happening. I turned back around and said “Sorry, we are not interested, thank you” and grabbed him and continued walking. He seemed a bit appalled, but then I explained who they were (later confirmed when I was walking again alone and got asked if I knew about ‘our mother prophet’) he was like “oh they chose the wrong person, they wouldn’t want me, I’m too logical to be taken in”. I wished him luck in his journeys before we parted ways.

I spent the rest of the day sitting in a beautiful park along the bay, snacking on delicious foods I got from the grocery store and people watching before retiring early to my hotel room to plan my next few days.

The next morning I got up early to go to Seoroksan National Park. It was incredible. I wish I had more time there. You walk in through a river valley in 1000m sharp craggy mountains burst from the ground. They are nearly pillar-like in their steepness and are covered in dark green pine trees and orange red and yellow maples, oaks, and birches. The trees are short and stunted from the limited soil, but make a dense beautiful canopy. I hiked 2 mountains totaling nearly 2000m of climbing and 10 miles of hiking over the course of the day. It was so so many stairs and my legs felt like jelly, and I certainly did not bring enough snacks, but it was so magnificent. Just one of the most beautiful places. Truly this is a one of a kind place. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was. 

That evening I returned to my hotel, tired and happy, on the bus I ran into a group of Mormon missionaries from the US which was very strange as well. I wonder how these cults do so well in Korea, or if it’s just a weird cult day. Strange. 

I went to a nearby restaurant and had 2 dinners, a potato pancake (will with leeks and it was the size of a dinner plate) as well as ‘kimchi soy bean soup’ - I asked for not spicy. They have a different definition of spicy here, it was spicy, but the potato pancake and the various sides cooled it down enough that my hungry stomach out competed by tongue’s desire to not be on fire.

 

A common thing with ordering Korean food is you get a lot of sides. At minimum there are 3, 1. Kimchi 2. Something pickled (idk what it is but it’s usually yellow orange in color) 3. A salty paste (usually a bean base). But there are typically more like 6-8. Including a fillet of fish;  pile of tiny chili shrimp or tiny (less than an inch) fish - all eaten in their entirety; seaweed; a cold stringy greens; lotus root; green chili pepper; etc.