Songnisan National Park

My friend Johnny and I wandered over to Songnisan this past weekend and it was an absolutely beautiful place.

Getting there: first, go to Daejeon (buses and trains are frequent). Next, go to Dongbu Intercity Bus Terminal (pictured below). If you're coming from the train station, leave exit 1, go under to cross the street, and the local 201 or 501 will take you there in about 10 minutes.

Here is the schedule for buses from Dongbu Bus Terminal to Songnisan. It takes about an hour and twenty minutes.

To get home, take a bus back to Daejeon. Here is a schedule of departures from Songnisan:

As for the trail itself... there are several routes suggested on Korea's National Park Service website and Korea in the Clouds blog. I was excited to do a longer loop course - 17.9 km! And was surprised it would only take 4.5 hours! Of course, this was foolish. In actuality the course is significantly longer. Walking on flat ground at a brisk pace is about 6 km an hour, so hiking this quickly was entirely ridiculous.

From where the buses drop you off, walk straight down the crowded street full of street vendors. Its about 1 km to the park entrance. Then, its a short walk to the temple- Beopjusa. The trail to Cheonhwangbong is smooth and flat the first 4 km. After that, its climbing up moss covered stairs and hiking up steep gradients.

This is one of the main reasons I had to see Songnisan next. This is a 33 m tall Buddha that is plated in actual gold. Its quite impressive.

Under the giant Buddha is a circular walkway with hundreds of smaller gold Buddhas, wrapping around to a big room with another large gold Buddha. That is the main one though, so it cannot be photographed.

Another reason to make the trip? This fantastic five story pagoda. Most pagodas in Korea are statues, things to look at but not functioning. This is one of the only ones here done in this style. I've always loved these, and know they are more common in other countries, like China, so it was fantastic to see this one in person.

Unlike most parks I've ventured to, this one had moss everywhere. The buildings, rocks, steps, fencing.. I loved it. Probably the most memorable part of the trail here.

Johnny is very enthusiastic about these cute little pagodas. Visitors can gather nearby rocks and build their own. Be careful though! Its bad luck to knock over someone else's pagoda, even if it is an accident.

At about 3:30, Johnny and I realized we would never make it to the peak and down by dark. We decided to play it safe and head back. I was pretty disappointed, but the combination of a late start in the morning, getting lost, dealing with soreness in my knees still, and the wrong trail time estimates, it was not surprising that we didn't finish.

Sokcho and Seoraksan

Sokcho is a fishing port town nestled in next to Seoraksan National Park. Laura and I headed up there for the holiday weekend; I alluded to the trip in my previous post. It was amazing. Forgive me if I don't go into detail, because I've already written an article for Compass. I'll post the link when it's published.

Also, my camera's battery died at the end of our second hike, so some of these pictures were taken on Laura's camera. Though, I did take the landscape ones I have posted here, obviously the ones of me, she took, and vice versa.

Sokcho's beach would probably be nice in better weather.

We ate an enormous amount of Korean barbecue.

Onto the exciting part! Here is a website with the descriptions of hiking courses in Seoraksan from the Sokcho area.

The first day we checked out a temple, took the cable car, and hiked up to the fortress. It was freezing outside and raining hard. We didn't feel comfortable on a strenuous hiking trail in those conditions, so we ended up at the jjimjilbang for the evening.

Gwongeumseong Fortress is an open area with jagged rocks. It was mildly terrifying seeing as everything was slick from the rain, and there were no guard rails. It is supposed to be the site of a former castle, but there is no evidence of that now.

Tiny pagodas stacked up by tourists

November 8, 2010

Daegu in the Fall

It is fall in Korea, and I couldn't be happier about it.

This weekend I went hiking with my friend Evan in Daegu. We were attempting to climb a trail to Gatbawi, which is a famous Buddha statue, but didn't end up making it to the top. Its a pretty long trail, we started late in the day, and didn't prepare for it ahead of time.

We did end up making it to a beautiful temple, however, which I loved.

This is Evan. Don't let the backpack fool you, it did not hold hiking gear.

Evan took this picture of me. I like it a lot, even though I look awkward in it.

The following day I went to the Daegu Arboretum with Corinne and Shelley.

There was some sort of festival going on there that we were unaware of, but it involved giant flower animals.

A dragonfly landed on Corinne and wouldn't leave her shirt. I think its a beautiful brooch.

There was also a huge glass greenhouse with cacti. It reminded me of the Frederick Meijer Gardens, which I miss.

This is Shelley. We threw leaves in the air together, it was great.

Corinne took this picture for me, so I could show you guys some more Korean food. We went out for Gamjatang, or hangover soup. It is made with pork spine, and you have to use the chopsticks to pull off the meat to eat it. It is really spicy and delicious.

For those that might be wondering, I have finished my 3rd month in Korea. The weather is great here still, not too cold. I have a bit of a cold, but the health care here is pretty cheap, so I'll see a doctor this week. I love Korea still. My students are wonderful, and I have made some great friends. My cat is the sweetest thing. My parents, sister, and I are going to Thailand in six and a half weeks. I am excited already.

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