Gangwon Province

It is early January here in southern Korea and I am staring out the window at the rain that is falling (yes, I said rain).  I can’t help but grin as I recall the many Facebook statuses I’ve recently read from friends and family back in America complaining about all of the snow and freezing temperatures.  To be fair, we do get some cold temperatures in Changwon, but we have yet to experience them.  However, if you live in Changwon and want to see snow, you have to go find it.

This was the goal as Johann and I set out for Gangwon province during our short vacation.  We wanted to do some scenic photography, preferably snow-covered, and Gangwon province, a mountainous, rural region up in the northern part of Korea seemed like the perfect place to go.  An in interesting side note, Pyeongchang, in Gangwon province, will be the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics. 

We departed Monday afternoon with nothing planned except for our first stop, Chuncheon.  Chuncheon is the capital, and largest city, in Gangwon province, but that’s not saying much.  After six hours of travel, we walked around looking for an acceptable motel.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing and planning for the next day.

Motel Room

My First Bidet!!!  (It wasn't as great as I've heard people say it is.)

We made the decision to spend the next day in and around Chuncheon.  We find a park with dozens of sculptures on display.  Many of the sculptures consisted of nude women and children in various poses.  It’s still shocking that Korean culture is considered to be conservative considering such displays are not uncommon in Korea.  In addition to these “liberal” sculptures, there is a park devoted to toilets in Suwon, and another park devoted to erotic sculptures on Jeju Island.  I have yet to see either, but both are on my to-do list.

Weirdest children's game I've ever seen!

I wonder what artist thought, "I'm going to make a sculpture of a little naked girl catching a giant fish."

She might not be nude, but when approached from a certain angle, it still looks wrong!

Um.......no comment!

Baseball....Pencil Sharpeners.....Roseanne..............Ok, now I'm good!

After the park, we took the train out to Gugok Waterfall.  To get there, we had to hike up a snow-covered path through the valley.  At the end, after climbing the stairs, we were able to gaze upon the frozen falls, hanging lifelessly over the edge of the cliff.  The highlight of the waterfall trip, however, had to be the young girl who yelled down the stairs to her mother that she needed to hurry up because she is the slowest…in perfect English!!!  Our jaws dropped hearing her accent-less speech!

No trip to Chuncheon would be complete without trying 닭갈비 (dakgalbi), the dish that put Chuncheon on the map.  There are literally streets devoted to this dish.  It is a spicy chicken stir-fry often grilled right at the table in front of you.  The dish is so popular with tourists that, when Johann and I entered the restaurant for dinner, the ajumma didn’t even take our order.  She just greeted us and asked, “닭갈비?” 

닭갈비

The next morning, we left Chuncheon for nearby Yanggu, a very small town near the border with North Korea.  We chose Yanggu because of the lakes that are nestled in the mountains nearby.  In the brochure for Yanggu, fishing is advertised as a year-round activity, so we were looking forward to a relaxing afternoon fishing and drinking whiskey.  We show the brochure to a taxi driver who nods and drives us 15km into the mountains.  He drops us off at the fishing park next to the lake and takes off.  There’s nobody in sight!  We go to the nearby pension where we are told that there is no fishing until spring.  Dejected, we walk around the lake for a little while before calling a taxi to come take up back into town.

We would have loved to go back to the lake at night to see the stars, but did not feel it was worth 35,000 won round-trip for the taxi, nor the hassle of trying to call somebody to come get us out in the mountains at that time of night.  The lesson we learned is if we are going to travel in remote places, it’s better to have your own car.  This is why both Johann and I will be obtaining Korean driver’s licenses in the near future.

Anyway, we had previously noticed a walking path along the river near our hotel.  We figured this to be a possible location to try our luck at stargazing.  Long after sunset, we headed out to the path.  While we were able to see the stars, it was nowhere near the brightness or clarity we were hoping for.  It is amazing how even a small town such as Yanggu can create enough light pollution to diminish the view of the nighttime sky!

Despite a few disappointments along the way, we were satisfied as we headed back to Changwon the next day.  It was a much-needed change of scenery from the urban life that I have been accustomed to the past couple years.  Also, and I don’t quite know why this is, but it was also nice to not see many foreigners during our travels.  It’s not that I think foreigners in Korea are annoying or insufferable but for some reason, I was happy not to see any for a couple days. 

Gangwon Province provides a perfect getaway for someone in Korea looking to get out of the city and into the scenic countryside for a short while.  I wouldn’t want to live there as a foreigner, but I do hope to return, with a car, in the near future. 

My Cotton (2nd) Anniversary in Korea!

Two years ago today, I exited the plane at Incheon and took my first steps on Korean soil.  I can't believe it's already been two years!  Looking back, my second year was even better than my first.  Much of my first year here was spent bug-eyed.......

as I took in everything going on around me.  Once I had soaked in everything, I was able to enjoy life in Korea even more.  This is not to say there weren't any surprises during my second trip around the sun here, but they were fewer and further between.

My contract ends in February, and I'm not sure if I'm going to resign with my boss, or even if I will stay in Changwon for that matter, but I sure hope I can stay another year in Korea.  I still haven't had time to do everything I wanted to do here.  Things on my to-do list for year number three are as follows:

1.  Visit Jeju Island
2.  Make Kimchi
3.  See the East Coast
4.  Hike Jirisan and Seoraksan
5.  Do a Temple Stay

6.  Tour the DMZ
7.  See the Toilet Park (yes, this actually does exist!)

When I turn my calendar to December 2014, and all of these are checked off my list, I will consider year number three to be successful. 

I can't let this anniversary go by without getting myself a present.  The appropriate gift for a second anniversary is cotton (I admit, I had to look that up!) so maybe I'll buy myself a pair of graphic socks that Koreans seem to love to wear!

Anyway, I have to keep this brief because the NIU Huskies are about to play in the MAC Championship with a BCS Bowl on the line.  Even in Korea, there's no way in hell I will miss it!  GO HUSKIES!!!

Taiwan: Part 3

DAY 5

The next morning saw us depart early to catch a train back to Taipei before heading to our next destination, Tamsui, a coastal city on the northern tip of Taiwan just outside of Taipei.  For the afternoon, we headed out to explore the city.  Near our hostel was a street similar to the night market with many fruit and street food vendors, restaurants, and shops.  After that, we meandered over to Fort Santo Domingo, a fort first built by the Spanish, later used by the British as a consulate, and now is a tourist destination.  To cap off the afternoon, we went to fisherman’s wharf to walk around and see the views of the river, mountains, and sea.

He wasn't getting any of my breakfast!

Xincheng (Taroko National Park) Station

View from the balcony at the Tamsui Hostel

Old Street (Market)

Fort Santo Domingo

British Consular Residence at Fort Santo Domingo

I finally found shoes in Asia that fit me!!!!!

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Best name I've ever seen for a boat!

At this point of our trip, both Lisa and I were exhausted and much in need of some R&R time.  It was the perfect opportunity to go to Xinbeitou, an area near Tamsui famous for its many hot springs.  After walking around a while and getting lost, we finally find a place we deem acceptable.  It only cost a bit more than US $1 to enter.

After fumbling around with the lockers and the shower, (both were pay per use), it was finally time to enter the hot springs.  It didn’t take long to get used to the sulfur smell from the water and once I did, it was a very relaxing evening.  There were three tiers of pools, each one hotter than the one below it.  The top pool’s temperature was between 45°C to 50°C (113°F-122°F).  I started in the lowest pool and worked my way up.  The top pool was mostly used by a bunch of old men and when I finally made my way up there, they were watching me with an expression that seemed to say, “Yeah, right.  Good luck buddy.”  The top pool was SCALDING!!!!!  It took almost 10 minutes, but I finally was able to submerge myself up to my neck.  Even then, I could only take about 5 minutes before I had to take a dip in one of the cold pools.  Moving between the different pools was very enjoyable.  It was a perfect night relaxing the muscles while soaking up the sulfuric water under the nighttime sky.  Needless to say, I slept like a baby that night!

The result of bathing in the hot springs!

DAY 6

The hot springs were very relaxing, but we were not finished with our down time.  The next day was to be our day at the beach so back to the train station we went and headed to Fulong Beach, a popular beach on the northeast coast of Taiwan.  Other than being very windy at times, it was a perfect day (especially for someone with pale skin like me) for lying in the sand, reading, eating a sub sandwich, and some swimming.

Fulong Train Station

Fulong Beach Entrance

It was very windy at times!!!!!

On the way back to the hostel in Tamsui, we decided to try a local delicacy called iron eggs.  These dark brown/black eggs have been stewed for days until pickled.  Like the stinky tofu, it is widely considered a must try item when visiting Taiwan, and also like the stinky tofu, it was one bite and in the trash.

I don't know what this was but it was on display in one of the Taipei Metro stations.

Iron Eggs

DAY 7

With our energy restored, our last full day was spent in Taipei.  We started the day by going to the Taipei Zoo.  Our goal was to see the pandas and possibly even the baby panda that we had read about.  The panda house was our second stop, but unfortunately, the only panda we could see was napping.  We promised to stop by later after touring the rest of the zoo.  Overall, it was a very nice zoo, but nothing spectacular to set it apart from any other zoo I have been to.  We revisited the panda house on our way out and luckily, the panda was up and moving about.  The baby panda was nowhere to be seen however.

I don't know what it is about Taipei and weird statues!!!  This one is outside the Taipei Zoo!

Upon leaving the zoo, we heading to the Maokong Gondola just down the street.  The glass-floored gondola offers many scenic views of Taipei, the surrounding mountains, and the forest canopy as it takes you to the top of a mountain to Maokong, a tea growing area of Taiwan.  After a quick dinner, the rest of the evening was spent at a teahouse/café on the mountain watching the sunset over the city of Taipei.

Glass Bottom Floors of the Gondola

Maokong

View from Teahouse

Gondola Station On Top of Mountain

Gondola View of Taipei

Gondola View of Taipei 101

DAY 8

We had some time to kill on our last day before our flight was scheduled to depart.  We went to a shopping area in Taipei with the hopes of finding some souvenirs.  We did not have much luck as most of the stores were of the retail variety and did not carry what we were looking for. 

We may not have found souvenirs.......

....but we found giant ice cream cones for cheap!!!

We both agreed that the best way to end the trip was to head back to Din Tai Fung for lunch followed by another helping of mango ice.  Much to our chagrin, the wait time at the restaurant was almost two hours, which we could not afford, so we gloomily headed back to the hostel to get our stuff and then went to the airport. 

After an uneventful flight, again sitting in exit row, (I cannot recommend Korean Air enough to anyone looking to fly into or out of Korea), we landed at Incheon.  After passing through immigration and getting our luggage, we headed for the bus ticket counter only to find that the last bus departed for Changwon at 10:00 P.M. as opposed to midnight as I had originally thought!  The next bus to Changwon left at 7:00 A.M. so it appeared we would be spending the night in the airport. 

Later, we found out about a 1:00 A.M. bus that would take us to the Seoul bus station where we could catch an earlier bus in the morning to Changwon.  However, when we arrived, the terminal was closed for the night.  Looking around, we noticed a bunch of Koreans sleeping off their drunkenness on the benches in front of the bus station.  Lacking other options, we found our own bench and settled in to grab a couple hours of sleep before finally heading back home.

Overall it was a great trip.  There was a great variety of activities to do so no matter what your interest are, be it history, culture, outdoor activities, relaxation, or anything else, you can find lots to do in Taiwan.  To anyone looking to travel in Asia, I would highly recommend visiting Taiwan.  I, myself, would love to go back to Taiwan someday to revisit some of the same sights as well as to do many of the other things we never got the chance to do.