Travel in South Korea is, for the most part, pretty straightforward. This isn’t Cambodia, where your bus is going to stir reluctantly to life at the start of the trip only to die with a cough and a splutter at some tiny town that brings new meaning to the phrase ‘middle of nowhere’ or Myanmar, where you can kiss any chance of sleeping through your night bus trip goodbye as you’re hauled outside for passport inspection at numerous check points. Nevertheless, there are a few things that will make your trips around the country run a little more smoothly if you bear them in mind...
Learn to Read Hangul
It takes about two hours- you could do it in a couple of long subway rides. Grab a book or a printout off the internet, or just ask a friend for help. Not only does it make your everyday life heaps easier, it also means that you will avoid ending up on the wrong side of the country thanks to the lack of consistency in Romanising Korean place names. Plus many smaller destinations have road signs in Hangul only. Definitely a couple of hours well spent.
Beat the Crowds (or at least be prepared for them)
Anyone who lives in Seoul knows how crowded Korea is. Whilst you might expect this in the capital city, it can come as a shock to realize that rest of the country can be just as packed as the subway at rush hour. Being trampled by an adjumma on Line 2 is one thing, but halfway up a mountain? Come on....
If you are looking to avoid the crowds, that means avoiding particular places at certain times of the year. Many Koreans tend to be quite focused on the idea that certain activities are meant to be done at certain-quite limited- times of the year. Probably the best example of this is the summer beach period-for around 2 weeks in July and August, almost every easily accessible beach in the country is crammed with visitors but outside of that, many are empty no matter how good the weather. The upside is that it’s often possible to take advantage of this by visiting at other times and almost having the place to yourself-early September is normally a great time to hit the beach in Korea, although the rain may put paid to that idea this year. Other crowd flashpoints include Seoraksan in autumn for the leaves changing colour and anywhere with cherry blossom trees (Jinhae and Gyeongju are particularly popular) in the blossom season in spring.
The alternative is to embrace the crowds and enjoy the upsides-the convivial atmosphere at festivals, the sharing of soju and fruit on mountain tops and the general hospitality and friendliness of Koreans out and about enjoying their leisure time.
Timing is Everything
Following on from the theme above, when you have masses of people all wanting to escape the city for the weekend, you also have some massive logistical issues. Traffic out of Seoul on the weekends can be the stuff of nightmares if you are unlucky enough to get caught in it. The obvious alternative is to use the train, especially with the availability of the speedy KTX service. However tickets tend to book up pretty quickly for some services and the KTX can also be quite pricey, with a return from Seoul to Busan costing around 100,000. If you do take the bus, the best advice is to leave as soon as you can-there are late night buses to many destinations, which often cruise along relatively traffic free, especially if you leave after 10.00pm. Alternatively, getting up really early on Saturday is also a smart option. It can also be a good idea to use more local bus depots rather than the central Seoul terminals such as Dong Seoul and Express Bus Terminal. Most satellite cities of Seoul will have at least one or two cross country services which can save a lot of time. This is where reading Hangul helps-do some digging online or ask a Korean friend to help out. When returning to the city, afternoon-shift workers might want to consider coming back in on Monday morning if the trip isn’t too long.
A Good Night’s Sleep
Many readers will have already discovered the joy of the ‘love motel’-the seedy sounding crash pad of choice for travellers and privacy-starved couples alike. These are actually one of the greatest things about travelling in Korea-for between 30,000-60,000 a night you can often expect a clean, spacious room with a variety of amenities ranging from flat screen TV and PC to an in-room Jacuzzi! Love motels are often clustered together in the same area, making it easy to compare facilities.
The other budget friendly way to sleep is to make use of the Korean style rooms in ‘Pensions’. Usually found at the beach or in the countryside, these guesthouses often have large, ondol heated rooms where guests sleep on mats on the floor. With prices from as low as 100,000 for a room sleeping ten, these can be a great deal if you’re travelling in a large group.
Get off the Beaten Track
Whilst Korea has some deservedly famous tourist sights-Gyeongju, Seoraksan and Jeju do, amongst others-it’s often the little things that make you really appreciate travelling in this country. Whether it’s being force-fed soju shots by grandmothers in front of a crowd of curious children on an otherwise empty beach, or being offered a lift in a police car after you stopped to ask for directions, it’s the people here, not just the places, that will make your trips memorable.
An honorary mention goes to the Korea Tourism Hotline-dial 1330 for free travel advice in English. They can help with transportation, accommodation bookings and generally anything to do with travel and tourism. Reports of this service have run the gamut from ‘fantastic,’ to ‘useless,’ so it’s probably luck of the draw depending who picks up the phone. Definitely worth a go if you don’t speak Korean.
Links:
• http://www.hotel365.co.kr/ (Korean) ‘Love Motel’ website-many listings are for Seoul but also covers some parts of Gyeonggi-do, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju, Chuncheon, Daejeon and Jeju.
• http://www.kobus.co.kr/web/eng/02_service/service01.jsp (English) Long distance buses from satellite cities.
• http://www.easyticket.co.kr/ (Korean) Buses from Central City (Opposite Express Bus Terminal, Gangnam) and some from Dong Seoul Terminal.
• https://www.ti21.co.kr/ (Korean) Buses from Dong Seoul Terminal.
• http://info.korail.com/2007/eng/eng_index.jsp (English) Train schedules and reservations.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Gyeongju
Shilla capital Gyeongju is on almost every visitor to South Korea’s itinerary. Located in Gyeonsangbuk-do, around 4 hours drive from Seoul, the city and its outlying areas are bursting with historical and cultural treasures waiting to be explored. The only downside is that Gyeongju’s popularity means you may well be sharing it with many, many others. If at all possible, a midweek visit will allow you a bit more space to relax and drink in the atmosphere, but failing that set off late on a Friday night or early Saturday morning from Seoul to try and miss the traffic if travelling by bus.
As usual, a convenient glut of reasonably priced love motels sits almost adjacent to the bus terminal. On an exploratory stroll through the city, most visitors are likely to run into the centrally located Tumuli Park sooner rather than later. The Tumuli are actually the tombs of important figures in the Shilla dynasty and resemble small, rounded hills. The contrast of the clean, quiet, greenery-filled park with Seoul’s urban centres means it’s possible to spend at least an hour or so strolling here.
Many of Gyeongju’s other significant sights are within easy walking distance of Tumuli Park. Anapji Pond is a pretty place to visit, whilst Wolseong Park contains a few ruins of interest such as Cheomseongdae (an ancient astrological observatory) and Seokbinggo (an ice house). Although the sights themselves may not be overwhelmingly impressive, like Tumuli park the overall ambience and wide open spaces make the area pleasant to explore.
The real stars of Gyeongju’s show are located outside of the city center. By far the most popular are Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto, both of which can easily be reached by public transport. Bulguksa has earned itself a well deserved place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and the beauty of the structure itself is further enhanced by its enchanting location, on a hillside surrounded by forest and with a picturesque garden and pond at its entrance.
Seokguram Grotto is perched in the mountains behind Bulguksa and the winding journey upwards through the trees ends at the grotto’s car park, where visitors are deposited. From there it is a short walk along a wide, shady path to the beginning of the stairs leading up to the grotto. At the top, the grotto contains numerous Buddhist sculptures and the views over the surrounding area are magnificent, stretching as far as the sea on a reasonably clear day.
The amount of culture and history in Gyeongju means it is impossible to cover everything here, grab one of the excellent city maps from tourist information and explore to your heart’s content.
Transport: Gyeongju is around 4 hours from Seoul by bus. Direct rail services from Seoul Station take 4 and a half to 5 hours. The alternative is to take a KTX train to Dongdaegu and transfer to a local service there, which could reduce travel time to 3 hours excluding transfer time in Daegu. In Gyeongju, buses 10 and 11 go to Bulguksa, where there is a service to Seokguram Grotto once an hour. The driver will usually advise you of the return bus time when you are dropped at the Seokguram car park. Most of the city centre sights are within easy walking distance of each other, although hiring bikes has become a popular way to get around town.
Accommodation: There are numerous love motels on the streets behind the bus station for around 50,000 per night. There are also a couple of youth hostels/Yeogwon available through www.hostelbookers.com.
As usual, a convenient glut of reasonably priced love motels sits almost adjacent to the bus terminal. On an exploratory stroll through the city, most visitors are likely to run into the centrally located Tumuli Park sooner rather than later. The Tumuli are actually the tombs of important figures in the Shilla dynasty and resemble small, rounded hills. The contrast of the clean, quiet, greenery-filled park with Seoul’s urban centres means it’s possible to spend at least an hour or so strolling here.
Many of Gyeongju’s other significant sights are within easy walking distance of Tumuli Park. Anapji Pond is a pretty place to visit, whilst Wolseong Park contains a few ruins of interest such as Cheomseongdae (an ancient astrological observatory) and Seokbinggo (an ice house). Although the sights themselves may not be overwhelmingly impressive, like Tumuli park the overall ambience and wide open spaces make the area pleasant to explore.
The real stars of Gyeongju’s show are located outside of the city center. By far the most popular are Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto, both of which can easily be reached by public transport. Bulguksa has earned itself a well deserved place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and the beauty of the structure itself is further enhanced by its enchanting location, on a hillside surrounded by forest and with a picturesque garden and pond at its entrance.
Seokguram Grotto is perched in the mountains behind Bulguksa and the winding journey upwards through the trees ends at the grotto’s car park, where visitors are deposited. From there it is a short walk along a wide, shady path to the beginning of the stairs leading up to the grotto. At the top, the grotto contains numerous Buddhist sculptures and the views over the surrounding area are magnificent, stretching as far as the sea on a reasonably clear day.
The amount of culture and history in Gyeongju means it is impossible to cover everything here, grab one of the excellent city maps from tourist information and explore to your heart’s content.
Transport: Gyeongju is around 4 hours from Seoul by bus. Direct rail services from Seoul Station take 4 and a half to 5 hours. The alternative is to take a KTX train to Dongdaegu and transfer to a local service there, which could reduce travel time to 3 hours excluding transfer time in Daegu. In Gyeongju, buses 10 and 11 go to Bulguksa, where there is a service to Seokguram Grotto once an hour. The driver will usually advise you of the return bus time when you are dropped at the Seokguram car park. Most of the city centre sights are within easy walking distance of each other, although hiring bikes has become a popular way to get around town.
Accommodation: There are numerous love motels on the streets behind the bus station for around 50,000 per night. There are also a couple of youth hostels/Yeogwon available through www.hostelbookers.com.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Chungju and Danyang: A 24 hour escape from Seoul
I’ve seen my fair share of soju-swilling partiers in this country (both Korean and foreign), but I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by a pack of them at 10.00am on a Sunday morning. I also wasn’t expecting them to be well over twice my age....
Our plan was to use the Chungju Lake ferry as a scenic way of getting across to Danyang, where there was a large cave to explore. A rather raucous Friday night had meant that we’d spent Saturday in Seoul nursing hangovers and had departed from Gangnam’s Express Bus Terminal on Sunday at the pretty painful hour of 7.30am. With only twenty four hours before we had to be back in Seoul, we were determined to make the most of our smog free surroundings and pack in as much in the way of scenic sights as we could. Now as we stood bleary eyed and queuing for tickets, the ‘adjosshi’ and ‘adjuma’ (older men and older women) of Korea had decided that Chungju was the place to be that morning. As we waited to board our ferry, they crowded onto the dock, trading cackles and squid flavoured snacks. Once on board, the party started in earnest and bottles of soju were cracked open with an impressive enthusiasm given the early hour. We felt rather staid refraining from knocking back shots out of paper cups and sipping on juice instead.
Clear and sparkling the water of the manmade lake is not, but the surrounding rock formations more than make up for that. Towering over the boat, they inspired the adjummas (who by now had made their way down to the lower deck for what can only be described as a midday rave to some pounding techno beats) to leap into a frenzy of photography.
The scenery reached a climax shortly before the boat arrived at the dock, although the entire ride was a relaxing and altogether delightful way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning. By the time we arrived, the sun which had felt warm and soothing on the open deck of the boat was beating down fiercely and we were eager to make our way to Gosu Donggul, the large limestone cave. A few inquiries later, we discovered we’d actually disembarked a stop before Danyang which is apparently common practice when the water levels further across are too low. A short bus ride took us into the town, where we stopped for some lunch before heading on to explore the cave.
Gosu Donggul is about a fifteen minute walk out of Danyang, nestled in amongst some beautiful greenery. This is not the kind of cave where you crawl in and explore yourself-the inside has been filled with walkways, gangplanks and staircases which guide you around the interior. The cave is stunning, packed with delicate formations and fascinating features-however the sheer volume of people in the place can, at times, be overwhelming. The walkways become something of a human traffic jam and appreciating the scenic surroundings can be tough when you are being jostled from all sides. It wasn’t without some relief that we exited into the sunlit car park and made our way back over the bridge into Danyang to continue our journey.
In order to make getting back into Seoul as easy as possible on Monday, we’d decided to head back to Chungju and spend the night there, leaving us perfectly placed to hop on an express bus back to Seoul the following morning. Three tired waegookin snoozed their way through the ride back to Chungju and stumbled dozily off the bus in search of what the Lonely Planet had proclaimed as ‘Chungju’s Flashiest Motel’-the Titanic. We were drawn in by the castle-like exterior which screamed ‘love motel’ and dumped our bags before heading out in search of food, eventually ending up in a pretty standard galbi restaurant.
Chungju on a Sunday night wasn’t the liveliest of places, but then that wasn’t really why we were there. Deciding to return to the motel for an early night, we reflected on a day of boat rides, drunken pensioners and fascinating scenery-twenty four hours out of Seoul well spent.
Transport: Buses run to Chungju from Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal and Dong Seoul Terminal and take around two hours. Chungju ferry terminal can be reached by bus 301 from the bus terminal, or by taxi (around 15,000). Buses from Danyang to Chungju run frequently and take around one hour thirty minutes. The ferry trip from Chungju to Danyang or Janghoe (the stop before) takes around two hours and costs approximately 20,000.
Gosu Donggul can be reached on foot from Danyang-cross the bridge and follow the signs (Hangul only).
Accommodation: There are several other love motels in the same neighbourhood as the ‘Titanic’. Most cost around 35,000 per room per night.
Nearby Attractions: The temple complex Gu-Insa, in Sobeaksan National Park, can be reached via a thirty minute bus ride from Danyang bus terminal. There are also several smaller caves in the area. From Chungju, the Suanbo Hot Springs are thirty minutes away.
Our plan was to use the Chungju Lake ferry as a scenic way of getting across to Danyang, where there was a large cave to explore. A rather raucous Friday night had meant that we’d spent Saturday in Seoul nursing hangovers and had departed from Gangnam’s Express Bus Terminal on Sunday at the pretty painful hour of 7.30am. With only twenty four hours before we had to be back in Seoul, we were determined to make the most of our smog free surroundings and pack in as much in the way of scenic sights as we could. Now as we stood bleary eyed and queuing for tickets, the ‘adjosshi’ and ‘adjuma’ (older men and older women) of Korea had decided that Chungju was the place to be that morning. As we waited to board our ferry, they crowded onto the dock, trading cackles and squid flavoured snacks. Once on board, the party started in earnest and bottles of soju were cracked open with an impressive enthusiasm given the early hour. We felt rather staid refraining from knocking back shots out of paper cups and sipping on juice instead.
Clear and sparkling the water of the manmade lake is not, but the surrounding rock formations more than make up for that. Towering over the boat, they inspired the adjummas (who by now had made their way down to the lower deck for what can only be described as a midday rave to some pounding techno beats) to leap into a frenzy of photography.
The scenery reached a climax shortly before the boat arrived at the dock, although the entire ride was a relaxing and altogether delightful way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning. By the time we arrived, the sun which had felt warm and soothing on the open deck of the boat was beating down fiercely and we were eager to make our way to Gosu Donggul, the large limestone cave. A few inquiries later, we discovered we’d actually disembarked a stop before Danyang which is apparently common practice when the water levels further across are too low. A short bus ride took us into the town, where we stopped for some lunch before heading on to explore the cave.
Gosu Donggul is about a fifteen minute walk out of Danyang, nestled in amongst some beautiful greenery. This is not the kind of cave where you crawl in and explore yourself-the inside has been filled with walkways, gangplanks and staircases which guide you around the interior. The cave is stunning, packed with delicate formations and fascinating features-however the sheer volume of people in the place can, at times, be overwhelming. The walkways become something of a human traffic jam and appreciating the scenic surroundings can be tough when you are being jostled from all sides. It wasn’t without some relief that we exited into the sunlit car park and made our way back over the bridge into Danyang to continue our journey.
 |
| Rock formations inside the cave |
In order to make getting back into Seoul as easy as possible on Monday, we’d decided to head back to Chungju and spend the night there, leaving us perfectly placed to hop on an express bus back to Seoul the following morning. Three tired waegookin snoozed their way through the ride back to Chungju and stumbled dozily off the bus in search of what the Lonely Planet had proclaimed as ‘Chungju’s Flashiest Motel’-the Titanic. We were drawn in by the castle-like exterior which screamed ‘love motel’ and dumped our bags before heading out in search of food, eventually ending up in a pretty standard galbi restaurant.
Chungju on a Sunday night wasn’t the liveliest of places, but then that wasn’t really why we were there. Deciding to return to the motel for an early night, we reflected on a day of boat rides, drunken pensioners and fascinating scenery-twenty four hours out of Seoul well spent.
Transport: Buses run to Chungju from Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal and Dong Seoul Terminal and take around two hours. Chungju ferry terminal can be reached by bus 301 from the bus terminal, or by taxi (around 15,000). Buses from Danyang to Chungju run frequently and take around one hour thirty minutes. The ferry trip from Chungju to Danyang or Janghoe (the stop before) takes around two hours and costs approximately 20,000.
Gosu Donggul can be reached on foot from Danyang-cross the bridge and follow the signs (Hangul only).
Accommodation: There are several other love motels in the same neighbourhood as the ‘Titanic’. Most cost around 35,000 per room per night.
Nearby Attractions: The temple complex Gu-Insa, in Sobeaksan National Park, can be reached via a thirty minute bus ride from Danyang bus terminal. There are also several smaller caves in the area. From Chungju, the Suanbo Hot Springs are thirty minutes away.
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