Korea Bucket List: Seoraksan National Park

Sitting high on my Korea Bucket List for the past three years has been Seoraksan National Park. I don't have a single good reason for why it took me so long to make it out there, but I'm definitely kicking myself for putting if off for so long. A couple weekends ago, Corey and I took a trip with Adventure Korea out to this famous park to soak up the cooling fall weather and do some hiking. 

Seoraksan National Park is located in northeastern Korea, about three to four hours driving distance from Seoul. The park itself is massive -- 398.5 km² (over 98,000 acres!), with so many hikes and trekking courses to potentially follow. The weekend we spent in the park definitely wasn't enough, and I really wish I'd made more trips to the park during my time in Korea. (So let that be a lesson to you, readers! Don't follow my terrible example!) 

The day we arrived, we hiked the popular Ulsanbawi course, which is probably one of the tougher hikes I've done in Korea. While being far from being the tallest peak in the park (that would be Daecheongbang, standing at 1,708 meters), Ulsanbawi is known for its unrelenting stairs and the stunning view from the top. The jagged rocks along the ridge of nearby peaks has made the view from Ulsanbawi become one of the iconic photo spots of Seoraksan National Park. Looking forward to this, we steeled ourselves for the stairs. 

However, as we set off for Ulsanbawi, we looked doubtfully up at the clouds that obscured the mountain peaks. Not only was it threatening rain, but if we did make it to the top, it looked like we wouldn't be able to see a damn thing. The rain held off during the hike, and when we got to the top, this was our surreal view: 

So, no rocks spiking along the tops of mountains, and instead, blue-grey nothingness. While I would advise you to keep an eye on the weather, hiking into a cloud and being surrounded by sound-muffling fog was a new level of bizarre, but also something I'm happy to have gotten to see. 

The hike itself isn't very long -- we went all the way up, with numerous rest breaks along the way, took photos, enjoyed our accomplishment, and made it all the way back down in under four hours. The stairs are punishing, especially the steep stretches that are literally affixed to the rock face, but while blogs online will say this hike is a rough one, it isn't impossible, and I highly recommend doing it. 

Feeling rather jelly-legged after the Ulsanbawi hike, we opted for leisurely trekking on our second day, following the Yongso Falls course through Jujeon valley. This route took us along a small river that snaked through the valley, showing off the impressive mountains above us. The path to the waterfall was under construction, so we weren't able to see it, but we still had fun climbing on the rocks in the river and taking photos of the scenery. Note the dazzlingly blue sky that would've been awesome for the Ulsanbawi hike... -_-

Along this course, we also stopped at some of the natural springs to drink the Osaek mineral water. Osaek means five flavors, and drinking the mineral water is said to be good for digestion and upset stomachs. There are a couple spots at the start of the course where the mineral water can be scooped from holes inside of the rocky riverbank. The water had an interesting taste -- very metallic and bitter. The area surrounding the valley also has numerous spas where you can soak in the mineral water to relax aching muscles.

Seoraksan National Park was stunning, and it's definitely on my list of spots to someday revisit.

For more information about the park, visit its official website. If you're interested in doing a tour with Adventure Korea, check their schedule here.

Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress

This blog entry was originally published on the Aclipse Blog, which is produced by current Chungdahm Learning teachers in Korea! The blog features entries on current events around Korea, advice for incoming teachers, and the best spots sightseeing, shopping, and eating. The original entry can be viewed here. 

One thing that I really love about living in Korea is the history that's simply everywhere. With Korea's rapid modernization, fancy cities have sprung up around old structures, creating a really interesting contrast of the new against the historical. One of the coolest examples of this is Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress. It's right outside of Seoul, easily accessible via the subway, making it an excellent day trip that you should check out this summer!

Hwaseong Fortress was built in the 1790s under the reign of King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty. It was designed to be a defensive structure, with 48 structures along the wall, including sentry posts and gun towers. It has four main gates, each facing a different cardinal direction, each of which are still impressive to see. The Korean War damaged the fortress, but in the 1970s, effort was made by the government to rebuild most of what was destroyed, with the current structure being about 75% of what it originally was. Then, in 1997, it was named a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

See all the holes in the walls? All for defensive measures.

What stands today is a fascinating look into Korea's history, juxtaposed with the hustle and bustle of one of Korea's main cities. It really is neat to see cars zipping down the street right next to the walls of the fortress -- just as you forget you're in the middle of the city, you look out from above the wall and are reminded of the stark contrast.

One of the many lookout spots.

Walking along the fortress wall is what I would recommend doing, which stretches 5.25 kilometers. Though I will warn you that it's a lot of stairs, just like much of the hiking in Korea. Definitely hike all the way up Paldalsan -- the fortress wall snakes up the mountain and leads to a lookout spot that offers a really stunning view of Suwon and its surrounding area. 

As high up as we could get.

City, city, and more city. 

In the middle of the fortress walls lies a palace, Haenggung, that was built not only as a place for the king to stay in when visiting Suwon, but also to serve as the king's residence since King Jeongjo supposedly planned to move the capital from Seoul to Suwon. This never happened due to his sudden death, but the palace remains and was a lot of fun to wander through while we were exploring the fortress.

Directions and Information: 

• Suwon Station, Seoul Subway Line 1
• Exit 4 -- the Tourist Information Center outside this exit can direct you to the city bus that heads in the direction of the fortress. 
• Hours: 9am-6pm, March-October; 9am-5pm, November-February
• Admission: 1,000 won
• For more information, visit the Korea Tourism's site here or the official site for Hwaseong here.

Definitely give yourself at least a few hours to hike the whole thing, and maybe plan to pack some food. There are spots all long the wall to stop and rest, so I think this would be a great spot for a picnic while you soak up the history of this old structure that still stands smack in the middle of a modern Korean city! 

Street Food at Gwangjang Market

Korean street food. Three words that will always, without a doubt, get my attention. As someone who's constantly hungry, the delicious options at the street food carts in Korea won me over instantly. Imagine my excitement, then, when a friend suggested stopping by Gwangjang Market in Seoul for dinner, telling me it offered basically every kind of street food imaginable...

One of the entrances to the food part of the market.

Gwangjang, (or Kwangjang, as it's sometimes spelled,) is one of Korea's oldest markets, dating back to 1905. Like most markets in the area, it's also an excellent spot for shopping.

However, we approached the market with the express purpose of eating, having spent the day shopping and wandering aroung the new Dongdaemun Design Plaza. As we entered the market, we were immediately overwhelmed with tons of stalls selling every kind of street food.

The little "restaurants" all look about like this -- a tiny kitchen surrounded by a counter with stools.

One of the main aisles of the market.

We walked the length of one of the aisles, taking in all of our options, before we decided to pick a spot with some empty seats and order. While we were walking, I kept noticing these tiny little rolls of gimbap stacked up. That's when I suddenly remembered that I'd read about this market and this particular kind of gimbap: aka drug gimbap. 

Give me all the drug gimbap you have.

Of course, this gimbap doesn't contain any drugs. Its name, mayak gimbap, which means "drug gimbap," refers to the "addictive" quality of these little bite-sized pieces of gimbap and the mustard-soy dipping sauce it's served with. I'd been curious to try it out since reading about it in a blog, and they weren't exaggerating -- it's goooood. Between the sauce and the small bites, it really is easy to just pop one into your mouth after another. 

If you're looking for this gimbap in the market, you can keep an eye out for the gimbap rolls themselves, or any sign that reads "마약 김밥" (mayak gimbap), like the white sign behind her head in the photo.

So many foods to try! I wanted to order everything.

While I ate my gimbap, my friends ordered one of Gwangjang Market's other popular eats: bindaetteok, which is a fried pancake made of ground mung beans. Crispy and hot, everyone happily inhaled these.

The sauce for the gimbap = perfect.

After eating as much as we could, we were shooed along by the women running the stall -- a queue had formed behind us of customers who were waiting to sit down and order food. Definitely approach this market with patience, especially if you go around dinner time as it gets quite busy.

On the way out, I decided I needed something sweet, and immediately began scanning signs for hotteok, which is a simple fried pancake filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. As it's cooked, the filling turns into a sweet, syrupy mess and it's absolutely heavenly. 

I will find any possible opportunity to eat hotteok.

Like most street food, grabbing a meal at Gwangjang Market is cheap. Really, really cheap. A serving of the mayak gimbap and one hotteok only set me back 3,500 won. That's less than $3.50 USD. The bindaetteok were 4,000 won each. There's so much more that I didn't get to try, too, so I'm definitely going to be making future trips to this market when I'm back in the area. 

Directions & Information:

• Jongno 5-ga Station, Seoul Metro Line 1, Exit 8 -or- Euljiro 4-ga Station, Seoul Metro Lines 2 and 5, Exit 4. 
• Hours: 10am to 9-10pm. Hours will vary from stall to stall.
• Pro tip: Bring cash. Most of these stalls don't accept cards.
• For more information, check out Trazy's site for the market.

I highly recommend stopping by Gwangjang Market if you're looking for delicious street food (and shopping, too!). Not only is it an experience within itself, it's also just a good spot to grab dinner after you've spent the day wandering around Seoul's markets! 

Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park

Next to Dongdaemun Gate is an area of Seoul famous for its countless markets. From clothing to textiles to craft supplies -- it has literally everything you might ever want. Ever. Now, in the middle of these more traditional markets and hip shopping malls, a structure that looks like something out of a futuristic landscape has been added to this area's massive to-do list. This spaceship-like building is the new Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and it's really, really cool.

Spaceship? Or building?!

The Dongdaemun Design Plaza, or DDP, opened its doors on March 21st of this year, after over five years of planning and construction. According to the Seoul Design Foundation's website, the DDP is "the biggest three-dimensional atypical building in the world." 

Just looking at it from the outside is a trip -- all the curves and silvery panels are just aesthetically pleasing. I'd noticed it being built during previous trips into Dongdaemun, wondering what on earth the giant alien structure was going to be, so I was quite eager to finally take a look around.

So photogenic!

The idea behind the DDP is that it will be a center for everything creative in the design community. Not only is it set up to feature exhibits from artists all over the world in its museum and exhibition halls, but it's full of little spots for these artists to actually sell their products. We were a little overwhelmed by the structure and didn't know where to start exactly with exploring the inside. Luckily, a map is posted at each entrance, explaining how the building is organized. Technically, it's kind of three buildings, which have been connected into one giant, curvy structure. Here's the map we found that was immensely helpful:

Keep an eye out for these on the walls by all the doors!

As you can kinda tell from the above map, the DDP is divided into three sections that are actually three buildings, connected by all the curvy, fancy architecture. The sections are split into zones that cover six floors. To help explain some of what we saw, I'll use the following pictures and their captions: 

This is a photo from the Design Market, which features various retail shops, many of which are chains that you'll see elsewhere in Korea, and a decent selection of restaurants in a food court. This area in particular is open 24 hours a day! Which is pretty perfect if you happen to be in the area to see Dongdaemun's night markets.

A couple shops in the Design Lab section. This was my favorite -- so many cool little stores selling products featuring up and coming designers. I feel like this would be a really, really good gift shopping spot. A lot of stationery items, gorgeous art prints, and other decorative items. I had to resist the urge to buy almost everything I saw.

Aerial shot of a different part of the Design Lab. 

Even the coffee shop looks all space age! The information desks scattered throughout the building also have bizarre designs, but this little pod cafe was my favorite.

We found little cubby holes! Perfect for children, and us, because we couldn't resist. Nearly everyone was stopping to take photos sitting in these little holes.

Everyone hanging out along the weird cubby-bench-wall. 

No clue why there was a room full of balloons, but no one could go in, and the struggle was real for these little kids. (And me too.)

Outside (and under?) the building is a large park area, called Oullim Square. While we were walking around, we caught sight of a suspicious number of girls in poofy-skirted dresses. Wondering if we might catch a flashmob, we stuck around, only to see not only an impromptu dance performance but also a magic show! 

From its stunning architecture to everything it offers inside, you could easily spend hours upon hours wandering around. In fact, despite the hours we spent there, we didn't see everything! I'm looking forward to going back soon to explore it more and see the building at night. As impressive as it looks during the day, in the evenings the panels light up, making it look even more like a spaceship from another world. 

So, after a day of wandering around the markets, or if you're looking to kill time before going to the late night markets, definitely make a stop by the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Great shopping, random performances, lots of restaurants, and countless photo ops! 

Directions & information: 

• Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station, Seoul Metro Lines 2, 4, and 5, Exit 1. As soon as you go out of exit 1, you'll be in Oullim Square.
• Hours: Art Hall - 9am-7pm, Museum - 10am-7pm, Design Lab - 10am-10pm, Oullim Square & Design Market - 24 hours! 

Crafty DIYer's Paradise: Dongdaemun Fabric & Craft Market

Imagine a warehouse with tiny booths packed so full they look ready to explode. Imagine each booth fill with fabrics and yarn and beads. Imagine narrow little aisles stretching out into an impossible maze. Multiply this by a thousand and put it into one six floor building. Voila, you have Seoul's Dongdaemun Fabric and Craft Market. It's a total sensory overload of colors and textures and people, but for the crafty DIYer, it's basically heaven.

Living in Korea, I often miss the giant craft superstores from home. I've always been artsy, and the latest DIY trend that's been facilitated by the likes of Pinterest has kept me busy with dreaming up all the amazing things I want to make. Unfortunately, supplies are limited in my area -- if craft stores exist, I have yet to find them. Stationery stores abound, so anything paper-craft related isn't hard to track down. Art supplies are also easy, so I haven't had to go without good paints or drawing pencils. One thing that was notably missing, however, was any form of textiles and jewelry-making stuffs. I like to tell myself each winter that this is the year I'm going to finish knitting that scarf and maybe learn a fancy (beginner) pattern. Honestly, the lack of yarn availability was really harming my grand daydreams of starting scarves that I never get around to finishing.

Enter Dongdaemun's fabric and craft market, with both of these things (and many others) aplenty.

I'm not exaggerating when I say Dongdaemun's Fabric and Craft Market has pretty much anything craft-related that you'd be looking for. Any kind of fabric (including a massive section just for hanboks), endless skeins of yarn, giant carts of ribbons, all the pendants and charms and beads you could possibly want... That's just the beginning. In addition to all of that, you can buy things already made. They sell clothes, little decorative lace collars, leather belts, blankets, dishes, embellished hats and jackets... It's insane.

See? I wasn't kidding. They have -everything-.

The last time I went on a craft supply run, we arrived around 11am and the place was already bustling with shoppers and supply deliveries. We had to dodge quite a few delivery men as they plowed down the narrow aisles with giant bolts of fabric on their backs.

Nearly all the stalls are packed full like this.

The prices at Dongdaemun are great -- definitely cheaper than what I would expect to pay back home. I needed fuzzy white fleece for my Halloween costume last year, and when I finally found the right fabric, I was happy to hear that a yard (the smallest amount they would give me) was only ₩7,000 (~$6.60 USD). To make it better, the amount given to me was definitely more than a yard.

Need to replace any buttons? I'm 99% sure you could find any button ever here.

The biggest draw of Dongdaemun for me, however, is all the jewelry-making supplies. I used to have a fierce obsession with seed beads and even had a small bead loom for making bracelets. As I got older, I was way more into buying chains and charms and stringing things together. Not only am I able to make basically the exact same necklaces as I would find at Forever21 or Urban Outfitters, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

We spent a really, really long time searching through the little trays of charms and beads, carefully picking out ones we wanted. About ₩15,000 (~$14 USD) later, I had everything to make several pairs of earrings and new charms for some chains I already had at home. Not bad! 

Overwhelming, but awesome.

My jewelry supply haul! 

To get to Dongdaemun:

Dongdaemun Station, Seoul Metro Lines 1 and 4, exit 9. Walk straight out of exit 9, the entrance will be on your left. See the photos below as a reference: 

   

Tips and information:

• Hours: Monday-Saturday, 8:00am-6:00pm, though be aware that many shops start to close by 5pm.
• Bring cash, as most vendors prefer that / don't accept cards.
• Shop around -- a lot of the vendors sell similar products, but some definitely offer lower prices. 
• The building is divided into four sections, lettered A, B, C, and D, so keep an eye on those are you walk around. (It might also help you not get too lost...)