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| south korea |
| Sokcho, Seoraksan and Naksan |
| In March 2004, Misty, Giselle and I headed up to Sokcho city, about an hour North of Gangneung on the coast, for Zane's going away party at the Tara Burn and a hike through Seoraksan National Park the following day. Seoraksan National Park is a huge park that borders the cities of Yang Yang and Sokcho along South Korea's Northeastern Coast. It's said to be the most beautiful national park in all of Korea. Below are two pictures taken out of the window of Glyn's apartment in Sokcho of the beach and occean. |
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| The Tara Burn looked amazing. A huge metallic glob, odd shapes, round windows. Inside, the walls were covered in aluminum panels nailed everywhere and strange lamps and fabrics. Soutthida took a picture of me taking a picture of her. I've collected them both below, mine is on the left. It's a full 360 degrees view of that moment. |
| Misty, Glyn, Rachael, Kate and Paul outside the Tara Burn in Sokcho, and Giselle and Soutthida doing synchronized dancing below.. |
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| CRAZY!!!! |
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| Giselle, Misty and left the bar early. We got up the next morning to go and hike through Seoraksan National Park. After a quick trip to E-Mart to buy some breakfast and snacks, we took one of the local buses from Sokcho to the park's front gates. After walking for a few minutes, we came across this enormous cast iron seated Buddha statue. |
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| Immortality for a mere 10,000 won is how the Lonely Planet puts it. For that amount of money you can purchase a roof tile and write a message on it. The tiles will be used in the construction and repair of temples around Korea. We all put in money and purchased a tile. Above are all the tiles that people have purchased. We saw almost every language imaginable, from Russian and Chinese to Arabian and Thai. |
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| We hiked up and up over rocks, trying to get to a tiny cave in the middle of a sheer rock face. When the climbing started getting really steep there were these orange staircases bolted into the mountainside. I got this picture of the mountains and park from a look-out point. The cave we were heading to is on the right. |
| After a couple of hours of hiking we made it to the cave. It was a lot smaller than we had anticipated. There was a man selling Buddhist pendants and a small table. There were three stairs carved into the rock that led up to an altar at the back of the cave. |
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| In late April, I went to Naksan Beach in Yang Yang. Below is a photo of Naksan Beach and of the Buddhist temple that is housed within Naksan Park. |