It's been close to a week since I hiked Gugok Falls and the surrounding mountain area, but it's still fresh in my mind! It was a bit more strenuous of a hike than I anticipated, and I sadly failed to find lots of good bugs, but it was still lovely and fun. And while I may not have got good pictures of bugs, I definitely got some great sneaky people pictures!
A view worth the hike!
There are two types of hikers in Korea: super-hiker old people with lots of gear, and young people in street clothes.
Hats, walking sticks, all-weather jackets, removable sleeves (so they don't get tan), and food--these folks are prepped.
All-women groups of hikers are common.
That girl is wearing flats, a skirt, and a sweater. Her friend in the blue shirt and skirt is wearing heels.
This is a very steep incline, nearly 45 degrees at some points!
My hiking buddies, Eric and Juan. We're better dressed than most people our age, but not extreme like the old folks.
Sadly, most of the bugs I saw were dead. The city puts this yellow tarp material on trees to attract and kill bugs, which seems silly but actually works quite well. We had hardly any bugs on our hike!
Not all the trees, but a couple here and there.
Lots of dead bugs.
Chuncheon actually sprays regularly for mosquitos, which is great because there are very few bugs here, but is also probably giving us all cancer. Win some, lose some, right?
Tons of old Korean people were out collecting mushrooms.
A lovely view from the summit!
Dead moth or butterfly, but still pretty.
Widdle yellow spider!
Widdle orange spider! It was much prettier in real life, I'm afraid.
Enormous man-eating cricket.
This spider was HUGE! And you know it's gotta be pretty darn big to impress me!
After our hike we explored the little town a bit. The train station is called Gangchon Station, so you'd would imagine the town is called Gangchon, but you'd be wrong. It's still Chuncheon. Turns out that 'Chuncheon' is actually like half of the entire Gangwon region. Okay, maybe not THAT big, but when you're out in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from the city, and you come across a single street of civilization, it makes sense that this street is not part of the city. You'd also imagine that all the streets would have names, but that's not the case either. Weird stuff goes on here, my friends.
Anyway, the street had a few restaurants, a batting cage, a few carnival rides, and several convenience stores. We got ice cream and then went for my new favorite dish, Dakgalbi.
This is radish soaked in wasabi! Very yummy.
Chicken, cabbage, onion, tteok (rice cakes) and seasoning. Delicious!
Nom nom nom!
Some art from the Dakgalbi restaurant. Draw your own meaning from this.
Apparently Gangchon is a popular place for couples. You can rent ATVs to ride up and down the road--I'm not sure if Koreans know what ATVs are made for, but it wasn't this. The top speed appeared to be about 15mph but that didn't stop all the girls from screaming.
Atypical Korean couple--they aren't wearing matching clothes.
The train station also has the 'Gangchon Propose Stair.' It's exactly what it sounds like. Couples come here and get engaged.
I thought this was the whole Gangchon Proposal Stair...
But it actually goes down farther on the other side. Still not very impressive.
Even the bus stop at the station is enticing you to pop the question.
Apparently it's pretty new? Or they just repainted it?
The transportation authority here is awesome--they put everything in English! THANK YOU!
Lovey mountain mural in Gangchon Station.
WOOOOO TRAIN!!!
Everyone here wears very serious workout clothes... but doesn't actually work out. It's an interesting paradox.
Home sweet home. Namchuncheon Station! Nam means south, so it's essentially South Chuncheon Station.
This station is closer to home than Chuncheon Station.
Thank goodness for the English because I could never read that scribbly Hangul script.
After our hike we all took much-needed showers and hit the jimjilbang, a name which means something like "heated bath room." It's essentially a Korean spa and it's awesome. The whole place is segregated by gender (because you're completely naked) so I basically went alone, but we all coincidentally ended up leaving within five minutes of each other. The jimjilbang deserves a full post of its own, which will come soon, because seriously, it's awesome. So awesome.
RAIL BIKE
The semester ended on Friday of last week and the new semester started Wednesday (my new classes are wonderful, by the way!) so we figured Monday would be a cleaning day. We showed up at 10am in crappy cleaning clothes and were told to get in the school vans. Our driver didn't even know where we were going. We figured a park clean-up or something, but it turned out much better: Rail Park!
"Woooooooo!"
After building the new train lines, the old tracks weren't being used. Somebody brilliant though of Rail Park, where you can ride four-person cycle-powered cars down the gorgeous old tracks.
Lovely breeze, lovely views...
...mildly frightening company.
The ride was beautiful and relaxing, mostly because I was smart and got on a car with three guys, so they did all the pedaling. I just sat back and took pictures with my phone.
The tunnels had some unexpected and unexplained surprises. It was too dark for pictures, unfortunately, but there's the list of things we saw in the tunnels:
1. Doghouses with projected videos of real dogs inside.
2. Toy bats hanging from the ceiling.
3. Large letters made of boxes spelling out "THIS IS COOL" and lit up.
4. A trippy, vaguely rave-like section with neon lights and tassels hanging from the ceiling that touch you.
5. A reenactment of the Korean War using projected video of helicopters coming at you. The same video, several times, accompanied by explosion sounds and projected flames. One projector was not working and displayed the Windows home screen. So odd.
Tunnel time!
Chad, Juan, and me.
Dancing to "Oppa Gangnam Style," of course.
New train tracks are on the other side of the river.
It was beautiful, but I wish I would have known so I could bring my real camera! On the other hand, it's nice to be forced to sit back and enjoy the ride knowing that you can't take any nice pictures.
Upcoming: Korean Costco, more hiking, and more of Chuncheon city! :)
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