Wando, South Korea

The Beach!!

A real Beach.  :-)

We miss the beaches in Florida and we have found that the East coast of Korea replicates these nicely.  Although, the temperature of the water less so; it's cold!!

After Joseph and I hiked Daedunsan mountain on Wednesday, we took the KTX train south to Gwangju to visit Kate.  We stayted the night at her amazing apartment--the bathroom alone was worth the trip! Then, early the next morning we awoke and hoofed it to the bus station to hop a bus 2 hours south to Wando.


Wando.  A slow city/town and quite out of the way of everything.  An island connected to a few other islands by either bridges or ferry. 

Kate, Joseph, and I stayed on the island of Sinji and enjoyed doing nothing.  Just laying on the beach and relaxing.

As soon as we arrived at the island, Sinji, we got a room to drop our stuff.  Hotels/hostels in Korea come in two varieties:  Korean and Western.  We opted for Korean style this go around because there were three of us and the price was cheaper.

Korean style hotel means you sleep on the floor.  Not bad as there are usually thick mats to sleep on and it is
actually quite comfortable.  Not this go around.  We literally slept on the floor.  Not bad, but not likely to be repeated in the future.

Sinji Island

our motel right next to the beach

Wando Tower on the main island

view from Wando Tower and all of the steps leading back down the mtn.

Wando

 

Sinji Island--the beach where we stayed

wandering around Wando

 

bus terminal

hotel room had 3 rooms: main, bath, kitchen/balcony

view walking down from Wando Tower

We enjoyed our stay and cannot wait to go on our next trip.

Daedunsan Mountain --September 2013

A lovely day for a hike.

Joseph and I along with 2 more couples took on Daedunsan Mountain and lived to tell the tale.  It is a lovely mountain and a very steep climb both up and back down the mountain.

the bridge with the stairs barely visible in the top right of the photo

If you are interested in going there from Daejeon, you can take a city bus.  You need to go to Seobu Bus Terminal.  You can use the subway and go to Seodaejeon Neggori then hop on bus 701 and it will end at Seobu, or you can go to Dongbu Bus Terminal and catch bus 701 there--or find an appropriate stop near your location.

Once at Seobu, you do not need to go inside the terminal.  Just turn left and follow the line of the green buses.  You will cross a small side street and see a city bus stop.  You need bus 34.  It only comes every 40 minutes or so, so you will need to look at the bus stop sign saying when it will arrive next.  The first few times are 6:30am, 9:00am and 9:45am.  The other times are listed on the bus stop time table.

Once you are on bus 34, you will stay on until it reaches the end of the line.  You will be at a Zipline/gas station/small park area.  You will see a large sign over the road.  You will need to go under this sign and walk 1km until you reach the mountain.  Follow the road up and you will reach the cable car or you can walk straight up the mountain.

If you are unsure, just ask any of the people around how to get to the cable car and you will be able to find your way from there.

Beware, it is a steep hike and not a beginner level.  Wear hiking shoes or sneakers with good tread.  Take your own water or buy some before you go up as there are no natural streams to refill your water bottles.

Depending upon the season, there are restaurants that may or may not be open on the mountain so plan to bring some snacks just in case.

If you are an experienced hiker the hike should take about 2-3 hours up and about an hour back down.  If you do not take the cable car add about 1.5 hours.

Enjoy the photos.

left to right: Nicole, Chris, Krystal and John

the stairs

at the top of the stairs you can see the bridge below

the dreaded staircase. narrow and super high. the bottom is
over 650m down in a ravine. there are no safety nets.

paths up and down the mountain

the summit

there is Daejeon, a 40 minute bus ride away and the
mountain is so high you see most of Daejeon in the valley

at the summit

waiting for the cable car (leaves every 20 minutes)

Cable car housing

Bus 34 drops you off in the middle of the photo. Just follow that road to the mountain.

For more information on Daedunsan Mountain and National Park go here and here.

Tokyo Part 3: Tokyo!

Not going to lie.  By day 3 we were pretty pooped.  Our feet were sore and we all had at least one blister on our toes or other ailments.  :-)
*grin*

However, we all put our best foot forward and it was off to the subway we went.

Exploring Tokyo is a bit overwhelming unless you have been there before or have lived there.  Brian fits both categories!  Yay Brian!


Brian said we would follow the Yamanote Line on the subway.  It circles the center of the city and goes to most of the places we were going to.  Brian also said it was a popular line where people threw themselves in front of the subway trains.


First, we went to visit the Emperor's Gardens.  It was steamy hot and humid but we walked around for about an hour or so.  Joseph took some amazing photos of the gardens.  There was an actual *huge* moat surrounding the gardens as well.  Really pretty with Koi and turtles swimming around inside of it.

After our trip to the gardens we got in a taxi and went to the neighborhood that housed the famous department store, Mitsukoshi.  We wandered around inside this large department store and bought souvenirs and good things to eat.

Next, we wandered around and shopped at another store then headed back to the subway to go another neighborhood that houses the largest intersection in the world: Shibuya.  When you come up from the subway it is right there.  You cannot miss it.  So big and wide.  Thousands of people crossing the streets each time it is their turn.

It is in this neighborhood where we ate sushi, went shopping in a Claire's (!), and played in a arcade.  So much fun!

 

Tiffany doesn't do sushi so she and Brian went next door for tempura.  Yummy!  The sushi was a real treat.  It was slightly different than expected, but we didn't expect it to be the same as home.  It was really delicious. 

how we ordered

After our meal, Tiffany and I got Starbucks and noticed it was cheaper in Japan in the middle of the largest pedestrian intersection in the world, than in Korea.  Hmm...
Next, we wandered down a few streets.  Found a Claire's!  Brian and Joseph went into the largest comic store in Japan: Mandrake.  It was amazing.  Very large and had whatever you may be interested in about comics and things like that.

We ran across a arcade and went in to see what it was all about.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Just check out the photos.  Not much to say.

Tiffany, Brian and I got sucked into this pig game. It was the best.

Finally, we went to the Harajuku neighborhood by taxi.  Brian said we needed to see the Harajuku girls (and boys) while we were there.  When asked what exactly these girls were, we were told that these girls are girls (and boys) who have been bad in school so some go to schools in the country or schools for bad children and they come here to Harajuku to be themselves.  They dress in extreme styles and are beautiful.  We didn't see many while we were there perhaps because it wasn't the weekend but we saw plenty of punk rocker styles and other similar styles.  It was cool.

an example of the girls (not our photo)

the bridge where you see most of the Harajuku people

yes, this store is exactly what you think it is

Japanese ramen. Yummy!

 

They let us take a picture with them! Love the 4 inch high gator shoes!

Joseph tried all of these except the plum

On our way home to bed!

After an amazing time in Japan and after contributing extensively to the economy it was time to board the plane back to Korea. 

We will be back Japan!