Korean Holiday 2013 - Day Three

Woke around 6:15 then slept until seven. Opened the curtains to a cloudy view of the mountains. Still raining.

Early morning view from the balcony

Drove into Sokcho for breakfast only to find nearly every shop was closed - even in Sokcho Food Town. Bought some umbrellas, W3,500 ea, bread and kimbap (sushi) for breakfast.

Headed down to Naksansa (Naksan Temple) for a look - great idea in the rain and couldn't have done it without the car. Parking was W3,000 but ended up we didn't have to pay as it was free with entry to the temple. Nice view of the sea from the hermitage that was founded by Uisang back in 656. Pricey souvenirs.

Pathway to Naksansa

Entrance to Naksansa

Typical building at Buddhist temple to house the bell and drum. Beautiful though.

The Bronze Bell, Treasure No. 479 was first cast in 1469 but recast in 2006 following a fire

Path of making a dream come true (that's what the sign said)

Overlooking the main hall

Painting on hall

Painting on hall

Inside the temple

Lotus pond

Looking out to the hermitage

Back towards the lookout

The beach doesn't feature strongly in the brochure

That's not what I use the restroom for

Mist and clouds still shrouding the mountains

This is one tall statue

The hermitage

It was a wet day alright

Stopped off for lunch in Naksan - cod and seafood pancake. Potato kimchi was delicious. Cod was OK, pancake was nice. Not bad for W30,000 but not special. Back to the hotel to dry out a bit.

Lunch - kimchi the focus of this shot

Dried fish is a specialty of this region

At 2 o'clock, having thought that the rain had stopped to we journey by foot to Seoraksan National Park, almost 2km up the road, for a walk in the rain, as it turned out. Beautiful countryside, especially with the mountains shrouded in cloud.

Still a lot of tourists, mainly from buses, in the area. The missus decided to have some coffee and me some cocoa from a vending machine. Talk about a ripoff. We were lucky to get 100m and a hint of cocoa. Walked back to the hotel and saw a from near the roadside near some flowers. Vines climb the trees rhythmically in this region.

The river coming down from the mountains

Panorama shot of the river

Lovely scenery

Vines rhythmically climbing the tree

Sorak Park Hotel - only just visible at about 4pm

Mountain across the road - view from the balcony

Booked for another night as we were yet to see anything much of the mountains which is the reason for visiting. Stopped in the lobby for a while to use the wifi.

I wandered down the road afterwards to take a photo of a condo called Norumok - no room, OK? Dropped in to the Seoraksan National Park Visitor Center five minutes before they closed. The lady was quite helpful but really struggled with English. Matched my struggle with Korean so we'll call that even. Grabbed a map for an area where we planned to do some hiking.

Drove into town to find some dinner. I like how you can park just about anywhere in Korea which made it quite easy. Parked right near a mandoo shop - North Korean style. I had kimchi mandoo soup. It was OK.

Did some shopping for breakfast - bread, milk and hit the jackpot - a supermarket where we could buy expensive fruit. One Korean pear cost W5,500 ($5.50) and a small, blackened cauliflower cost W7,000!

Great to have the GPS or we'd never make it out of town. Even better to have someone who understands it.