Korea is a small country, about the size of the state of South Carolina. So you could pretty much travel around the whole thing in a few days. Driving here is usually not boring. Unlike the midwestern US, where you can drive in a straight line for hours, you really have to try hard to exceed the speed limit here. There are mountains everywhere. Every kilometer or so, you have to make a U turn or S turn or go through a tunnel to get around/through these guys.
The mountainous terrain is the reason for Koreans' extremely efficient use of land. They barely have space for soccer fields here, and their condos are always built in massive quantities.
We left Buseok to head east to the city of Uljin. The way to Uljin is fraught with all kinds of mountains and scenery. It was probably the most difficult drive I've done yet. I sometimes wonder how Koreans can get around here at all. The ladies have kind of a reputation in the US...
It seems like every turn you make is around the edge of a mountain. These roads are dangerous enough to drive, and I can't imagine what it would have been like to build them.
The road to Uljin was built by soldiers after the Korean War. Ever since the end of the war, Koreans have had mandatory military service. At the age of 18 for 2.5 years, every man is required to serve. Since the war, there hasn't really been any other major military conflict. So these boys have had some time on their hands. I've spoken to friends about their military service - they've had to do all kinds of odd jobs. They were lucky enough to avoid the dangerous ones.
We made a few stops on the way to Uljin. One was a temple, but we were too sore from our mountain climbing expedition to do much exploring. We didn't make it much farther than this bridge to the temple. It was about a mile away from where you park. Oof.
There are lots of dangerous spots to stop and check out the views. This one was near the temple.
A nicely composed farm is pretty common here. There's an old class structure to Korean culture, especially in this region (Gyeongsang-do). Farmers are near the top of the heirarchy, because they were the land owners and usually had servants to do all the field and house work.
Interestingly enough, fishermen were on the same level as farmers, even though they didn't own much more than fishing boats. I guess they were respected as producers of the main staple of Korean food behind rice and vegetables. So farmers were usually scholarly yangban or seonbi in this region, and had time to worry about things like the aesthetic organization of their farmland or the lovely paths that divide it. Even the old structures that have survived show the artistic roof tiles.
We didn't stay there long, just stopped in for a quick drive around.
We headed north along the coast to Sokcho after making it through Uljin. The coast is filled with little fishing towns, which hasn't changed much through the years. These towns used to be much more active when fish marketing wasn't so standardized, but Koreans still consume most of their seafood that's caught by these fishermen.
Of course you can get all kinds of seafood in these shops. Squid is the most common along the northeast coast. Fishermen catch squid at night using bright lights. They bring in massive catches. Some is saved for fresh squid to be eaten locally. Most of it is packaged and frozen for supermarkets. The rest, is picked up by these little operations and dried by hand on lines. Koreans (and coastal Asians in general I think) really love dried squid. It's an acquired taste for Midwesterners.
The next leg after Uljin was a trip up north along the coast. I was hoping this drive would be filled with lovely views of the ocean, but instead we stayed only on the highway. Korea, small as it is, doesn't have too many highways, so when you're given the opportunity to use one, you take it. Besides the fact that it's faster, the highways in Korea also have these lovely rest stops that offer much nicer amenities than what you'd get in the US. Clean bathrooms are standard, but they also have full service restaurants inside. Each rest stop has its own local flacor and unique design. If the region is famous for a certain kind of food, it's cooked fresh and served at the rest stop.
You get a nice view of the ocean plus a bunch of little garden things in the back here. It's mostly useless, but I'd give this stop 5 stars for the effort. There was also a weird taxidermy display in this one as well. Check out these great stuffed animals. I don't think they were for sale, but they would have made awesome souvenirs.
I really think Korean culture is just more entertaining than that of the US. Maybe they need more diversion since they work a lot more for less money.
Finally, we made it all the way up to Sokcho. It's located in the northeast corner of South Korea, so we got to see some references to the 38th parallel along the way. These are really just tourist traps, since we weren't quite that close to the border with North Korea. Still, the South Korean military definitely has more of a visible presence in this area. It would be pretty easy for a few spies to land a fishing boat in these villages. I don't really know what they'd spy on though, so I kinda doubt it happens very much.
Korean hotels are really cheap. You can typically find a room for around $35. The rooms are much nicer than what you'd expect for that price in the US.
You can sorta see from the photo that the room is far nicer than a motel 6. Now I have to say that Korean hotel culture is a little different too. Koreans have a notion that if you're staying in a hotel, it's because you're looking for some alone time with your lover. So all Korean hotels are really "love hotels", unless you go to the hyatt or something. This actually works out well; they give you toothbrushes and other toiletries that you wouldn't expect from a western hotel. You also get free beverages and Koffee. Usually the parking lots are somehow shrouded with a curtain to protect the identities of their guests. I'm told they even have phone booths with sound effects, like train station sounds to hide your location from someone you might need to call during your stay. Fortunately for me, these little rouses were unnecessary.
We had come to Sokcho for the hwe (raw fish), plain and simple. It's best known as one of the busiest fishing ports in Korea, and the hwe here really shines. The real way to eat hwe in Korea is as follows:
There are all the day's catch in tanks here. The tough part is knowing which fish taste like what. We just asked the lady for an assortment.
After you pick your fish, you get them cut up for you. The business angle of this whole experience is a little strange, because you don't really pay for the butchering. You buy the fish, and then you buy some condiments from the butcher room, which are pretty cheap anyway. I imagine they get a cut from the fish monger.
When the lady's done, here's your dinner. Not only do you get the good meat, you get a bag of fish heads and bones - they use this to make stew to go with your meal. The funniest part about our dinner was the shrimp. I knew everything was just recently alive, but these guys were still quite with it. When I attempted to eat one, it jumped all over the table and scared the hell out of me. The nice ajuma (lady) came over to show me how to rip that guy open. Not for the faint of heart, but totally delicious. We ended up coming back here the next day for breakfast too.
The best things to do in Sokcho at night are eating hwe and going to a nore bang (karaoke singing room).
Koreans take the nore bang quite seriously. Every one tries a slightly different approach to make your singing experience more entertaining. This place had a cool light rack, as well as 9 tvs in each room. They all show the same karaoke crap - the words to your songs with stock footage of dancers or animals. I love to sing, so these places are a great hangout. You pay about $7 per hour, and most places will let you stay a while over your limit.
They even go the extra mile to provide an antibacterial microphone cover. That way you don't have to smell some drunk's breath while you belt out "Hungry Like the Wolf".
No comments:
Post a Comment