Chuseok 2016: The Korean Thanksgiving (loosely speaking)

Ah yes, Korea's Thanksgiving season, late summer/early fall

and the longest vacation most expat teachers get

(though my school has seriously up'ed their vacay game to keep us content/not homicidal)

Last year I hit up Tokyo and Hakone, Japan. I ate real (like really real) sushi, went to a karaoke bar (not to be confused with a Korean version; a noraebang), met with some of Laura's English friends who just so happened to also be in the area, and hit up about 12 of the top 20 things to do in Tokyo in a four day period. Safe to say we really used our off-time well. However, this year Laura and I were just coming down from a two week vacation to the US, where we road-tripped to concerts in a quad-state area (including some highlight cities; Detroit, Chicago, Grand Rapids/Grand Haven & Cleveland), went to my favorite rock festival (Warped 2016 eeek), toured my YA city, childhood town and beaches and friends and food and family galore! So, we decided to relax for this holiday, in theory...

Relaxation, in our minds at least, means not leaving the country. So while all of our coworkers flew all around Asia, Laura and I did a coast-to-coast tour of Korea (sans the south - Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, Gwangju and Jeju, which will be for our next ground-bound-holiday). We went from the East Sea and Sokcho to the West beaches and islands of Incheon area, and as always, we foun some true gems! Behold!

Just a little pond in Sokcho (the only place that Pokemon Go works in SK, and yes, we caught them ALL...ahem). But the real beauty of Sokcho, if you look up from your phone screen for long enough, is the fact that the city is nestled between a mountain range and the East Sea! So of course in our 36 hours in the area we went to every major attraction offered.

The 3~ hour bus ride was actually quite nice, though we learned that the highway from Seoul to Sokcho has little more than rice, and more rice, and more rice, and, well, more rice.

This site hates my panorama pictures, so this is my poor substitute, but, it does show a little of the foot of Seoraksan; the gorgeous, stretched mountain range that boarders Sokcho. The above pictures were from the wibbly, wobbly suspension bridge we trekked across.

We originally were just going to hop onto a cable car and ride up to one of the peaks because we were on a time budget (saving the hiking for next time we come, for a Fall Colors tour) but the cable cars were booked up for hours (reminder that there are, like, A LOT of people in Korea). So instead we did one of the shortest hike trails...but, since we had been expecting a short jaunt in a cable car and next to no walking...Laura dearest was in flip-flops...while I was in ajjuma-heels (short little comfortable sandal heels). Needless to say, we were looking pretty unprepared, but we rocked it and didn't even slip once. After 18 months in Korea, I could probably walk a tightrope in heels.

(Cheating, I know, as this is a Google photo, but this is the section we will see NEXT time we visit the majestic Seoraksan, when we have the time, and the foowear, for such a hike...I cannot WAIT!)

Right before we hopped back on the bus for Seoul and to slingshot past to the other coast, of Incheon area, we stopped off by the beach of Seoraksan, where we ran into some friends

(I somehow run into people I know all over Korea, even in 'small' towns like Sokcho, yet I never run into any Kpop stars, sigh)

Before we left we also visited the marina, lighthouse, parks and ponds, heard a monk's morning chants, and the famed fish markets my father has been asking me to check out for close to a year >< Though those pictures were just too disturbing to take, like live octopus in little bags, staring at me, waiting to be bought and eaten, or thousands of crabs [SPIDERS OF THE SEA and therefore terrifying] watching me stroll by as they plotted their up-rise, ect.

However I did get some proof of the markets there...

The abomination on the left is a shaved ice, condensed milk, sprinkled covering for ice cream...I just wanted a Hawaiian ice, but I think maybe something was lost in translation...which is a common theme of my time here (:

The oddest thing for me was eating it as I walked through markets that ranged from pungent fish-smells to kimchi to shampoo. My nose was very confused.

And a video of some of the, um, marine life...

^proof that it was truly me & Laura on this little adventure into Pokemon world...I-I mean Sokcho...

Base of Seoraksan...or one of the bases...

...the cable car we were supposed to be on....

(I'm not bitter)

Laura is such a good photographer

(and yes, we ditched our shoes for our icy stream time)

Panorama! Did it work? I think it kinda worked ^^

View from our Air BnB window, you see? This is why I use Google, though it was amazing to wake up to the salty morning breeze. Probably the healthiest Korean air I've ever breathed in my time here.

But after just a short two days, one night on the East coast, we bused back and past Seoul to Incheon. Home of the #2 airport in the world, which I am quite familiar with. And also home to...

Korea's very own China Town!

We are very cultured.

We stumbled upon three more things while wandering the China Town Incheon area...

1st, a CARNIVAL!

If I had been missing carnivals because of my close call with Coast Guard in Grand Haven this year, this helped to ease that feeling, as it gave all the creepy nostalgia I missed the last two Augusts.

I've always found carnivals a little shady-seeming, in the best way possible.

Korea has corrupted us into selfie-ers, I'm so sorry. I held out as long as I could. But at least we only try two-ish before giving up/being sated, no 15-minute-in-public-picture-sessions like I've witnessed way too many times.

2nd, the Jersey Shore of Korea (not even exaggerating)

This was the coolest, strangest, almost-most-un-Korean place I've seen yet in Korea.

And considering we just came from CHINA town, that is saying something.

It was essentially a boardwalk with carnival-esque snacks and overly-stressed vacationing families and scattered performers and arcades and oddly-placed picnics on one side and the sea on the other.

And what was at the end of this rainbow? What was the next gem we found?

Let's call this 2.5 since it technically was still a part of the boardwalk.

A Theme Park!

Wolmido Theme Park

('do' means 'island' and Wolmi was the area we were, a mile away from China Town)

Upping the creepy factor of the carnival, was this little beauty.

So of course we went right for the tall thing, I do love a good view...

And we got some hilarious photos...

We were actually just trying to hide from people as we had a near death attack of the giggles, but the stall we ducked into was a photobooth, so we figured we should commemorate this strange series of events.

We left our mark (shhhh)

And what, in the world, could have topped this? What could #3 possible be??

Well, cast your bets, you'll never get it.

3rd, A Fairytale-freaking-village

It all started with a pink house, a ghastly pink house...

We were on our way home actually, when we saw this pink thing up a side alley, the curious little cats in us force us to go check it out, and thus the rabbit hole began,,,

There were streets upon streets of fantasy, castles and forests and anthropomorphized trees and deer and frogs and all manner of critters. Basically, this place was a child's (and kind of our) heaven. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we were exhausted, so we had a short walk through the major areas, though I'm sure there is much, much more to see, and we will. We often return places, since our first try usually ends with us finding everything BUT what we were looking for or finding way too much extra.

All of this, theme parks, carnivals, beaches, islands, China Town, and Fairy Tale Village within a mile or two of each other. You can understand why it takes so much time to even just see a fraction of this city/area/country.

But alas, it is 1:30am here, so I will leave you with the debatably most magical pictures yet...

Yes, I felt sick right after.

#worthit

All of my love,

Tea

P.S. Next time I'll tell you about the epic three-day weekend I just had for Korea's Foundation day;

cat cafes, raccoon cafes, movies, new moon paint party, korean bbq and more!