Travel Korea: Kangwon Samcheok Version

It was my 2nd time to be in the Kangwon area. The first time was at the DMZ area which will be featured in my future entries in this blog. Anyway,
How to go?
If you're from Seoul, just go to Express Bus Terminal (Line 3) and take the bus going to Samcheok ^^ very easy. The price depends on the time and the type of bus you will be riding. I bought the 23,400 won ($20) ticket although I saw a ticket as cheap as 15,000 ($13) but the schedule was not favorable. Anyway, there's a bus every hour so it's very convenient.

I arrived late in the evening. It took 4 hours more or less. I thought Samcheok is as near as Chuncheon which is less than 2 hours from Seoul but I was wrong. lol The bus had a stopover in Donghae where most passengers got off. At that time there were only 2 passengers left, me and "whoever he was guy" kkk


When I arrived in Samcheok I was surprised because the place was so quite. There were no cars, no people walking. It was so peaceful. Then my friend came and suggested that we stroll around the town. As expected the place resembles a typical countryside in Korea. My friend tour me around his school, Kangwon National University (KNU) Samcheok Campus. The school is more of an engineering school since most courses are in this field. There's another campus which is in Chuncheon, the main campus of KNU. He took me to highest area in the school which overlooks a beautiful nightview. Since the school is in the mountain we could see the whole Samcheok area and the nearby town Donghae. Probably, a town where Donghae of Super Junior was born. ^^ just kidding kkk. After the long walk, we went to his apartment and had midnight snack with his roommate, drank makkoli then sleep since we had to wake up early for the sunrise.

Sunrise at Maengbang Beach

we woke up at 5:30 in the morning for the sunrise. My friend's apartment is near from the beach so we just walked. The sunrise reminded me of my grandmother's house near the seashore. Then we went back to his dorm for the main target....the cave!

Hwanseon Cave (환선굴)- This is the most famous spot in Samcheok area since the town is known for caves. Considered as one of the largest limestone caves in Asia, and the biggest in Korea. It took us less than an hour by bus (2500won fare) from the center of Samcheok bus terminal. As expected there were many ajumas and ajoshis. I didn't expect to see foreigners but I saw some, and by some here I mean 3. Tourists should check the bus schedule in order to save time. Climbing probably took us 30 minutes since we had many stops to take pictures. Then inside the cave was spectacular. It was really huge. It was very safe since bridges and all the trails were already built for tourists' safety I assumed. It took us 45 minutes to an hour inside. then going down probably took us another 15-20 minutes. We finished everything in the morning and was able to be back in Samcheok downtown area past 1 pm.

so we had lunch! Takkalbi!

After the heavy lunch we went to Jukseoru. A pavilion first constructed in 1275 by the a Korean scholar Yi Seunghyu. It has long been considered one of the eight most scenic places in the northeast. The place is said to be the setting of a Korean drama. I just forget the title of the drama.

Then we took a cab to New Millennium Seashore Amusement Park. This place was more of like a road connecting the easternmost towns of Kangwon Province. They call the road, the Romantic Road for some reasons which I don't wanna reveal..kkk. The view was amazing. A totally different face of Korea. You can see the some islands that would probably resemble Dokdo. kkk. There was a wedding at that time. We went to a coffeeshop to rest for awhile since we had to walk again after that, ^^; we walked for 30 minutes back to his apartment then to the bus terminal ....