The Beach, the Mountain and Toro Y Moi

The first weekend of June was a long weekend and I spent most of it outdoors in the sun. We rented a pension right on Sockcho Beach on the east coast. Pensions are small basic apartments that are usually owned by older Koreans and rent out. If you get enough people together it's pretty cheap. We bought enough food to cook for the whole weekend. It took was a bit of a trek to get there, about four hours on the bus...and then about 30 minutes of going around in circles in a taxi because apparently addresses in Korea don't really mean much. We eventually made it and the weather was perfect for the entire weekend! The first day we hung out at the beach. The water was freezing so there wasn't much swimming going on...but the sun was hot and that was enough for me.

Outside our pension

The beach!

The second day we took a bus into Seoraksan National Park which is one of those places you have to see while you are in Korea, or so I was told. I would probably agree, it was really beautiful. First we did a 2 km hike up to a waterfall and then we took a cable car up to a higher peak. I was too scared to climb to the top because I knew the way down would be terrifying...so I took some pictures instead.

Hiking to the waterfall

We made it

Waiting around to take the cable car

The cable car brought us to this

Everyone hiked up to the top

I stopped here

The next day we spent lazying on the beach. We took the bus back to Seoul around 6pm and that took 4 hours...and then I had to take the subway for a half hour and another bus for about 40 minutes back to Suji so I got back pretty late (for a school night) but it was all worth it. I got to see more of Korea and got a sweet tan. Oh we also stopped in at a fish market/restaurant to eat some raw fish...I of course did not partake, being a vegetarian, but I was still entertained.

Koreans like to swim fully clothed

Pick your own live fish

Yeah, they're what you think they are

On a different note, this past Thursday my friend Max and I went to see Toro Y Moi in Seoul. Both him and I are pretty big fans, and I know we both really appreciated being able to see a familiar band live in Korea. We got pretty rowdy for a Thursday night and I wish I could remember more details but I know we talked to the band for a bit after and went to another bar for the afterparty. Here are some pictures that I obviously did not take. It was definitely worth being hung over at work on Friday.

Max and I

The photographer and I

Chaz and I

Did I mention that I love Korea?