Last Updated on April 7, 2018 by Christine Kaaloa
It’s officially fall! The autumn leaves in Korea are revamping with vibrant color and it’s exciting to see what materializes in the picturesque. Fiery reds, oranges, greens and yellows, wash the land with the crisp crunchiness of fall. As a result, this Halloween I opted to take a girl’s road trip out to Mt. Seoraksan.
Girlfriend road trips are fun when you’ve got a great group of yogi gals, some semi-decent K-pop songs and a handful of road trip games. Essentially, very little can go wrong.
… Unless you have a Korean GPS (click here about driving in Korea).
Those little Korean hiccups
Traveling in Korea, it’d seem that 90% of the time things will go smoothly; the other 10% you’ll encounter Korean hiccups. Korean hiccups are when things feel like they go amiss because either, you’re not Korean or you’re a foreigner being tested by a language or culture gap!
The plan was to rent a car, drive out to Sokcho and stay at a mineral spa near the foot of Mt. Seoraksan. We’d arrive, spa out and then hike the next morning.
Hiccup 1:
We got a late start when the car rental dealership we’d booked with told us they’d only rent a car to someone with a Korean driver’s license! Fortunately for us Megan, one of our three new yogini GRRRLfriends, actually had a Korean license!
Hiccup 2:
Driving was smooth until our Korean gps went wonky as gps’s occasionally do. When we missed our exit, our gps decided to re-route us to another destination…over and over again. Count it– three times! Furthermore, everything on the gps was written in Korean/Hangul !
Like I said, little hiccups… Nothing bad, though; and in the end it made for a fantastic grrrl-bonding trip.
We arrived in Sochko at Chocksan Spa (read my review and experience) around 11 PM. The spa was closed, so we checked into our room and spent the rest of the night scaring each other with campfire ghost stories centering around metaphysics, aliens and frightening Korean co-teachers and schools.
The next morning brought about a lingering gloom with a light drizzle and a moody overcast, but it didn’t put a damper on our excursion nor did it keep the weekend crowds from driving in. The mountains were wet and misty and our march from the parking lot to the main gate (there are 3 entry points) of Mt.Seoraksan was a hike in itself. While we didn’t get very far up the mountain, we had a pleasant hike to the falls, got to see the warm glow of the autumn leaves and that was enough to make a weekend.
According to Megan, the water is a little blue-greenish but is a signature of Seoraksan.
Ajumma lady sells a honey or sap candy.
Your guess would be as good as mine though it seems like some alcohol brew from some root.