Korea - Itinerary 9 Days 8 Nights, Day 8: Sokcho - Seoraksan

TRIP DATE: 19 APRIL 2017

Day 8:

• Seoraksan
• Breakfast at Seoraksan, late lunch at Lotteria, Dinner at Palsaik Korean BBQ

To Do:

Seoraksan National Park

Seoraksan-ro, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

The plan is to arrive early get on the cable car and then take a hike on the Biseondae trail. Weather looks great and sunny. But the cables car doors are shuttered when we reached.

 Guess what, cable car is not opened due to strong winds expected for today. 

So we started with the Biseondae trail instead. It is a relatively mild walk to the river valley. Just that the last bit is not so gentle and there are a bit of stairs to climb but its still an easy walk. 

Its the next bit climbing up the Geumganggul that is a real killer. The steps are really steep for a 800 m walk up it took us about an hour one way. 

For the effort, we are rewarded with really stunning views of the valley and from afar the weird sharp jagged edges of mountain peaks that reminds me of chinese watercolour paintings. 

When we came down its already late and we saw that the cable car is open! So we just didn't care our hungry tummy and just head up the peak.

There is a rest area at the top of the cable car station. You can grab a bite or two but only light food served here. 

10 minutes up the mountain from the platform, you will get to the top of Gwongeumseong, which is called Bonghwadae. A lot of people went up to see the fortress but its not a fortress but just a pile of huge boulders and stones. 

5 minutes down the mountain from the platform, you will get to a small temple Anrakarm, and right beside the temple, there is a 800-year-old pine tree. Its not worth climbing down as its also a damn steep walk (my legs are giving way by  now) and the temple is closed and a little run down. There is definitely not much to see so just head up and take the cable car back down. 

To eat:

Seoraksan National Park- 2.5 stars, budget

Seoraksan-ro, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

This is also a random shop within the national park as hubs don't feel like eating the breakfast at the hotel. 

 And we have pancake for breakfast. For lunch, we settled for Lotte burger within the grounds of the national park. 

Palsaik Samgyupsal- 3 stars, mid-range

30 Eulji-ro 43-gil, Jung-gu Mijin Building, Level 2F, South Korea

Very nearly stepped to the wrong place as upstairs is the 8 flavour porks. Lower level is for charcoal bbq. 

This place seems pretty popular with bloggers as it came up very often when i did my research. I didn't mark it as a place to eat but hubby was grumbling about my poor food choices in korea. So i let him decide our dinner. 

Intrigued by the 8 different pork flavours we decided to try this. Although hubs a bit sad that beef is not added to the mix. But if we order beef as well, we probably won't be able to finish it. 

We are presented with all the food. And the entire set looks so huge. The leaves are all different types of vegetables - mulberry lettuce and lots more.

 All 8 flavours are displayed. 

 The soup. Didn't really enjoyed it. It might look huge but actually the pot is very shallow. 

 The start cooking the lighter flavours first using the stove top. 

The food ready for consumption. Actually, i don't really get the flavouring. While there is subtle differences in taste, i prefer chinese stewed pork or cooked lightly flavoured with pepper and salt. Its good to try this place if you have no other options.