Leaving footprints in Korea Day 6 @ Mount Seoraksan

19 December 2012

We are finally here! Its only about 8 minutes walk from our hotel to the entrance of the park but it felt like ages because its very cold!

We were very early because we were excited.

We are thankful for the beautiful weather.

Hiking on feet to the peak of the mountain is out of the question in this weather. From our research, it would take around 8 to 9 hours to reach the top. I really do not think anyone will do this because the weather is so cold. Most of the tourists here are heading up the faster way, via cable car.

We followed suit.

View from the cable car. Can you spot our hotel looking so small amidst the mountains?

Almost there!

Spectacular view and the snow makes the view look so pretty.

Falling down was inevitable as the ground was slippery. However, with our thick clothing and snow on the ground, falling down was not too painful. Lol.

At the peak….. well, almost at the peak!

We were totally wowed by the view!!! Its sooo gorgeous!

Taking turns to take a photo with this gorgeous background. This is not only my first time experiencing winter, it was also my first time stepping on snow. Oh, I wish I can enjoy it more if I did not keep slipping. I think my shoes were not suitable for this weather. 

It was almost like a beautiful painting from a picture.

Question of the day. Can we go further up?

As you can see from the photo, the walkway, the stairs ended here. The rest of the journey up had no aid at all. No ropes, no steps, nothing. By now we had slipped and fall multiple times.

It was also quite dangerous to go further up, especially without the right gears. Most of the tourists stopped here too as it was too slippery to go any further.

Everyone was struggling to even come up to here.

I was not the only one falling down on my butt. Lol.

We finally decided to stay where we were. Thinking of my history in the department of clumsiness, I would not want to risk anything too dangerous. I was even afraid to step any further back for this photo because any wrong step and I am history. Lol.

So glad to be here with the bestie!

Actually I was still thinking of ways to go up despite the ground being very slippery. i mean, we have come all the way here, might as well go all the way.

Seems like a big pity not to go all the way up. I am pretty sure the view is even more spectacular up there.

But I still am thankful here to witness this beautiful creation. I never imagined being able to see these mountains right before my eyes. It was surreal.

Time to walk down…..

In our hurry to go up, we missed this view! So beautiful!

My favourite photo with the sun in the background!

Our second stopover was Biryong Falls. Its a waterfall situated on ground level so we had to take the cable car down.

There were not many people walking this along this path so frankly I was a little worried. The walk from entrance to the waterfalls was estimated to be 2.5 km through the forest.

At the start of the hike there. Spot our ‘small’ hotel! Lol.

Only 2 of us in this big forest! We were the only noise really. 

The slippery path ahead. I could not walk fast at all. Plus, the sun was melting all the snow which makes it even more slippery.

Rocks covered in snow….a common sight during our hike.

There was no one else around except the bestie.

There was a shop in the middle of the forest! We got a little shock seeing this. We really thought it was a baby inside the bottle. Cries.

After 2 km of walk, we finally saw this! Yeah!

However, we were stopped by an uncle, who told us not to continue walking! He showed us a pair of spikes (for shoes) that we were missing. I guess he must be saying that the road ahead was going to be more slippery and it could get dangerous.

But someone kept on walking!

She walked so fast that I was left behind.

There was no one around, so I walked even slower and took photos. 😛

That stubborn someone just kept on walking!

Can you see my annoyed face? Hahaha…I was worried for my clumsy self too. Lol.

Nowhere to be seen again. 😛

Finally caught up with her! Found her sitting down on this bridge!

We were actually very near the waterfalls but we could not go on any further because of the slippery, unstable and dangerous path ahead. The water in the river was frozen.

But it was still beautiful! Serenity.

The pathway ahead was really rocky and slippery so we decided to stop here. Our safety was our priority.

It was freezing cold so we could not stay there for long. Oh well, we almost made it again. We really wanted to see the waterfall so we were pretty disappointed.

With the rocky ground and slippery ground, walking back was a challenge for my knee. Do I look like a lost child here? Lol.

Doing stupid and funny poses in beautiful nature is my forte.

Walking back seems to be more slippery. On the way down the slope, I fell right on my butt and it was really painful! This was mainly because I landed on my tail bone and I could feel the pain right up my spine to my neck and head. I was also a bit dizzy.

Scary.

Thankfully my knee was not hurt and I could continue walking. If not, bestie would have to piggy back me! Lol.

Walked over to the bus stop with much care to go to our next destination. Sokcho beach!

Apparently this was a love themed beach!

The beach was beautifully covered with seagulls everywhere but somehow it cannot be seen clearly via our photos. It was such a lovely scene!

The blue sea and the blue sky was picture perfect.

Did I mention I love beaches? The bestie love the beach too!

Doing our usual 10 shots. 

Can you see the seagulls here??? There were so many of them! This is a rare sight for us back home.

This place also had interesting statues all over the place so we decided to have some fun posing with it.

My personal favourite! The man from the ground!

After all the walk, finally late lunch / early dinner at an italian restaurant near town area.

Since it was already dark by 5.30 pm, our day seemed short. We were home by 7.30 pm.

Nothing much to do in our hotel room except to watch tv, eat junk food and chill on the bed. Haha. The bestie played with the candles again tonight! I really do not know how she can sit in the balcony and play with the candles in this cold! Haha!

Day 7 tomorrow !