WenY Wonders Why: SK: Ulsan Bawi @ Seorak National Park

Thursday, September 26, 2013

SK: Ulsan Bawi @ Seorak National Park

One of the best parts of my South Korea trip was Mount Seorak. Just 3 hours from Seoul, the Seorak national park is just beautiful when covered in snow. To get there, I got on a taxi from the airport to bring us to Dong Seoul Bus Station where we got on a bus to Seorak. This was followed by a 20 minute taxi ride. All in all, it cost around $100 for two people. A night’s stay at the national park motel was a modest $80 and the room had a beautiful view. The only thing was that it did not have a lift and we stayed 3 floors up. As we had our luggage bags full from shopping in HK, it was a pain in the ass!

Anyways, our plan for the day was simple, hike Heundeul – bawi and Ulsan – bawi. A total hike of around 6km each way. Not much in terms of distance except its verticality. The only problem was that it was a –27 degrees afternoon.Crossing the bridge

Still yet to reach Heundeul – bawi but Ulsan – bawi was already in sight. Or so we thought =.=!After an hour of walk, we settled around 2kms to Heundeul – bawi but it was rather insignificant. Just a big rock :(! So we set forth to Ulsan – bawi!

On the way up!Some of the better parts of the trail with guides to hold on to. Little did we know that it would save our lives as we climbed up!

After another hour, we were really rushing against time. The sun was really against us and we quicken our pace. Challenging really! It was so slippery and we had no shoes so we stopped by a small hut and bought some spikey attachments! $5 each but really handy in providing grip ;)!

After almost 2 hours, we were at the base of the Ulsan – bawi. Feeling rather happy, we thought that it was really near. It was actually, just 1km more... vertically. And that was another 30 minutes up…Ulsan – bawi base!

As we were ascending the steps, we almost got blown off. So I sat down. Keep calm, take a picture. We clearly caught up to the sun. There was heaps more sun at the top. The view here is truly magnificent during winter. Not sure about other seasons though!

Nothing much. Just a stair. One of the many stairs….

At the top, the view was phenomenal. Here is a picture of me in my unsuitable clothing and Ulsan-baw in the backdrop! Almost died there! Still managed to fake a smile hahaha.

A mad combination of howling wind and darkness forced us to descend quicker than we had wished. Better safe than sorry we thought, only to meet wolves/wild boars hunting along the river. Glad we were on the other side! But after a mad 5 hour hike up and down, we were so hungry we quickly ate nearby in a local café. The town is 10 minutes by taxi but we were too tired to move.

A winter staple. Dried Pollock soup! Really delicious in this weather :)! The Pollock is dried by the chilling winter air and used to make soups and other food stuff. Absolutely odorless which made me like it. ]At best, it was slightly salty with a rough texture, and felt somewhat like bacon =.=!

The little darling’s favourite BibimbapMeal in a bowl!

The obligatory side dishes of kimchee. Cabbage kimchee and radish kimchee along with seasoned cucumber, seaweed, mushrooms and more vegetables. Damn! Koreans are really healthy!We slept at 7pm that night. Definitely needed a good rest as we had just flown in from Jeju to Seoul 6am that morning before taking a bus to Mount Seorak! But still, this was a winning trip!