My parents visited me and Romana in Korea for three weeks. Here are a some of our days and evenings out and about.

DAYs 12 OF my parents’ 3-week TRIP to Korea

Seoraksan National Park

The weather was lovely, bright but not too hot. We drove to the carpark of Seoraksan National Park and got there just as it was starting to get busy. We got our entrance tickets then wandered to the area where there are a few coffee shops and restaurants to find some breakfast. After some coffee and cake (and asking a smoker not to smoke near us…), we walked towards the Sinheungsa Temple (신흥사). The views of the mountain since getting into the park were spectacular, especially with the air being so clear. The entrance to the temple features a large metal buddha statue.

The temple buildings are a bit further up over a stone bridge. There is a very wide, boulder-strewn stream bed which I imagine looks fills up with the summer rains; I’d like to see that some day! The temple area, like most temples, was very serene and well maintained; you can’t go wrong in a locations as beautiful as this!

We walked back a bit to Seolhyang (설향), a nice hanok style tea house by the stream and sat on the terrace with a few local teas. While there, my parents decided to spend more time in the park while I drove into town to pick up Romana from the bus stop. They told me later that they had had a lovely walk along Biseondae stream (비선대계곡) trail, then taken a ride up the cable car for a walk to the peak.

In Sokcho, I met Romana and we had a quick bite to eat. She told me she’d met an older couple from the Netherlands on the bus and had found out they’d ended up at a bus terminal different to what they’d expected (there are two main terminal in Sokcho). She suggested I drive them to their accommodation to save them having to get a cab, so that’s what we did; my Good Samaritan deed for the day (year?).

We then drove back to Seoraksan and waited outside the entrance for my parents, then had a pajeon (Korean vegetable pancake) and some makgeolli before heading back to our accommodation. We rested for a while while also searching for a place to get some steamed snow crab (대게) in town.

Snow crab

I had really wanted to try a place Romana and I had been to before (twice!) but it had moved location. It was now in a newish seafood complex at Depohang Harbour (대포항원조튀김골목). The buildings are laid out in two concentric circles by the harbour and it’s basically a seafood eatery of many, many restaurants of all sizes. you could spend hours looking at all the seafood places and negotiating prices, but fortunately, we didn’t! Romana decided to try a new, smaller place, run by one woman (콩새엄마). We chose our crabs and of course got a few side dishes of other seafood (various raw shellfish, squirts and sea cucumbers; not on my list of favs but Romana likes them!). The crab is steamed outside, the shells cut for easy access, and then we get stuck right in; my absolute favourite way to eat crab and extremely delicious; no need to shell out for it’s far more expensive cousin, the king crab.

Fully full, we drove back to the accommodation for some beers, wine and Yahtzee!