Our Month in Korea 학국
Ryan was able to join me for a trip in Asia this summer! We had the privilege to spend a month together in South Korea. Half of that time was spent quarantining on one of the U.S. Air Force bases. The other have was full of adventure! — strolling about Seoul and Busan, cycling down the East Coast, and exploring Korea’s largest island Jeju. -C
Quarantine at the Air Base
The two weeks Ryan and I spent in the US prior to arriving in Korea had been a blur. It felt like time slowed down to normal speed when we stepped into our room for the two-week quarantine. While a 14-day quarantine is less than ideal, we were able to roam about the base after receiving a negative result on our COVID test. We appreciated the opportunity to do normal day-to-day activities together like cooking, going to the gym, and watching hours and hours of Olympics. Ryan even tried to teach me a golf swing one morning! Needless to say, we had no trouble filling our days and enjoying each other’s company. After the two weeks, we were rewarded with the freedom to explore Korea and, with that, learn more about Ryan’s Korean heritage.
Our Quarantine Meals
A sampling of the meals Ryan and I made together in our quarantine “temporary lodging facility” (TLF).
Seoul
Our first stop was in the capital city. Ryan and I were fortunate to stay with another Olmsted family, Esther and Nate, who are currently living in Seoul. Throughout our stay, they provided us with countless insights and recommendations on to how best enjoy our time in the country.
Selfie while exploring the Bokchon Hanok Village.
On our first morning, Ryan and I ventured to the Bokchon Hanok Village. We strolled along the quiet streets, enjoying the beautiful traditional architecture of a Korean village. We stopped into a small cafe for an early lunch where we enjoyed a couple rolls of kimbap for our first Korean meal. After lunch, the lady cafe owner asked us, “It is delicious?” Her tone was almost identical to Ryan’s halmeoni (grandmother) and it gave him an instant flashback to meals with his grandparents. This was one of many instances throughout our trip where Ryan felt a tangible connection with his halmeoni and halabeoji (grandpa).
View of Namsan Tower from the Bokchon Hanok Village.
We continued our day by strolling through the National Palace Museum, walking up to see the presidential “Blue House”, recharging ourselves in cafes, and exploring a really cool international district called Itaewon. After enjoying a beautiful sunset looking out at Namsan tower, we moseyed back to our friends’ home. In total, we clocked about 8 miles of exploring for the day!
We then shifted our focus to preparing for the East Coast bike trip in just 2 days. Korea has several maintained bike trails that feature a network of red phone booths where riders can collect stamps along their journey. To follow the route and collect the stamps, you must buy a special cycling passport book. So on our second day in Seoul, we made the half-day trek to pick up a passport book. Eager to warm up our legs, we borrowed our friends’ bikes for an lovely evening ride along the Han River.
We enjoyed a lovely sunset over Seoul as we cycled along the Han River.
Our last major stop was a visit to the iconic Namsan “Seoul Tower”. Built on top of a hill in the middle of Seoul, the tower has an amazing panoramic view of the entire city. Unfortunately, that also meant we had to climb up the hill in the sweltering Korean summer heat. The bathroom on the tower’s upper floor is also a memorable experience. The stall has a full glass window overlooking the city which gave me the feeling of having a front row seat to all of Seoul from the loo.
Ryan photo-bombing as we explore the views at Namsan tower.
Before the end of the day, we stopped by the bike shop to drop off a small luggage bag and to pick up our two road bikes. The shop arranged to deliver our luggage to a bike shop in Busan, where we would return the bikes and take our luggage. With the logistics squared away, we returned to our friends’ house and got to work packing our saddle bags for our next adventure!
East Coast Cycling Trip
We’d like to dedicate this section of the story to all the elderly men (ajoshis) and elderly women (ajumeonis) who helped us throughout our cycling trip; without their kind help we never would have finished our trip!
After a few hours of cycling, we got some relief from the heat. Unfortunately, that relief came in the form of a giant thunder storm. Tuned through years of hiking and Scouting, Ryan’s alarm bells went off and we sought out shelter. The storm delay meant that we no longer had time for a proper dinner and had to resort to whatever quick snacks we could find at the convenience store. We picked out kimbap rolls (Ryan also enjoyed a chicken sandwich a little too much) and continued on our way. The stormy weather wasn’t all bad, because we were eventually rewarded with dramatic sunset while riding adjacent to a huge lake. We feasted our eyes on a beautiful pink sunset that reflected off the water and filled the sky.
Epic sunset along the lake.
We were almost out of daylight, with battery for our phone’s navigation about to die, and we still had an hour of cycling ahead of us. When the rain started up again, we seriously considered calling it quits for the day and staying at the next hotel we passed. We decided to push on in the dark soaking wet, only to find that the last 5km was a steep climb up a mountain pass. We made it up the mountain in the pitch black and came screaming down the hill on the other side. Our hostel sat next to the road at the bottom of the hill like a finish line. We finally arrived and it felt like we were in the middle of no where. We quickly got to work hand-washing and air drying our clothes and shoes in the hopes of having dry gear for our “first” day on the trail in the morning.
One of many fishing villages we passed along our way back to Sokcho.
In the morning, we collected the first stamp at the Unification Center and then began to retrace our route from the day before. We took the time to enjoy the scenery a little more on the way back and stopped in a couple cafes along the way. We even took a dip in the ocean when we saw a secluded beach we could enjoy to ourselves. The swim helped cool us back down during a particularly hot day.
Enjoying a local brew in Sokcho.
We arrived in Sokcho to find a festive atmosphere and lots of street vendors. We stopped at a cool local brew stand to enjoy a celebratory beer with some delicious mandu (dumplings). After checking into our hotel, we strolled back to the cute harbor area and sat down for a fresh sashimi dinner. Ryan did his best to graciously enjoy the meal, even though we know fish isn’t his favorite. Then we walked around a little more enjoying the evening lights of the port before heading in for the night.
The following morning, we decided we would get started at sunrise so we could crank out half the day’s kilometers in the cooler temperatures. I don’t think either of us anticipated how beautiful it would be though. Cycling along the coast as the sun rose in the cool air was a real treat and great start to the day.
Cycling along the beach at sunrise.
Unfortunately, the skies kept getting darker as big clouds rolled in and we experienced a fair amount of rain later in the day. My phone was fixed to my bike for navigation and got waterlogged, likely letting water in through the broken glass on the camera. We were now down to only one functioning phone.
Cycling through the rain.
Towards the end of the day, we were riding along a tight, windy road next to the ocean in low visibility when we heard a loud pop. Ryan’s rear tire had been punctured and we had very limited experiences changing tubes (only I had changed one tube before). The tire proved extremely hard to remove because of a twisted rim liner and our lack of proficiency. I was finally able to replace the tube but the side-wall of the tire was torn in the process. We could see the inflated replacement tube bulging out of the tear… it was just a matter of time before the tire blew again. We stopped in a little seaside village, removed the broken wheel, locked up our bikes, and set out on foot to find help.
Our main goal was to find a taxi that could take us the final 15km to our hotel. Once at the hotel, we could figure out how to get the tire fixed and then return to our bikes to continue on our journey. We walked into a small cafe to see if the shop owner could help us order a taxi. Unfortunately, there aren’t any taxis in that part of the country so the owner offered to drive us to our hotel in his own car! Since this was the midpoint of the trip, we had booked a beautiful spa hotel where we planned to enjoy their pools and get a massage. But after the afternoon ordeal, we had just enough energy to get dinner at the restaurant upstairs before crashing for the evening.
Celebrating our fixed tire with Joe!
We got up early the following morning to order a taxi to start the journey of trying to fix the tire. We used Google translate to explain our situation to the driver, Joe, who was quickly up to speed on our predicament and decided he was committed to seeing us back on our journey… Instead of continuing to the repair shop we had found online, he took us to a much closer one. When we arrived, he jumped out of the car, ran the tire over to the repairman, and explained in Korean that we needed a new tire and two tubes.
Having acquired a new tire, he drove us all the way back to our abandoned bikes. Along the way, we learned that he is a retired master sergeant from the Korean naval special forces, that he loves diving, and specialized in jumping out of Chinook helicopters. We were so grateful for his help and touched by his desire to make sure we could continue on our adventure — he was the MVP of this whole trip!
Enjoying the views at our lunch spot about an hour after getting back on the road.
That afternoon was our hardest day. We suffered as we climbed our way through sequential hills towards our motel. Instinctively, we sought to lift each other’s spirits in order to motivate one another to get up the hill. After we arrived at the motel, we discovered that its nicest perk was being able to use their laundry facilities. This meant, for the first time since the start of the trip, we could start the next day with clean bike clothes.
With our laundry squared away, we set out into the night to try to find dinner. Given the late hour and the small size of the town, I felt sure we would be eating another convenience store meal. Ryan approached a restaurant that looked closed except for a faint glow of light from under the door. When we opened the door, a few patrons inside looked pretty surprised to see us. We confirmed they were still open for dinner and ordered a home-style sautéed pork dish with lots of spice, mysterious veggies, and tons of flavor. This surprisingly delicious dinner in this tiny town was a wonderful end to an exhausting day and also turned out to be one of our favorite meals of the trip!
We decided to get another sunrise start the following morning. For the first segment, we zipped through more hills until we made it back to the shore. We rode through the town of Uljin where we crossed the “sweet fish bridge”. Close to lunch time Ryan asked, “Hey, this is a weird question, but do you have my phone?” I did not. We decided to order a taxi to retrace our route, but we unfortunately were unable to find Ryan’s phone. This meant that both of us had lost our phones, we no longer had a Korean SIM card for navigation, and our sole remaining data device was Ryan’s iPad. Thankfully, most of the path is lined with a blue line or blue signs to point the way, but we were keenly aware of the increased chances of us getting lost during the remainder of the trip.
Beautiful views from our morning ride.
For our final day of riding, we got ourselves ready for an early start. Our bags were loaded, sunscreen was applied, and helmets were buckled. Just as we were about to hop on our bikes, Ryan announced, “oh no, I have a flat!” I groaned as I contemplated removing his stubbornly affixed tire yet again. But after lots of practice the previous few days, this tube change was at least moderately quicker.
Morning setbacks…
We lost an hour of sunrise riding but we soon were on our way. By about 9 o’clock that morning, we arrived at the last stamp booth of the trail! We took the time to stretch and enjoy the satisfaction of completing the East Coast Bike Trail.
The next step was to make our way into Pohang were we would meet up with Esther and her friend Katey. After many wrong turns and stops to oreient ourselves, we finally arrived at our Air BnB around 2pm. Es and Katey took us on a mini tour of the town including sipping makgeolli on the beach, eating some delicious Korean BBQ, and taking a short hike to check out a cool view of the city. We even got to try some surfing. Since I’d never surfed before, this mostly consisted of me getting my ass kicked by the waves, but I still had fun!
Snapping some photos from an overlook of Pohang.
The next day, we traveled to a small country town and stayed at a sleepy BnB recommended by Katey. We asked the lodge owner for his dinner recommendation and he pointed emphatically to a building across the field. He said it was a “Hanwoo” BBQ restaurant. When we walked into the building, we were greeted by a butcher who asked us to choose our dinner from a beautiful selection of marbled beef. We took our beef upstairs where we found a more traditional Korean BBQ restaurant and a Le Creuset skillet on the table. Between the high-quality beef and the all-you-can-eat banchan, we enjoyed our favorite meal of the entire trip in this little countryside restaurant! The dinner also inspired conversation of how we would love a similar BBQ setup one day on our back patio where we could cook up fresh cuts from the butcher with our favorite sides.
Cooking this beautiful meat for our BBQ.
Busan
The following day we made it finally to Busan. When we disembarked the bus, we still had about 30 minutes of cycling required to arrive at the bike shop where we would return our bikes and pick up our suitcase. We did our best to complete the trip however our bikes were defeated from all the rain, wind, and sand. With our chains out of grease and shifting nearly impossible, we gave up and walked the last few blocks to the store.
Photo taken on one of our strolls in Busan’s folk villages.
Busan was a welcome change of pace and well-deserved rest for our bodies. On our first afternoon, we explored the traditional street markets full of fresh produce, fish, meat, and plenty of low-cost clothing and toiletries. For dinner, we were determined to track down a highly-rated spicy tofu soup restaurant from our guide book. It took us a couple rounds around the block before we found it tucked away up the stairs in the market! We walked home later in the evening through a large outdoor shopping mall area where lots of people were enjoying the restaurants and brand stores. When we came upon a Converse store, Ryan found himself a spiffy new orange pair of high-tops.
Walking down one of Busan’s main shopping streets.
The next day, we treated ourselves to a relaxing morning at a Korean spa. The pools in this spa were largely under a beautiful atrium with pools of several different temperatures to include ice cold pools. My favorite pool was an outdoor pool where I could enjoy the rainy morning why soaking in a warm pool. After a couple relaxing hours in the spa, we took a 45-min train ride north to a Buddhist temple located in the hills of Busan. It was cool to see the architecture and overall peaceful environment of the temple. We even did a mini hike to a lookout point before heading back to Busan.
For our last day in Busan, we crossed a bridge and headed south to an island nearby our hotel. We strolled through a folk village where the streets were full of yummy cafes and artsy booths. We took our time enjoying snacks, lunch, and getting in a little shopping along the way. In the evening, we decided to checkout a board game bar. This was a really cool venue that placed us in our own enclosed booth where we enjoyed a couple drinks and played a healthy game of “Pandemic.” Because the instructions were in Korean, we had to rely on Ryan’s memory of the rules to play the game. We were able to squeeze a victory on our very last turn!
Jeju
For the final stop of our adventure in Korea together, Ryan and I boarded a plane to the island of Jeju.
On our first morning in Jeju, we set out to tackle Korea’s tallest mountain, Hallasan. Our guide book listed it as a 6mi hike, which we didn’t realize until the morning of that that was only the distance to the peak. The full day would be 12 miles. Therefore, we quickly got ready and set out for the trailhead.
Enjoying the beginning of our hike.
The first part of the hike wound through beautiful wooded areas with streams crossing back and forth over our trail. We came across maps that marked our present position, time to the next milestone, and level of difficulty along that segment. This allowed us to brace for some steep climbs that we knew were coming. Also, the map noted a halfway checkpoint that had to be reached by 1pm or hikers would have to turn around rather than continue on to the summit.
When we got to the steep section, we were confronted with flight after flight of stairs. As we felt the lactic acid burning in our legs, we also knew we were in a race against the clock to get to the mid-way check point by 1 pm. We pushed on through lunch and it’s a good thing we did because the views on the top half of the trail were pretty incredible. We continued huffing and puffing our way up and enjoying the changing scenery around every bend.
Victory at the top of Hallasan!
When we arrived at the top, the guide immediately started telling us there was no time for pictures and that we needed to head back down, because it was getting late. We quickly took a few photos and enjoyed a few minutes on the summit before starting the descent.
The view on the descent was beautiful as well. With billowing clouds at eye level, it felt like being up in the sky. The way down took several hours and lots of rock skipping to reach the bottom. When we arrived at the trailhead thirsty and drained, we hailed a taxi and returned back to our hotel in Jeju city.
Descending next to the clouds.
The next morning we discovered a delightful bakery down the block from our hotel where the pastries were actually made in the cafe. We picked out a selection of chocolate croissants, AMAZING nut and fruit scones, and egg tarts. We found the bakery so enjoyable, we made repeat appearances for our following two mornings in Jeju.
After breakfast, we picked up our rental scooter which we used to roam the coast of the island for the next two days. Along the beach, we saw surfing schools for kids, lots of neat cafes, and enough of Jeju’s beauty to know that we’d like to return one day soon and cycle around the island.
The highlight of our sightseeing in Jeju was visiting the Jeju Haenyeo (lady diver) Museum. These ladies are a bunch of badasses! While men would do much of the fishing in traditional culture, these ladies found their niche diving along the coast. They trained for years to hold their breath for minutes at a time while collecting a wide array of mollusks and other sea creatures. Aside from being an integral part of the economy, these divers also played an instrumental part throughout history by demanding political reforms from the government to better protect the interests of the Jeju people. Learning about these ladies was definitely worth the visit to this museum.
After three wonderful weeks of adventuring, we found ourselves preparing Ryan for his flight back to the States. Even though our time together in Korea flew by, we were able to make so many amazing memories exploring the culturally rich country of Korea. We dreaded having to say goodbye to each other once again, and we hope that this situation continues for only a little while longer. Our adventures together are infinitely better than our adventures apart.
More photos depicting this story are on Instagram @eyes_unclouded
Sunset from our last night in Jeju.