Korea 9/11 : Seoraksan National Park, Sinsa, Express Bus Terminal

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” 

– Neale Donald Walsch

Day 9 – Friday, 28 October 2016

We checked out in early morning and planning to Seoraksan for day trip only, so we went to Express Bus Terminal Station and we bought the Express Bus ticket there in the locket, we bought the ticket for Seoul – Sokcho (KRW 18,100) for 7 AM and we also bought Bus ticket Seoul – Busan (KRW 37,600) leaving at 1.30 AM

 

The bus will leave on time so make sure you will board on time and stay around your bus platform. We find locker to store our bags and we found it not far from the locket, we asked people where the locker is. I took the small size and it cost KRW 2,000 for small size. There was also big size if you want to take the big size.

Journey from Seoul to Sokcho took about 2,5 hours, the bus was quite comfortable and we slept right away in the bus, the bus will stop once at rest area for 15 minutes so you can go to toilet, when I get out from the bus, it was soooo cold. Maybe because the rain and wind came cool weather became extra brrrr.

Arrive at Sokcho Express Bus Terminal, across the street and take the bus 7 or 7-1 to Seoraksan National Park, it took around 45 minutes on the bus. Get off at Seoraksan National Park.

Seoraksan National Park, Seoraksan, ‘San’ means mountain in Korean, ‘Ak’ means big mountain and ‘Seol’ means snow in Korean. There are several ‘Ak’ in Korea, and one of them is Seoraksan. Why they named it Seoraksan? Because the snow would not melt in a long time so keeping the rocks in a permanent state of white. Admission Fee is KRW 3,500.

You may find a lot of people especially elder people with their hiking equipment and plan to do hiking there, because there are several Hiking Course that you can hike, the famous one is Ulsanbawi Rock (2 hours hiking, 3.6km)

Since we didn’t want to do hiking at that time, we took cable car instead, from the entrance we just go straight, then on your left side, rushing to buy Cable Car ticket (KRW 10,000/round trip) because I heard it would be so crowded especially during peak season (summer vacation or fall foliage season). And well yeah, we got the boarding time for our Cable Car at 12.20 so we need to wait around 2 hours there. It only take 5 minute for one way to go up, and the capacity is 50 people.

While waiting 2 hours for boarding, we wander around the National Park, going to Sinheungsa Temple (Giant Buddha), located not far from the Cable Car. The surroundings of Seoraksan National Park were totally beautiful, I love it so much. We sit on the backyard of Cable Car, enjoying our snacks and kimbab that we brought, enjoying the view and the breeze, so relaxing.

And finally our time to get on board, we heading upstairs and take our cable car, the cable car getting up and up slowly but sure, 5 minutes ride though and you can enjoy the view from the top since the cable car window is clear and you can pampering your eyes to see lovely scenery.

It’s amazing to see this cable car going up carry all these 50 people in only 5 minutes, so we don’t need to make some effort to do hiking at Seoraksan hehe. Arrive on the top, you can have a rest there and my suggestion is you follow the path and going up, there you will see spectacular yet fascinating rock formations that too pretty to be missed. When you finished you can just go down by cable car without time schedule like you departed. Just queue directly to get on the cable car.

We go back to Sokcho Express Bus Terminal with same bus which is 7 or 7-1 and from there we bought bus ticket back to Seoul (KRW 18,100), and we took the bus that going to stop at Express Bus Terminal, we felt hungry so we had cup ramyeon at 7 eleven at the bus terminal, yummy :) Finally our bus came and we were so tired so we slept tight on the bus lol, 2,5 hours will take a pretty long way and enough to take a nap.

Back to Express Bus Terminal and we were heading to Sinsadong by taking subway to Sinsa Station from Express Bus Terminal Station, checking Line Store there, Sinsadong area was pretty cool for youth people, you will find many shops there, so interesting, looks like Apgujeong but more alive, we also bought some cosmetics again there, and Line Store also cute, they also have Café inside and all the souvenirs about Line Character, even the big doll of Line Character will welcoming you in the front door.

Our next place on our itinerary is Kakao Talk Café (Café Talk) near Nonhyeon Station, we took bus because we kinda tired to get down to subway station so bus is easier and bit cheaper :D We get off there and surprised! It already closed, not because the operation time is over but it already changing with another store, huhu kinda sad because I love Kakao Talk character more than Line :p

From there we decided to heading back to Express Bus Terminal while waiting for our Bus to Busan, we took the night Bus to Busan so we can save our money for guest house and sleep on the bus instead. Looking for dinner at the terminal, there are so many options to try to eat at the terminal, this terminal is huge, we found a restaurant and we ate ramyeong and kimbab for dinner, I paid KRW 4,750 for my meal :)

We take out our bags from the locker and do packing at one of benches there, and waiting for our bus depart to Busan in our platform. The bus is same with the one that we use to Sokcho, I thought since it’s night bus it would be look different inside but apparently it’s not haha, well it’s pretty comfortable but if I comparing with Willer Express Bus that I took in Japan hmm..of course Willer is waaay better from this one but it’s okay. The journey to Busan will take around 4 hours more.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and see you soon in Busan!