Uneasy on Naksan Beach, Naksan Part 5

Summer shots of Naksan Beach are rather scary. I can just imagine it - The massive crowds in and out of the water. Territorial disputes over space to spread one’s beach towel on the sand. Public humiliation of exposing one’s cellulite in skimpy summer shorts. The long queues to rent a beach umbrella or to buy an ice lolly. But when I find myself on Naksan Beach in autumn, the emptiness is also a little intimidating though of a different sort.

The winds are chilly with a hint of winter and the walk down the empty beach is a little discomfiting as one can’t hide in a crowd here in this season. I feel like a hermit crab without my shell as I’m about the only one on the beach, exposed to the eyes of the locals who must be wondering who this crazy tourist is to be wandering alone on the shoreline.

The ajummas in the sikdangs ( restaurants) who are usually kept busy serving raw fish ( saeng-seon hoe – pronounced “hwey”) are sitting around, chatting or watching TV drama serials. I’m hardly likely to venture into any of these eateries for these reasons 1.I’m not into “ raw squid, flatfish, sea cucumber, abalone, sea urchin or croaker” ( quoting from the Yangyang Travel Guide) 2. I’m on a shoestring budget 3. As a solo traveler, I’m not likely to order an expensive seafood meal usually served to groups (from at least 50,000 to 70,000 won, 2004 prices)

So what else is there to do in Naksan in this low season? I should’ve checked out the Hoe Centre at the base of the cliff where Uisang-dae is perched just to see how Koreans prepare their raw seafood dishes. If I had checked the Yangyang guidebook carefully, I would’ve also visited the Naksan Yellow Ochre Fire Kiln ( sauna) to try out its various facilities such as the natural jade room, the sauna with jade-pebbled heated floor and the herbal steam sauna. ( Bus No 9 goes along National Road No. 7 between Yangyang and Sokcho every 20 minutes , get off at Josan)

A note on getting to Naksan: Took a shuttle bus from Osaek Greenyard Hotel, in the southern part of Soraksan. After a short walk past shops selling a wide assortment of dried seafood, I found a bewildering array of minbaks and yeogwans just before the beach. Not too difficult finding a place to stay during autumn though I’m sure available rooms would be hard to come by in summer. Paid 20,000 won for a small room in a minbak ( October, 2004 prices)

sources:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264622
http://eng.yangyang.go.kr/page/foreign/eng/index.jsp
http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsview.asp?serial_no=20080704010
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Korea_style_raw_fish.jpg

Seoraksan, Part 2: Beware - Traffic Jams on Mountain Roads

Autumn, 2004 – Heavy Traffic On Mountain Highway

Sometimes fortune favours the naïve traveller such as myself who had thought it wouldn’t be so hard to find a place to stay. It just so happened that in 2004, I had boarded and alighted from the same bus at Chuncheon as two ladies who ran a minbak in Anteo Homestay Village, a stone’s throw away from the bus stop in Osaek, a village in the southern part of Seoraksan. ( This was after I had changed from an express bus bound for Chuncheon, taken directly outside Incheon International Airport).

I had to pay 30,000 won per night for one basic room with no attached bathroom ( which was pretty steep, considering such rooms usually went for 20,000 won) but soon realised that room rates tended to balloon just ahead of the surging masses that made their way to Seoraksan during the weekends.

When I took another bus from Naksan into SEORAK –DONG, the traffic jam was even worse. Many passengers, including yours truly, got tired of being stuck on the road, and so opted to walk the last two kilometers. Incidentally, getting out of these places can be just as nerve-wracking and a test of one’s patience as the coaches and cars seem to choose the same hour for their exits from the national parks.