A few weeks ago, Korea celebrated the holiday of Chuseok (추석) – which is most comparable to American Thanksgiving in which you spend some quality time with family while you consume (engorge) your daily calorie allotment in one meal and loosen your belt a few notches. Overall, the main theme of these gatherings revolves around spending time and celebrating with family. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that in Korea children bow to their grandparents and receive money – while for my traditional American thanksgivings my pristine behavior went unrewarded. As most expats living in Korea do during this holiday, I went on a small trip with some coworkers and my boyfriend. We visited Samcheok which is known for its beaches, some caves, and a place called Haesindang Park (aka Penis Park) – due to the short nature of our trip we had to skip those last two sights.

We took a bus (gosok – or “express” bus) from Dongseoul Bus Terminal to Samcheok in the morning. Typically this is little more than a 3-hour long bus ride – but on a public holiday, all normal time projections go out the window. So……about 6 hours and a lot of interrupted sleep later, we arrived in Samcheok to a somewhat forlorn looking bus stop. Our plan was to buy some food and drinks before going to the guesthouse – luckily there was a HomePlus nearby, and after acquiring samgeopsal (삼겹살 – pork belly yum), soju, and other Korean BBQ essentials there we split into three different groups in order to take taxis to our end destination. We ended up with a driver who had no idea what we were talking about – or where we were trying to go. About 10-15 minutes passed during which he drove into a few random people’s driveways and asked them for directions – eventually, a very helpful family directed him towards the correct road and we found the cheerful yellow building we were looking for.

We rushed up to our rooms, tossed our bags in, and hurried back downstairs to begin preparing our feast – after the long and arduous bus journey, we were all particularly ravenous. The guesthouse owner directed us outside to a barbeque area and was kind enough to provide us with a plate of japchae (잡채 – a stir-fried dish of glass noodles and veggies, so delicious) and he even started cooking the meat for us so we could open the soku & meikju and relax into our mini vacation. The night generally continued in this way with eating/drinking/and playing games until we could no longer keep our eyes open, and we slept until it was time to take the bus the next morning nursing the expected hangovers. Another 5-6 hour long bus ride back to Seoul. Looking back – we ended up sitting on a bus for 12 hours to stuff our faces with a ton of food and check out the beach for a grand total of an hour or so. But regardless, it was fun spending time with and getting to know co-workers.

 

 

Still wanting to take advantage of our extended Chuseok vacation we spent the next day exploring more of Seoul. The five grand palaces of the Joseon dynasty are all free during the holiday, so we headed over to Deoksogung near Seoul’s City Hall where we caught a colorful changing of the guard ceremony. After exploring some history – we walked over to take a closer look at the unique architecture of the city hall. The last time we had come here, there had been a massive protest relating to the now impeached Park Geun Hye so we weren’t able to get too close then. This time it felt more like a ghost-town, there were only a few people milling about so we were able to walk around the building – and see the great verdant waves of windows that comprise the unique building up close.

 

 

Being a short distance away from the biggest palace in the city (you can read more about the palaces in my other post here), we walked over – passing a smattering of street carts on the way. The smells of hotteok (호떡 – a street food in Korea which is a pancake with different fillings) wafting through the air were so enticing, so we attempted to buy a couple….and failed. The cart we chose broke down as we were waiting in line. Amid the sad faces of the other hotteok cart patrons we left and made our way to the front gate of Gyeongbokgung.

 

 

But we weren’t disappointed for long – at the palace, we were able to experience a little bit of the royal treatment drinking some tea and eating traditional snacks (which as you can surmise by now I was in need of) The running theme of this Chuseok blog seems to be food… I love Korean food.

 

 

The last day before returning to work, I had my heart set on an outdoor adventure. The skies had been clear – so conditions were perfect. My boyfriend and I decided on Bukhansan, and it didn’t disappoint – the view was beautiful (and scary). We had a late start, so we commenced our trek during the hotter part of the day – but since fall began the weather was ideal for hiking regardless. Bukhansan has a peak of 836m, making it the highest mountain in Seoul. It was a challenge, with parts requiring you to pull yourself along by ropes or slide on your butt in order to survive – but the fear factor was absolutely worth it. I felt triumphant and accomplished reaching the top (albeit there were countless 6 to 60+ year olds who made it look easy and put me to shame. My goal is to have the fearlessness and stamina of a middle-aged Korean person when I get to those years in my life). It being the Chuseok holiday – the mountain was packed – hiking is such a popular activity here so we were constantly surrounded by other brightly clothed hikers. Everyone was in high spirits, and it made the sunny day even more cheerful. I almost made it through unscathed, but my shaky legs gave way almost at the end of the rock climb down (in my typical clumsy fashion) – probably scared the guy behind me half to death and definitely surprised my boyfriend in front of me. But I (luckily) usually fall injury free, and only came out with a small scrape (whoops).

 

Chuseok vacation was a refreshing break from work to eat a copious amount of delicious food and explore a little more of Korea. Although, now I think I need to hit the gym….