Chuncheon

Chuncheon

Throwing some things into our bags (so nice not to be lugging my cheap art laden backpack around) we headed down the subway line to the train station for Chuncheon. We grabbed some burgers and snacks and jumped on the conveniently timed train. After a very pleasant train journey – especially novel for me having not booked it, something much harder in China – we arrived and nabbed a taxi to our motel. The Ritz Motel – or Ritz Hotel depending on which sign/motel paraphernalia you looked at – looked very nice from outside, to the extent that had we not read about it in the guide, and checked the prices ahead of time we probably wouldn't have gone in. Inside it was a quiet and clean motel, with a vending machine in the lobby for all your needs. If those needs happened to be love motel needs that is – vending machine underwear anyone?

My understanding is that, in S. Korea people live at home until they are relatively older than their Western counterparts. Thus, for some privacy couples head to 'love motels'. The one we were in was not seedy – although it was fairly anonymous and there was always that vending machine in the lobby...and was in fact one of the nicest places I've stayed in the last 10 weeks with a very clean bedroom with water dispenser (hot and cold), VCR (extensive library downstairs...we did not check out the titles), TV and fridge and well stocked bathroom. Pretty good for $15 each. The guy behind the desk was called into service action when we asked him for a bus route, and spent a good 5-10 minutes finding us maps (2), and telling us where to go for the bus and so on. I suspect he doesn't often get to give out tourist information, although perhaps more so given they're in the Lonely Planet.

We'd decided to make use of our full day away by leaving Chuncheon by local bus for nearby Gangchon. The drive there was pleasant if rather crowded. As the weather was exceptionally nice, we decided to make a walk of it up to the waterfall – the chief attraction. Thus, eschewing the options of bikes, motor bikes or quad bikes – particularly popular with the visiting Korean students – we set off on our walk, which turned out to be shorter than expected, and along a fairly pleasant road with views of a valley, prime positions for watching the ridiculous poses people pull while driving quad bikes, and plenty of interesting looking bugs for Chi-He to photograph.

The waterfall itself – with entrance fee – was not particularly impressive. In fact, barely so at all. Having seen it, and climbed up a hill nearby – the name of which I only vaguely remember – we both agreed that the nicest part of the visit was that autumn had changed a reasonable amount of the leaves to various shades of orange and red, providing a beautiful backdrop. Thus, not a place I'd particularly recommend outside of autumn.

Heading back to Chuncheon on an even more crowded bus we attempted to walk back to the hotel, to find ourselves closer to the food district. Or more accurately the Dakgalbi Geori area, where that particular meal can be bought at a great number of restaurants. I'll look up what's actually in it some time, but to briefly describe – you get condiments, and a large amount of raw chicken, veg and rice cakes mixed together in a slightly spicy red marinade. Despite the fact the restaurant didn't serve beer – something I didn't think would ever happen in Korea – the food was delicious and I would happily eat it again.

The following day we did the usual dull errand things – checked out, bought tickets onwards and so on – and then took a walk along the lake in Chuncheon with the intention of catching a ferry to the island. Along the way we saw a very impressive colourful and large spider, and a number of somewhat interesting statues. As we got closer to the lake we could see the shore litered with Swan peddle boats (a few of which were beached on the slope up in disrepair – hardly an advertisement). However, with all of this excitement, a toll had been taken on us, and we decided to sit for a while...then go back towards the bus station to get some food and leave for Seoul, and my next stop (and one assumes, blog topic) – Gyeongju.