Gangwon Province | YISS 3-Day Field Trip
- Kevin Liu
- Jun 28, 2018
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 25, 2018
After my first night in Seoul, I traveled to the Gangwon Province on the optional three-day field trip. This trip was an extracurricular activity provided to the YISS students prior to the start of the summer school program and costed 500,000 won. Read to follow my experience on this school trip and learn a few Korean words along the way!
Tuesday, June 26
Arrival
From my Airbnb residence, I walked over to Yonsei University's New Millennium Hall Building #606. Luckily, I met another YISS student, Jhinyl at my Airbnb location by awkwardly starting a conversation since I saw that she was also getting ready to leave early in the morning around 7 AM. I took a chance and asked if she was going to the Yonsei field trip, and thankfully she was After reaching the Yonsei campus, we also met Paul on the way from being lost finding our meeting destination.
At the hall, we left our 6-week luggage in a separate room and took what we needed for our field trip. To expedite this process, I consolidated my luggage by packing a smaller suitcase with my field trip items into my larger suitcase, helping the travel from my Airbnb to the campus and check-in process. The orientation was very basic with a speaker detailing the three-day trip logistics before we departed on a total of four private chartered buses (totaling to about 140 students on the trip). We had a great tour guide, Candice, who taught us the history behind all the locations we visited!
Lunch
For lunch, we ate 비빔밥 (bi-bim-bap) at a local restaurant that uses native crops for their ingredients. Usually in Korean cuisine, you are given various number of side dishes filled with vegetables along your main dish. My favorite side dish was 잡채 (jap-chae: Korean savory glass noodles). We were given a huge bowl of the vegetables and egg as well as a bowl of rice and 고추장 (go-chu-jang: Korean red chili paste). The restaurant lady helped me to mix the rice and sauce together with the vegetables as 비빔밥 literally means "mixed rice". In Korean restaurants, the norm is to hand customers a huge bottle of water in a plastic container for them to self-pour.
Sokcho Central Market
Afterward lunch, we headed to the Sokcho Central Market. At this location, many vendors were selling a whole ton of items, ranging from fishery items to whole sales and retail items. At this location, I hung with Jhinyl and Sarah and walked the many paths in the market. Eventually, we decided to get a delicious 호떡 (ho-tteok: Korean fried pancake) that was covered in brown sugar/cinnamon and stuffed with nuts. We also got a colored bottle drink, which was some type of refreshing vegetable juice. Candice, our tour guide, told us to say "깎아 주세요 (ggakk-a ju-se-yo)" meaning "Discount, please!". Hopefully, you'll reap some harvest from saying that phrase!
Seork Waterpia
Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from the Seorak Waterpia since water was involved and I did not want to have my camera/phone damaged. However, the waterpark was very fun! At this waterpark, everyone must wear some type of covering for your head, so bring your own cap. They also have rental swimming caps for 1,500 won in case you forget to bring a hat. A cultural shock that may occur when entering the lockers is the nudity; you may feel shy about stripping naked, but that is not the case here as everyone is walking in the nude. They had a wide range of attractions at the location, having many slides, saunas, and pools to choose from! My favorite ride was the Malestrom because of the feeling within my stomach from the steep drop into a funnel. Look forward to having a good time at this waterpark!
Dinner
For dinner, we went to a different Korean restaurant where we took our shoes off at the door. I sat with new people and met Patrick, Joseph, and John. We had barbequed pork and 찌개 (jji-gae: Korean stew) with tofu, kimchi, onions, and vegetables. To eat the meat, you usually wrap it in lettuce and add 고추장 to it. 찌개 is usually devoured with 밥 (bap: rice).
Hotel
After finishing dinner, we finally checked into the Hanhwa Resort Seorak Sorano hotel and met our roommates. In each room, they had a futon room, small kitchen/dining area, bathroom, and bedroom. I fell asleep after watching some Korean TV shows.
Wednesday, June 27
Breakfast
The hotel provided a buffet for breakfast with a wide variety of food available for their guests. They had foods like waffles, bacon, tofu, cereal, fruits, rice, beef, eggs, yogurt, and pastries. The list goes on and on! They also had various drinks available: mandarin juice, grape juice, milk, espresso, americano, etc. After eating breakfast, we met at the hotel's lobby at 9:20 AM and boarded the buses to head to our next destination.
Shinheung Temple
We first went to the Shinheung Temple and saw many religious buildings and statues. We also saw live monks in the middle of their prayers to Buddha. Candice told us about the history behind Buddhism in Korea, having many influences from Confucianism back in China. We were able to explore the temple as well as take some artsy photos of the scenery at this location. The area was full of greenery while having a prehistoric vibe from the aging structures located there.
Seorak Mountain
Talking about scenery, we rode the cable car up the mountain this temple was located at and saw the breath-taking view after a short hike to the top. It was very sunny but windy, so be sure to hold on to your items before they fly in the wind!
Lunch
We had delicious vegetarian options for food. We ate 감자전 (gam-ja jeon: potato Korean pancake), tofu 찌개, and tofu porridge. 감자전 was my favorite item because of its crispy texture and savory taste. 파전 (pa-jeon) means Korean pancakes and can be made of all types of food: kimchi, seafood, etc.
Ojukheon
This is the important house that displays the lifestyle of the Joseon Dynasty. We were able to look inside a traditional household and learn about the culture. Back in the day, women and men could not sleep under the same roof; women had their own small living quarters and had to move to their husband's house after marriage.
Nakasan Temple
This temple was build by Ui-Sang in the Silla Period. The large stone statue of Buddha at the top of this hill is called Haesugwaneumsang and overlooks Naksan Beach. At this temple, there is a bell that you can ring located next to the statue. In addition to the bell, there is also a stone well where cold water pours out of a statue. There are also ladles next to this pool of water that can be used for cleansing or drinking. Supposedly if you drink the water, you will live 10 years longer. I chose not to drink from it since the situation seemed very unclean as the ladles were previously used and the water is coming from a stone statue.
Dinner
We had side dishes and beef cooked in a wok with cabbage. During this dinner, I really enjoyed the side dishes. They had this salad that was basically apples and, to my surprise, mayonnaise. It was a great dish to eat after eating the beef since it is very juicy and sweet.
Hotel
This time around, I met various groups of people and got to engage in friendly conversations throughout the night. We even went to the karaoke room that the hotel had downstairs and sang to our hearts content. To my surprise, they even had an arcade there with my favorite, Dance Dance Revolution (the Korean version). It had all the Kpop hits back in the 2000s era such as 2NE1, Wonder Girls, and T-ara. It was great meeting and hanging with new people!
Thursday, June 28
Hotel
Once again, we had the amazing hotel breakfast buffet with the wide breadth of foods available for grabbing. This time, since I knew the selection, I immediately grabbed the yogurt, rice, eggs, and beef. At 9:30 AM, we checked-out and left the hotel.
Nami Island
We rode for a long while to our final destination, Nami Island. In order to get there, we took a five-minute ferry to this privately-owned location. This island has many different attractions available for visitors. Before we started to explore the island, we went to Seomhyanggi for lunch.
We had grilled chicken along with Pepsi and Fanta Pineapple Juice. Just like the pork restaurant from before, we wrapped pieces of chicken in lettuce and dipped sauce on it. During this meal, I ate with Nicole, Sarah, and Alex. It was great to meet new people and continue the friendship by going on new adventures available on the island.
Right after we headed out from lunch, we decided to ride the Sky-Bike for 3,000 won per person. It was a great view of the center of the island, seeing sights from a new perspective. Joseph and I crept behind Nicole and Patrick and played bumper cars while in the air, bumping into them several times.
Afterwards, we rented bicycles and electric scooters to explore the scenic path around the south side of the island. The electric scooter was 12,000 for 30 minutes. It was a new and fun experience if you have never ridden one before. We gathered and took a group picture of this new friend group that we created! Then we continued exploring the island. Unfortunately, my scooter was very slow, so I was always in the back. I had a mini-heart attack as I rushed back to return the scooter since I did not want to pay the late fee. Luckily, I made it with six minutes to spare!
Afterwards, we went raft surfing a couple minutes before we had to catch the ferry. I decided to be the photographer and was going to take pictures on the side. However, the boat driver surprised me and invited me onto the boat to take pictures as he drove. I caught some great action photos! Karla fell into the water during the ride and was soaked when we had to leave the island. After leaving Nami Island, we headed back to Yonsei University and departed from there.
From this three-day experience, my advice would BE PROACTIVE!
When meeting new people, it may be scary but everyone is in the same boat trying to make friends on the trip. Introduce yourself to other people to get to know one another. When trying new cuisine, taste a sample of each dish to fully immerse yourself in dining. If you have the chance, take this field trip and meet other people while experiencing a new culture! I am glad to have met such amazing people before starting my study abroad at Yonsei University, creating new friends in Korea!
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