Going to Gangneung

I crept out of the hotel in the darkness of early morning and took the first bus into town in hopes of catching the 7:20 bus to Gangneung. The bus raced through the quiet streets, leaving me plenty of time to buy a ticket and some special Gyeongju bread filled with red bean paste. I looked around the platform for the Gangneung bus, but I could not seem to make sense of the signs. A nice man pointed out the right bay, and I realized that the city names were written vertically rather than horizontally. Of course! I sat down on a nearby bench, expecting the bus to come in a few minutes. I was immediately approached by a man who seemed to work there. He spoke to me in Korean and I told him where I was going. He gestured for me to wait, immediately changed his mind and gestured for me to follow him as he ushered me to a seat inside the bus terminal.

So I sat. And waited. Buses came and went, each time the man gestured, "not this bus," and each bus also unfortunately said "Pohang" not "Gangneung." After a while, the man spoke to a woman nearby, and she told me in English, "Gangneung bus at 8:20." So I waited some more. The man then spoke to another man, who told me in English, "Take 8:00 bus to Pohang then bus Pohang to Gangneung." So I waited some more. At 7:40 a bus came, and the man ushered me onto the bus, and spoke to the bus driver, supposedly explaining my situation. At 7:45 sharp we left Gyeongju and at 8:30 we arrived in Pohang. When we got there, the bus driver told me to wait, so I waited. The bus was filled with gas, then a woman with a mop came on and cleaned the floors. I waited as the bus driver left, then came back, then finally parked at the platform, ready to take on new passengers. At 9:25, the bus driver picked up my backpack and gestured for me to follow him, so I followed him onto the next bus in line. The bus driver ushered me into the first seat, then talked to my new bus driver, again supposedly explaining my situation. Finally, I was on a bus to Gangneung!!! 

We left at 9:30 sharp, and in less than an hour we were driving along the coast, past tiny fishing villages, and winding between mountains that fell directly into the sea. It was a long drive, and by the time we got to Gangneung it was past lunch time. I made a beeline to the tourist information booth and got some directions for the next leg of my journey from a man who spoke perfect English. I had a good lunch of dolsot bibimbap (rice with things in it cooked in a stone bowl to make it crispy on the bottom), then jumped onto bus 202 for an adventure into the great beyond......

The bus ride was supposed to be 10-15 minutes (thank you helpful english-speaking man!!) so after 10 minutes I strained my ear to make out the word "Ojukheon" from the jumble of Korean that is announced at each bus stop. Suddenly, I heard it, or something like it. I pressed the button, jumped off the bus, and was, well, I was not quite sure where. I looked all around and spotted a sign across the street for "Ojukheon" written in hanguel (Korean writing). It did not look like much, but I walked that way in hopes of finding something. Past a huge parking lot, I was encouraged by a booth labeled "Ojukheon Information." The women inside pointed farther along in the direction I was going, and in another minute I was there. 

Ojukheon is the birthplace of Sin Saimdang, a model daughter, wife and mother, as well as an accomplished poet and artist, and of her son Yi Yulgok, a Confucian philosopher and scholar in the 14th century. It contains their home, a museum, and gardens. It was a cool and windy fall day, leaves flying through the air as I wandered the gardens.