Morning, Samcheok.
We headed up to the mountains to do some hiking and explore this giant limestone cave, Hwanseongul.
ready to go!
entrance.
You can hike up to the cave entrance, or you can take a monorail up. We decided to hike, because when you are surrounded by this beauty, how can you not?
There was a steep incline that had us gasping for breath.
okay, this^ is something that I always saw on Korean dramas when someone would go to the mountainside: drinking water coming out of a rock! and then there are those spoons where you just scoop some water up and drink it to refresh yourself. a natural drinking fountain! and the water was so cold and crisp! (I tried not to think of the germs on the communal spoon)
Entrance to the cave.
I didn't take any pictures inside the cave, one because I have a crappy camera and two because there was a sign saying not to take pictures, although there were some foreigners who were taking pictures everywhere inside.
The cave is amazingly HUGE. It takes a whole hour to go around the whole thing. The best thing about the cave though, was the names of the different bridges, chambers, and passes: Summit of Hope, Palace of Dreams, Magic Wand, Valley of Desire, Bridge of Confessions, etc.
Bridge of Confessions was my favorite because it looked like something out of Indiana Jones, the ride, but then you look down between the planks at your feet and your see nothingness. The darkness of the cave extends below your feet for an unknown distance and all that is keeping you alive is this rickey old wooden bridge. Needless to say, we sprinted like made across that bridge!
The bus ride back? 7 hours! My bladder was going to explode. BUT, Samcheok was exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries :)
this is awesome!! I've been in a cave before. They are creepy and fantastically fun at the same time. Something about being completely in the dark that's thrilling :)
ReplyDelete