Autumn Trip Day 3 - Soraksan, Sokcho

Assalamualaikum. 안녕.

Colours of Autumn in Soraksan (here).

To quote a friend; 

"Semangat kan kau update kalau trip balik kampong."

Mbek mbek. Hanya mampu bagi senyuman manis, I let the bunyi kambing mengembek be the background music.

Pagi tu aku bangun dengan senyuman lebar. Kaki sudah sihat sepenuhnya wei! Terima kasih ice pack, jasa anda dikenang. Terimah kasih Cik Dayang, bebelan anda berguna. Else I wouldn't have thought to buy the hot/cold pack. Didn't know it did wonder to my aching calves. Lepas jamu perut sama bubur, aku pun teruskan misi. Budak Seremban dua orang tu maybe sudah gerak awal lagi because I saw no one at the guesthouse that morning.

25 October 2014

Sokcho

Morning sunshine! Ni ambil depan pintu masuk guesthouse. 

Hop on the bus #7-1 bound for Soraksan. Sudah tau the time the bus will depart from Sokcho Bus terminal (here) so aku pun budget masa untuk keluar dari guesthouse. I waited for the bus that will depart from the terminal at 7am. Ikut time interval, bus will arrive approximately 705am(+-). 

As expected. Bus arrived on time. Masih awal, tapi bas sudah pun half full. Nasib baik ada seat. 

25 October 2014

Soraksan

It will take around 40 minutes to reach Soraksan depending on the traffic. I hop off the bus at the last stop. And walked from there to the ticket counter.

Hiking or just sightseeing, u still need to pay for the admission fee to enter Soraksan National Park. It cost 3,500KRW for adult. 

U cannot cheat one eh. Because they will tear half of the admission ticket at this pondok.

Puluhan orang queued to take picture with this bear! Considering I was alone & sangat malas to join the queue, I decided to cheat. Berdiri next to the line, and quickly clicked my camera when no one near the bear. Perfect! 

Weather was being generous with me, awan biru langit cerah. Contrast gila sama warna daun merahkuning.

Ketenangan aku telah diganggu dengan bunyi jentera & bertukang yang datang dari tempat ni *drama*. Construction of a new building near the cable car station. Pastu construction untuk install batang paip gedabak near the river. Pasrah jaklah.

Cable car terminal building. Beli tiket 9,000KRW di sini (GF) & tunggu cable car di 1F. 

Sebab ramai orang, banyak slot cable car penuh. Nasib Counter Eonni bagi aku slot awal (15 minutes waiting time) when I said I was 혼자 (alone). 

Ada masa lagi before naik cablce car jadinya aku ronda sekitar ground Soraksan.

Menikmati view pokok colourful. Subhanallah indan nian ciptaan Nya. Kalau tanah ndak lembap, confirm aku duduk bawah pokok layan feeling. 

1F. Ada souvenir shop & cafe.

Tu cable car on the way to pick us up! 

Up we go. View from the cable car. 

Atas ni pokok sudah kering kontang. Sebab aku kan pencinta winter, hence automatically imagine macamana lawa tempat ni kalau penuh salji. 

Journey to go up took less than 10 minutes. And the view along the way u might ask. Simply breathtaking. Kena tengok sendiri baru terkesima. Insha Allah yang plan mau menjejak tu, pasti akan sampai. Yakin dengan diri. 

Gigih kan si Err memanjat tangga. Cuba suruh panjat tangga di rumah, rasa macam mau mengensot ada. 

Alhamdulillah I made it up to the top despite drama sakit kaki the days before. Ok, next mission adalah untuk panjat puncak nun di atas sana; yang sayup² nampak bendera putih tu. Actually tu bendera South Korea. Siapa berjaya panjat sampai sana, boleh beli medal kenangan. Tempat jual medal hanya ada di puncak tu, sekian!

Berkat kaki yang suddenly ok pagi tu...dapat panjat sampai atas ni.

Wishing stones. Mana ada batu kecil gini, memang akan ada 'statue' ni.

The highest I could reach. 

I gave up when I saw few climbers macam seksa jak mau descending from the 'white flag' peak. Aku pun ndak berani lah juga cabar diri. Buatnya tiba² kaki aku cramp on the way ascending, siapa susah? Same goes kalau cramp on the way down. Biarlah, sudah sampai atas ni....dapat view gaung tu semua pun aku sudah cukup bersyukur. Who knows one day aku akan mampu sampai puncak tu. 

But before tu, better lah aku tawan Mt Kinabalu kan. Ni ndak. Sibuk lah kunun mau hiking di negara orang, gunung yang sedaerah-away dari rumah langsung ndak mau ditawan. Ateh, ngaku kampong kan. Sedih perangai kau ni Bie.

Cuci mata tengok orang berposing atas ni. Macam² pose.

On the way down to the cable car station, terserempak with lots of Malaysians. Diorang baru mau naik. Tadi jumpa diorang di bawah, sebab they came in group so they have to chartered the whole cable car. Tu yang lambat tu. Ada pakcik makcik ni hairan aku sibuk kutip daun kering. Buat kenangan cik, di Malaysia ndak da ni semua. Gitu jawapan skema aku. Pastu ada lah sorang Pakcik ni tanya 

"Nak numpang tanya, ada apa kat atas nun? Sampai kena panjat tangga & gunung ni semua"

Aku pun jawab dengan jujur...nengok batu-batuan, nengok landskap hutan dari atas gunung, nengok lembah sambil hirup udara segar.

"Setakat nengok batu? Dah tak payah, moh kita turun. Buat bazir masa setakat nak nengok batu aje."

Sepantas kilat, Pacik & the gang (wife, anak & cucu) buat u-turn. Lagi laju diorang turun dari aku! Ni kes Pacik ndak buat study prior coming, dia ndak tau what to expect at Soraksan.

View while descending. I don't know others but I super like view like this. Best tau cuci mata tengok keindahan alam.

Sampai bawah, aku explore a little more of Sorak's ground. Banyak tanah lembap kesan construction tu. Lepas puas ambil gambar, aku jalan kaki balik pi bus stop tempat aku turun pagi tadi.

Alhamdulillah, ndak payah tunggu lama. Bas sampai. 

Next, balik hostel. Mula tu aku plan mau makan di restoran halal yang si Jea recommend (here). Sekali masa mau tekan loceng untuk turun pi restoran tu, aku nampak bangunan tu kosong. Ilchulbong is no longer in business so to say. Ntah lah diorang tengah renovation ka apa tapi the whole building memang kosong. Walhal Ilchulbong isn't the only restaurant operating in that building. Nasib ndak sempat aku turun. Sepanjang jalan pi hostel, aku cuci mata tengok pokok daun kuning. Ginkco! Walau busuk, tapi anda menawan. And berkhasiat.

Ilchulbong is the building on the left.

Because Plan A cancelled, I switched to Plan B. Lunch di hostel & rest kejap before ambil bas back to the bus terminal. I bought the 1300hr bus to Dong Seoul. Sebab aku ndak tau jadual bas Soraksan - Sokcho Bus Terminal jadi aku plan untuk bertolak awal setengah jam dari guesthouse. If bas ndak muncul after 1245pm, aku akan tahan teksi. Nasiblah turun jak tangga guesthouse, terus terpacak bus stop. 

Cerita dari Sokcho to Seoul akan continue in next entry. Till then! Annyeong.

eryantierdabdulkarim