A couple of weeks ago Kimberly and I decided to do a day trip because we had Wednesday off. We planned the day around this famous cave that was a known tourist attraction 2 hours away. Things listed in the area of tourist attractions included some ancient ancestral stones that we also decided to see and a famous art park. None of the places were super close together but we started the journey around 10 am to the cave!
Gwangmyeong cave was wonderful. An old mine was turned into a light show, aquarium, wine tasting, and just pretty scenes. With many different levels, you walked through many different themes and interesting exhibits. I really enjoyed the cave and it took about 2 hours to go through slowly. Only costing 6,000 won or $5. After we completed the caves completely satisfied with our trip so far next was a walk to the ancestral stones. Kimberly was quite excited because they were known to be super super old! As the Dolemans were listed to be the 10/10 thing to do in the area we were confused.
After a brief start to get there we realized why. Using the map app in Korea sometimes you walk in weird areas. We were in a small city with lots of farming and we got to see it up close. As we walked we ended up first on the side of a road, then on a dirt road passing by people harvesting cabbages, past old shack houses with scary-looking dogs, and onto another dirt road that led straight into a burial site. There were mounds and tablets everywhere and Kimberly and I were more alarmed that we would be offending some culture or custom. The road we were supposed to take was over this interstate right next to the graveyard. There was no bridge. IT was a cliff from the graveyard onto the interstate. I guess the maps wanted us to die there after the journey we already made. After a panicked redirection, we walked back and took a slightly different path to the small neighborhood below the interstate where it was so quiet except for the pen of sheep in a dog fence in someone's front yard. We went under the interstate and got on a new path that would lead to the Dolemans finally!
NO, the path was leading there yes but then the path abruptly ended in a closed gate, and not wanting to be trespassing to see some ancient rocks we finally admitted defeat. We didn't get deterred by the abandoned graveyard or the dusty roads or the rural ghost town but by a simple gate in our way. We could see an area that might have been it too but turned back. We retraced our steps to find a bus stop and went to this famous art village.
Anyang where we ended the trip is about 2 hours south of Seoul and quite cute. After leaving the Korean boondocks we were in civilization again. The art valley had many cool pictures but we couldn't really find the areas we had seen. After strolling through the streets for a while we realized we were quite exhausted and took some pretty pictures and reflected on the day. Eating one of our fav foods budaejigge or Korean army stew we then went into an exhausted coma and decided to end the adventure around 7 and go home!
It was quite an eventful day of exploring and seeing the different sides of Korea. If you forgot I live in Seoul a city of 9 million people living in expensive apartments that have cafes and brunch and date spots every 3 feet (or should I say meters since I am now a metric system user). Seeing the countryside, farming, and poor dilapidated housing made me see a new light and study the culture and appreciate things more. I am always happy to be walking through a graveyard with Kimberly and exploring the world! See you next adventure!