Samcheok

Well I am finally getting around to posting some more pictures of Kyle's trip. There are too many, and I am too busy lately so I haven't had a lot of time. I think it was the third weekend Kyle was here we went to the north eastern part of the country. We left at 12 am and took the overnight train to Samcheok. I don't think anyone slept much =) This is my favorite part of the country that I have been to so far. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. On both side of the train all you can see are mountains and blue rivers. The water was so clear that you could see the rocks on the bottom from the train. 

After we got off the train we had to take a bus to Samcheok and then  another bus to the cave we were going to see. Here is Kyle in front of some old bark tiled roofs.

It was so hot that day that instead of hiking the mountain to get to the mouth of the cave we took the cable car.

Here we are at the entrance to Hwanseongul Cave.  It was  a huge relief to go walk in the cold cave and get out of the sun for a while.

Here is a stalagmite inside the limestone cave.

It was really hard to get a good picture because it was so dark. There are only a few lamps inside to light up key areas of the cave. The pictures can't even begin to show the size of the cave. I think it took us like an hour to walk around in it.

I don't know why but I think this is a really cool picture of Kyle You can kinda see the waterfall in the back and the metal stair way.

Me leading the way!

These are called popcorn stalagmites.

Neon Kyle.

It is kinda hard to see, but this is a rope bridge that crossed the river inside the cave.

Here you can kinda see a red outline around the deck that forms the shape of Korea.

I wish you could see how big this cave was!

Here is the view as we were coming down the mountain. I wanted to stay in the cave the rest of the day because it was nice and cold!

Kyle filling his water bottle with some cold mountain spring water.

More of the beautiful water. This would have been the perfect swimming hole.

After we got back to the city we got a hotel and then headed to the beach. Here are some of the fresh sea food restaurants on the shore line. 

You can see the tanks with fresh fish. mmmmm

Kyle got to swim in the Pacific! He was the only one who thought to bring his swimming shorts. He was pretty good entertainment.

Baywatch!

After Kyle had enough swimming we found a yummy shellfish restaurant to eat at. We sat at a picnic table with a grill in the middle. Then they lady brought out a nice plate full of a raw shellfish.

We watched her scoop our dinner out of the tanks.

Then we grilled until we were full.

After eating we went for a walked and explored the beach a little more. Here is the cartoon character of Samcheok. He looks like a little Korean vampire with a cave bat.

While walking we saw what I think looks like a Korean tree house being built.

Here is me after a long day of spelunking.

Erik and I thinking about the water.

Kyle has turned into Gollum

The next morning it was raining so we decided not to do anything. We had to catch the sea train back to the train station. It didn't really end up being that exciting though. It was to foggy to see the ocean, but it was nice none the less.

Here we are waiting for the train to leave back to Gumi. We were the only ones in the car for a while.It was a six hour ride back so we all got a nice nap after our expedition.