Camping & Fishing in Korea, Gyeongbok Province & Andong Folk Village

Farmboy and I camp a lot here in Korea. One of the main reasons for all of our camping is because of our pup Shadow. Another reason is that once you invest in your camping gear you no longer have to pay anything for accommodation (apart from campsite fees if you camp in actual camping grounds).

Having a car here in Korea has always been a big life changer, as we would never be able to get to the places we have explored without a car (and, being a CityGirl, camping for me should still involve some level of comfort and there is just no way I would be able to carry a blow up mattress and pump in a backpack loaded with everything else). If you'd like to read more about owning a dog in Korea then click here. I've written lots of helpful posts that you might find useful if you have a dog. Also, click here to see all our other posts on camping.

We went camping over the Chuseok holidays (we had a 4 day weekend this year with Monday & Tuesday being public holidays) up near Yeongju (Gyeonbok Province) and so this left us enough time to make the 6 hour journey up North from our town. Something to bear in mind over Chuseok, most Koreans head South to their family home towns meaning there are fewer cars heading North at the start of the holiday. We were warned about the traffic and had no problems as we were going against the traffic in both directions. We left at 3am on the Saturday and although out lane was completely clear, the traffic was almost to a standstill in the opposite direction...at 3am! So keep that in mind when planning your trip. We also tried as best we could to avoid the IC (main highways) and stuck to the smaller roads.

Farmboy has really been into his fishing lately (both bass and fly fishing) and so we were headed up North in search of trout. Much to his disappointment, there weren't too many bites, even though we were in an area that is well known for trout. He still had a great time fishing, and the areas surrounding the streams and rivers were beautiful, so that made up for it. For this trip, Farmboy had heard that the streams around Bonghwa are great places to fish for trout and so we went onto google maps and searched for Bonghwa, and then zoomed in on the map in search of legitimate camp sites. If you zoom in close enough on an area in Maps on your iPhone you'll see the little brown tent symbol which shows campsites in the area. Then we simply drove along the road in search of the best place for us to itch our tent.

After our very early start, we arrived at 8am at one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen here in Korea.  We followed a small country road (following this address: 산129 Daehyeon-ri, Seokpo-myeon Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do). The area is known as Kosun Creek (고선계곡) and is filled with camping sites, MinBaks and Pensions (Korean Guesthouses). The first camping site we came across looked abandoned, and across from it another site only had one caravan. We headed over to chat to the only camper we could see and find out more about that particular campsite. He was incredibly friendly, spoke wonderful English and proceeded to tell us about much better spots to fish and set up camp further up stream. He also shared his breakfast with us. He had a rather impressive camp set up, which he told us was just for him when he needed a break from his family. He told us he has a much bigger caravan back home for when his wife and kids join him...sounds like a good life to me!

We don't like camping in specified camping grounds, and we also know that we would probably be turned away when people catch sight of Shadow, and so we usually just drive to a quiet spot to set up camp. We have yet to be kicked off a spot or to run into any problems just setting up camp. We also always make a fire and have yet to have any issues. If you do this, just make sure to clean up after yourselves. Toilets are the only downside to this kind of camping...bushes are your only option. We either burn the used toilet paper or keep it in a packet to throw away at home/along the way. We also like to camp near water so we can at least have some version of a bird bath if we are camping for more than one night.

For our camping trips we eat the following:

• Breakfast: coffee/tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: Bolognese mince/tuna wraps with salad
• Snacks: store bought popcorn/crackers/Gim or seaweed packs 
• Dinner: samgyupsal/pre-cooked sausages/vienna sausages, sweet potatoes fire 
• Dessert: s'mores (& wine/soju!)

The only downside to this style of camping is you don'c actually know where you are going to be sleeping that night. This means you need to factor in time (while it's still light) to find and set up camp. We don't usually stay at the same spot 2 nights in a row as there is so much to see and explore here in Korea, and so we end up driving around (often times getting frustrated) in search of the perfect spot. We found the one below after about an hour and at the end of a very tiny country road that wasn't even on our gps. It was below a train line (a little bit nerve wracking) but the train was still far enough above us to not cause us any worry. It only ended up going a few times during the night.

As we had made it all the way to Gyonbok, we headed to Andong for the Mask Festival. I hadn't realised that there are two parts to the festival (the Folk Village and the Mask Festival) and that they are really far from each other. The Mask Festival is in Andong itself, whereas the folk village was about 30km out of town. There are shuttles that go between the two, but bear in mind that you probably need a car to get to the Folk village. We also had no idea if they would allow dogs in, but they seemed to have no problem with Shadow. 

Are there any great camping spots you can recommend? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. There are still a few more good weekends left before it gets to cold to camp. 

Camping with your dog in Korea

Owning a dog in Korea isn't easy. Especially if you own one of the larger breeds and you can't carry them in your handbag or in a pet carrier. This is why we spend a lot of time camping (click here to see more posts about camping in Korea), as finding pet friendly accommodation is pretty near impossible. If you live in Seoul you have a much wider selection of places you can easily visit and stay at with your dog, but if you live in the smaller country side towns in Korea, camping is your best bet. It's also the perfect time of the year to head outdoors, and so I hope this post is useful for you if you have a dog here in Korea and want to head out in search of an adventure.

Camping in Yongdam...click here to read more.

Camping in Gangwon...click here to read more

Of course, having a car makes the whole camping experience that much more enjoyable as you can transport all your gear easily, but it's not a pre-requisite. Although, I can imagine carrying/walking your dog and your camping gear would all together be quite a feat!

From what we have gathered, you can camp pretty much anywhere in Korea, as long as you clean up after yourself. We have camped on tennis courts, closed off and abandoned roads, in river beds and in Museum gardens (that last one being a very late night find). Camping with a dog is slightly trickier, as if your pup is anything like our Shadow, he likes to explore his new surroundings and this often finds me running around like a headless chicken trying to catch him.

We have stayed at one actual dog friendly campsite in Yongdam (near Jinan, South Jeolla Province...click here to see a full post on it) and have also stayed with him the National park in Muju (click here to see the post). Dogs are not allowed (legally) to stay or be in National Parks according to the National Park website, but with a lot of smiling and our broken Korean we were told that he would have to be on lead and kept in the car. I think as long as your dog doesn't terrorise the neighbours and you keep them on lead, you shouldn't have any problems. Shadow just sleeps with us in our tent at night and so no one really notices him.

You might have a problem if your dog is very yappy or barks a lot as people will probably complain. Just keep that in mind and just use your common sense. We like to camp off the beaten track and so haven't had any problems so far with anyone complaining about us. We have also just bought a very long roll of rope to create a kind of extension running lead set up so we can keep an eye on him but Shadow can still move around. 

Overall, camping in general is really fun and being able to do that with your canine companion just makes it even more so.

I hope I inspire you to try out camping with your pooch.

If you come across or know of any great camping spots that are dog friendly, please leave me a comment below!

Camping in Korea - Namhae Island

Four weekends of camping in a row, I didn't know I had it in me! We spent 2 weeks in Jinan at Yongdam (click here to find about more about this dog friendly camp site), a long weekend in Gangwon Province (click here) and then this, our last camping spot on a secluded beach on Namhae Island, on the Southern Coast of South Korea. 

Namhae is an island off Korea that you can reach without a ferry, something that is quite important to bear in mind if your are traveling over a long weekend and haven't booked ferry tickets in advance. It only took us 2 hours to get to from our home in Buan (a small town near the South West coast of Korea). Namhae Island has quite a lot of interesting attractions (which we did our best to avoid due to the large crowds) like the German Village; an odd settlement of houses along the coast built to welcome home the Korean families (and their German spouses) who had moved to Germany in search of work in the 1960's. 

Namhae is also very famous for it's rice terraces (although rice is farmed all over Korea it seems that Namhae is one of the few places that farms on terraces) and these terraces made an interesting contrast to the ocean views. The canola (or Rape Seed as it is called here in Korea) fields were still out in full bloom and also made for a pretty photo stop on our drive around the island.

I can't tell you exactly where we ended up camping, but i can say that it took us nearly 4 hours to find. We ended up driving up a tiny forest road, parking at the top of a very steep hill and then having to bundu (bush) bash through a forest and along a path that had not been used in years to get to this gorgeous stretch of quiet beach. We were alone, apart from a few early morning fisherman and hikers and had the beach to ourselves the entire time. 

Food is always a challenge with camping, unless you are able to bring along a fridge (something we would never be able to fit in our little red Matiz) and so one has to do quite a bit of planning. We only ended up camping on Namhae for one night (although we had planned for two).

Here is the menu we planned and prepared for:

DAY 1

• Breakfast: coffee/tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: bologniase mince wraps with salad
• Snacks: store bought popcorn 
• Dinner: pre-cooked sausages/vienna sausages, sweet potatoes fire roasted with garlic & spices
• Dessert: s'mores (& wine!)

Day 2

• Breakfast: coffee, tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: tuna wraps with salad
• Dinner: Left over mince, sweet potatoes and sausages
• Dessert: s'mores (& wine!)

We spent the weekend on Namhae Island over Buddha's Birthday, one of the many long weekends here in Korea but what we hadn't realised is that it was also the famous Namhae Beef & Garlic festival. As we drive around the island we were greeted wit the warm smiles of of garlic farmers going about the business, reaping (is that even the right word?? must ask farmer husband) garlic. I have never seen so much garlic in all my life. We also managed to buy a small bunch/pocket/posie??? of garlic from a gaggle of adjumma's on the side of the road. They were full of smiles as we we drove away with our prized garlic in tow. 

The first picture below is of the famous Silver Sands beach, which we avoided at all costs as it seemed like the whole of Korea had gathered to camp there. We prefer to stay away from all the noise and chaos of the traditional camp grounds here in Korea and were so happy to finally find our secret spot after many hours of driving and searching. 

You can technically camp anywhere in Korea, as long as you clean up after yourself. We have on occasion when we have been able to find a land owner, asked permission to camp and have so far been greeted with a warm welcome (even with our pup!). 

Have you been camping here in Korea? Do you have any recommendations of places to stay? Please leave me a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!

Camping in Korea - Hwacheon, Gangwon Province

After a very successful camping trip with our pooch to Yongdam (click here to read more about this dog friendly camp site near Jinan) Farmboy and I, #ShadowTheJindo & our fellow SA friend and blogger Jenna (who blogs over at Komodoness) set off in search of adventure in Gangwon-do. It was a rather long, 8 hour drive to get there and so we broke up the trip with our first stop on a random gold course near Wonju. We left on the thursday after school and arrived at 10pm, and so we just set up camp in a very random place. It has been our experience that you can camp anywhere in Korea (we have camped on abandoned tennis courts, closed off roads and museum gardens) as long as you clean up after yourself. We did feel rather nervous about the golf course though, as it seemed very fancy, needless to say we packed up at first light and beetled out of Wonju and further up north to Hwacheon in search of a better site for the next 2 nights.

Before we set out we had looked on google and Naver maps and had found a load of great looking camp sites. We drove to a lot of them but didn't stay at them as they were very much the Korean set up on either gravel roads, or with tents right ontop of each other. We had something very particular in mind; a river/stream, shade and a whole lot of nothing else. After another 5 ours of driving we finally came across a stream and river bed with a very friendly looking farmer overlooking his crops. As it looked like he was the closest authority in the area, Farmboy used his Korean skills and asked the farmer is it was okay to camp on his stretch of the river. He was so friendly! With a big smile we told us that we could camp there for as long we wanted to. I wish I had gotten a photograph of him (note to self...take more photographs of the delightful people we encounter along our travels).

Bear in mind when looking for a camping spot, those neglected gravel roads are usually where the best spots are. Don't be afraid to go off-road a little. Our car has done some serious off-roading and hasn't failed us yet! 

Camping is never complete without a roaring fire. Luckily I married a farm boy who knows exactly how to make the perfect fire.

And then there's the food. Camping for 1 day is easy, but when you camp for 2 or more days there's lots to prepare and of course you have to figure out a way to keep everything cool. For this trip, we went to our local Baskins & Robbins ice cream shop and asked very nicely if we could buy some dry ice (our town is so small we know the manager by name and he was very kind to give us a huge chunk free of charge). The dry ice kept everything cold for 3 and a half days!

We are still working on the perfect menu, but here is a rough idea for 3.5 days worth of meals, from the thursday night dinner (it was a long weekend and we had dinner at one of the rest stops along the way) to the Sunday afternoon:

Day 1

• Breakfast: homemade granola bars, coffee, tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: tuna wraps with salad
• Snacks: store bought popcorn
• Dinner: pre-cooked sausages/viennas, samgyupsal cooked on the fire with a grill plate with kimchi, garlic, lettuce & onion
• Dessert: s'mores!

Day 2

• Breakfast: homemade granola bars, coffee, tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: pre-cooked bolognaise wraps with salad
• Dinner: pre-cooked sausages and fire roasted sweet potatoes
• Dessert: S'mores!

Day 3

• Breakfast: coffee, tea and digestive biscuits
• Lunch: left over Bolognaise mince, wraps & salad

If you make it all the way up to Gangwon Province, the east coast isn't too far a drive for the day and is incredible beautiful. The ocean at Gangneung was incredible blue, and the sand was like powder. It was still a rather windy day with a quite a cold breeze as summer has yet to hit Korea, but it was a great way to spend a few hours.

Can you recommend any great places to camp in Korea? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Muju Ski Resort & Camping in the snow

Muju is the closest ski resort in our province (Jeollabukdo) and is a 2 hour drive from Buan. If you travel bus bus you need to get to Jeonju and from there take a bus to Muju. Then there are local buses and shuttles, or even taxi's which will take you the rest of the way to the resort where the slopes are.

We decided it would be a great idea to camp (trying to be as spend thrifty as possible) and while we all survived the cold, it was pretty darn freezing. We were no where near equipped to deal with the sub zero temperatures, and felt rather ashamed when we looked at our neighbours setups. When Koreans camp they camp properly, with no messing about. Luckily, our neighbours were such kind people and offered us tent pegs and a hammer to get our tent set up. We were also brought steaming hot citrus tea in the morning, they really must have felt sorry for us during the night. BUT it was an adventure and that's what we were after (dog included!).

There are about 7 camp sites, 6 of which you have to reserve online or by calling (click here for more information...the website is in Korean so you may need a co-worker/friend to help you). BUT the site we camped at was on a first come first served bases. Here is a map of the area highlighting the camp site & the resort (left hand side: 무주 리조트):

It cost us W13 000 to camp for the night. The camp site also has caravans (auto homes) to rent out and camp sites with electricity if you need it. The bathrooms were great, had showers and most importantly had heaters all over the place to keep you toasty when you have to leave your tent in the middle of the night.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the slopes are closed in between sessions for the snow ploughs to do their thing and get the slopes ready for the next session. Each session is between 3 & 4 hours long. Here are the session times, as of February 2015. Please confirm these times with the website by clicking here.

• Early Morning 06:30~08:30 (During the weekends and holidays only, except on Chinese new year’s day)
• Morning 08:30~12:30 
• Afternoon 12:30~16:30 
• Evening 18:30~22:00 
• Night 22:00~24:00 
• Midnight 24:00~02:00 

At the entrance to the slopes there are a few coffee shops and plenty of restaurants. There is also a JimJilBang (public bath house) for you to warm up and shower after your ski sessions. They only offer the baths and a small section for relaxing in, you CAN'T sleep here as they close at 10/11pm.

We did an evening ski session (18h30 - 22h00) which was amazing! Farmboy and I have skiied a few times all over Korea and we love the night sessions the most. It's cold, but there are fewer people.

Click here for more information on the ski session prices. If you have an NH or KB card you automatically get up to 50% off the prices...so for the 3 of us to ski one session, lift passes & equipment included it only cost W53 000 each. Ski jackets and pants are available for rent at about W10 000 a day each. The only things you can't rent are gloves & goggles so make sure to remember to pack those.

Here are some more photographs of the area around our camp site, including a photograph of me standing in front of the most amazing Korean camp set up. And yes, that is a chimney to the right of the roof top tent. It was really beautiful in the early morning, and we will definitely be going back for Summer.

Address:

Muju Resort: 185, Manseon-ro, Seolcheon-myeon, Muju-gun, Jeollabuk-do (Manseon-dong)
전라북도 무주군 설천면 만선로 185 (만선동)

Hiking the Jagged Peaks Trail & Camping on Saryang Island

At the change of the season, Farmboy and I, along with a bunch of friends decided to head to Saryang Island to hike the Jagged Peaks trail. We didn't know much about the hike, but we did know that summer was approaching and soon we would be unable to walk a few metres without being out of breath from the humidity. So we decided to make hay while the sun was shining and packed our camping gear for the long weekend in April. 

Saryang-do ("do" means Island in Korean) is a small island just off the coast from Tongyeong. Farmboy and I were testing out Cherry (our beat up but-still-going-strong red car that we had recently bought) and drove from Buan to Tongyeong in about 4 hours. Saryang-do is the red dot on the map below:

From Tongyeong, you have to catch a small ferry to Saryang-do (be warned, there are 3 ferry terminals in Tongyeong) and the first ferry for the island was at 7am. We stayed at a jimjilbang (possibly the worst idea we could have had) but it was cheap and did mean we were relatively close to the ferry terminal. The quickest ferry leaves from Saryangdo Passenger Boat Terminal (사량도여객선터미널)  at Gauchi Harbour 가우치항, 15km north west of Tongyeong city centre so budget your time accordingly! We missed the first ferry but were able to make second one.

The ferry from Gauchi Harbour leaves at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm and takes 45mins to an hour. Tickets were W5 500 per person and around W11 000 for our small car each way. 

Thanks to KoreanTrails.org here is some information on the bus route to get to Gauchi Harbour from Tongyeong city centre:

"Bus 607 runs from Lotte Mart in Tongyeong out to Gauchi Harbour.
Buses leave Lotte Mart at 6am, 8:05, 10:05, 12:05, 14:00, 16:00 and take 45-50mins. 
Bus 607 starts its route at Seoho Market 20mins earlier, with the exception of the 6am bus, which starts at Lotte" KoreanTrails.

The hike itself wasn't particularly challenging, but there were some very steep parts where we all had to scramble on our bums, or hang on for dear life while descending stair cases. You are making your way across actual jagged cliff peaks so even though the distance doens't seem that much (about 7km from east to west) it is pretty slow going for most of the way. It was a good 4 -5 hour hike but the views from the top were incredible. 

We were also very lucky with the weather, and had clear blue skies the entire way. 

The hike itself is designed to end at the ferry terminal, so you have a few options. Either catch a shuttle bus (which may or may not be running at the time) to the main start of the hike,  grab a taxi bus (we ended up doing this and it cost us W20 000 which we split between the 5 of us) or you can walk to the start which is a fairly long distance. You can also choose to do the hike backwards but I think the last thing you will want to be doing one you finish the hike will be walking along the main road to the terminal. 

The shuttle bus leaves the harbour 7 times a day running around the island. In the morning it runs clockwise at 6:50am, 7:45, 9:45 and 11:45. In the afternoon it goes counter-clockwise at 1:45, 3:45 and 5:35. The afternoon buses leave Donji at the far west of the island, bound for the harbour at 2:10, 4:10 and 6:10. 

We had packed camping gear and made our way to a quiet beach area. The Korean families were all jam-packed in the car park, as they tend do do (Korean style camping is VERY different from South African style camping). We managed to scramble up a small hill behind the main campsite onto a patch of land (it seemed to be private but the owner didn't bother us and we made sure to clean up everything after our stay) and had the most amazing views from the doors of our tents.

It was one of the best hikes I've done in Korea so far!

Camping in Korea - Gangwon Province

We recently bought a little car here in Korea and it has been an absolute game changer. As we live out in the countryside, there is so much to explore, but very few ways of getting there. Having a car has also meant that we can just go off for the day to a new town, to parks, to mountains, lakes and rivers with a picnic, a hammock and of course our little gas stove for tea. We also found a tent and have dipped our toes into camping in Korea.

Camping here is very different to camping back home in South Africa. Koreans like to camp in parking lots, close together, no wait, scratch that, on top of each other. They don't mind not having a view and they certainly don't mind listening to whatever their neighbour has blasting out of their portable sound systems. That is completely not our scene, and so our recent camping trip up north to Gangwon province had us driving around for hours in search of peace and quiet (and a little shade). We finally settled on an old abandoned road (it was the smoothest surface we could find that had space for the tent and that was close to a stream) and it turned out to be the perfect spot. The road was closed off (little Cherry, being light weight and the size of a sandwich, was able to squeeze through the barriers - probably very illegal) and we found ourselves alone, with privacy and a flowing stream for my avid fisherman hubby.

Numerous cups of tea, plenty of relaxing and cooling off in the stream led to a wonderful camping trip. 

Our iphones and their navigation system were life savers, especially as we were only able to leave work at 6pm and only got to Gangwon province at 11pm. They showed us each camping site in the area (most of which were abandoned with no toilet facilities) as well as showing us small, farming roads which we were able to navigate around to find the ideal place to set up tent. We spent our first night just outside the town of Jecheon and then settled on the abandoned road somewhere along the river, north of Pyeongchang.

Driving here in Korea has been remarkably easy to adjust to. The roads are pretty well sign posted (although a lot of the time only in Korean) and the toll charges for our little Matiz are extremely low.