Happy Lunar New Year!

February 3rd was the Lunar New Year in Korea. The holiday lasts 3 days and is considered more important than the solar New Year [Jan 1].

As Korean tradition has it, it's a very family-oriented holiday when most people are traveling to their hometowns to gather, celebrate and eat.

It is also a holiday that recognizes Koreans birth. Traditionally, all Koreans turn a year older on the Lunar New Year. When a Korean is born they are 1; there are no months-old. On the following Lunar New Year you will turn the age of 2. Being as it is then, Koreans will typically tell you an age which is a year older than most Western standards. So, I'm (almost) 23 right now. But in Korea I am 24 years old.

Older generations follow this quite intensely, whereas the younger generations are more lax and recognize both their Korean age and their Western age (their actual birth dates).

I just find it interesting that on a child's first birthday, they will turn 2.


Seeing how I had a 5 day weekend, I traveled to Dague (1.5 hrs northeast from me) and met up with my college friend, Meghan who is also an English teacher. We reunited for the first time since graduation last spring. After a long embrace and some needed coffee, we headed to the bus station for my final destination- Sokcho.

A= Jinju B=Sokcho

6 hour bus ride later we arrived in the beautiful little city snugged beside the Sea of Japan.

There were 12 of us, most people from Dague and a few from Seoul. We rented a pension and saw the sights of Sokcho and all that it had to offer.

New Years Eve we used the grills outside our pension and cooked up some meat and veggies for dinner.

On New Years Day we traveled to Seoraksan Nation Park on a mission to see the view at the top of one of the mountains (I can't remember the name of the mountatin". We opted out on the 2 day hike up the mountain and went for the cablecar instead.

12 foreigners and a lot of Koreans in one cable car.

View going up.

View at the top.

A giant Buddah sitting at the bottom of the hill. You could see it from the top of the mountain.

All over Korea, you will find temples. This is one at the base of the mountain.

Another day was spent traveling to the Samcheok caves. The cave tour had just open in 2007. It took us 3 hours from Sokcho to arrive at the destination. Once we were there, we walked through the longest cave in Korea.

The entrance to the cave.

A perfectly shaped heart in the ceiling of the cave.

Notice the lights in the cave? There were lining the walkways throughout. Not very authentic, but it was still cool nonetheless.

There is a legend about a dragon being found in the cave. This was a recreation of the story.

Our group ready to eat! The two poor Korean women working had to deal with 12 starving foreigners.

Overall, a very successful Lunar New Year Vacation!