po-'hang time' episode 3

After hanging out in the middle of nowhere for over half an hour, we grabbed some bibimbap at a tiny Korean restaurant near the bus stop. All of the other people who had gotten off the bus with us had now disappeared and we were starting to get a little nervous. After lunch, and maybe an hour since arriving at the country bus depot, a cab driver dropped off two old ladies who seemed to be communicating to us that the bus we thought we were waiting for wasn't coming. The cab driver insisted that we go with him and he could take us to the mountain. We decided to take this random and potentially dodgy opportunity and it ended up being the smartest choice of the day. After he took us through some back country roads barely big enough for a car and along the coast to check out a nice beach we finally arrived at our planned destination.

Map of Pohang and all its attractions

Map of Bogyeonsa (said mountain) with all waterfalls listed (in Korean)

We began our hike alongside a stream and before we knew it started seeing nice little waterfalls. The more we walked the bigger the waterfalls got. After an hour and a half of hiking with a little stop to wade in the water near one of the falls we were thinking of turning back. I was still hoping for bigger falls so I made Alex and Ali continue on for a bit more. We eventually got to a big suspension bridge that led us to a big waterfall within a giant gorge. This made the whole trip worth it. All the bus issues had been forgotten. We passed the spot where a chain to keep people from getting to close to the falls once hung and got up close for an obligatory photo shoot.


After we hiked back down the mountain, we decided that our best bet would be to take a cab back to the hotel if we ever wanted to see civilization again.

The rest of our vacation went off with pretty much no hitches.
We decided to spend the following day relaxing at the beach, and passed a good quality 7 hours sunbathing without a cloud in the sky. Needless to say, Alex and I got burnt to a crisp (while Ali just became more bronzed). Nothing out of the ordinary, but we could barely walk or even move the next day. We were a regular pair of Korean-made lobsters.

All in all, the vacation was quite the success in my books.

The view of Pohang from an observation tower in a local park

- mark