Mt. Sorak-Seoul Korea (Day 5 - June 2012)

It was a warm and sunny morning despite the earlier gloomy weather forecast. The bus dropped us off the foot of Mount Sorak.. Frances, Lay Choo and Lu Sean purchased pretty bright-colour hats to ward off the noon sun.. and then, about 50 people crammed into the cable car which took us up the mountain. The view of the mountain ranges and valleys was spectacular! I could see small streams meandering through the rocky bed.. which would turn into a gushing rivers during the rainy season.. and the lush green of the trees against the jagged edges of the rocks. 

We reached the 'base camp'.. got off the cable care.. and had to hiked about 20-30 minutes to  Gwongeumseong to have a bird's-eye view of Oe-Serok.. but unfortunately, we didn't climb to the peak because it was rather steep and we weren't exactly wearing the right gear.

On the way back to Seoul.. our guide told us that in the past 20 years.. as many as 3 North Korean submarines had been spotted in that vicinity. The civilians who reported them were handsomely rewarded.. about ONE million USD each.. hope I heard that correctly since he said that in Chinese? Sadly, there were no survivors to tell the tale.. they either committed suicide or were killed by their own comrades before being captured. We stopped at a quaint restaurant for lunch.. it was squid and pork.. yet again! We flipped and stirred the meat to ensure they were cooked evenly and thoroughly on the hot plate.. honestly, we had become experts after all the practice!

We arrived at Lotte World 3 hours later.. this time we managed to visit the Folk Museum which I had missed when I was there 2 years ago. The main attraction was the miniature palace and villages of the Chosun Dynasty.. a grand display of the king.. queen.. concubines..  ministers.. soldiers.. eunuchs.. and ladies-in-waiting holding court. Since the rest were NOT thrilling-seekers.. I had to settle for the Flume Ride and Jungle Adventure.. water-rafting again!

We stayed at the relatively new Mercure Hotel in Seoul.. which had glass panels enclosing the bathroom and toilet! EEEEeeee.. thankfully, there were non-transparent sliding doors that could be pulled to separate the bedroom.. PHEW! There are some things that really SHOULDN'T be shared.. ha ha!