Gangchon Rail Bike and Naksansa Temple

 Our first stop of the day was what others reviewed as the highlight of their vacation: Gangchon rail bike, old train tracks repurposed for recreation. I’ve always wanted to do it in Humboldt, California and in Korea it is a fraction of the price. It definitely fit the bill as one of those activities I like to try when I travel.

 

Getting to Gangchon is a big reason we decided to rent a car in Korea. The naver app says it is a three-hour multi-subway/train combo to get there from Seoul, which sounds like a pain but doable, until you realize that one of the segments only runs every 2 hours. Try to sync that with your reservation time for the rail bikes and it became a hard no for us. So we drove instead. When I woke up, naver told me we had a 90-minutes drive. However by the time we got packed up and into the car at 7:30am, the ETA was past our 10am reservations, especially since they tell you to arrive 30 minutes prior. I tried to stay positive during the long drive that seemed futile, and made a mental note to add a massive buffer to our driving times. We ended up arriving literally three minutes before 10am - and ran like crazy people to collect our tickets. They actually let us on, most likely because the 2-seater bikes leave a solid 10 minutes after the 4-seater bikes.

 

I was ecstatic to be sitting in the rail bike, having barely arrived in time for our reservations!

 

Except for at least a couple fun downhills, you are pedaling the bikes to move them along the rail tracks.

 

The bike course includes three whimsically-themed tunnels.  This tunnel has bubbles blowing throughout it.

 

We posed for the camera along the ride.  I usually pass on photos like this but for ₩7,000 (~$5) what the heck.

After the 30-minute one-way rail bike ride, the “romantic train” takes you for 20-minutes further along the Bukhangang River. Then a shuttle bus takes you back to the start. Note: I made our rail bike reservations on Klook (a cheaper version of Viator) because the official website wouldn’t let me pay by credit card. 

Maybe not quite what it is hyped to be - “Korea at it’s best” and “best thing I did on my trip” – we enjoyed the silly fun. It is a great way to get out of Seoul and enjoy the outdoors and countryside.  Chris, wanting to go faster, assumed there were old people in front of us that were slowing us down.  Nope, the 2-seaters all had couples much younger than me.

 

The area around the rail park is known for its restaurants serving dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken with delicious pieces of rice cake).  For lunch, we chose the one across the street from the rail park offering the traditional ondol heating method, where the food is heated in front of you and served from a big pot.

 

The dakgalbi order cannot be split; the price was ₩ 15,000 (~$11) per person.

 

After lunch we continued to our next destination, Naksansa Temple, only a 20-minute detour along our 2-hour drive. Arriving to two large parking lots made it apparent how popular the large temple complex on the coast is. Although the temple was founded in 671, like everywhere else in Korea, the buildings are not the originals.  While most others were destroyed by Japan during its occupation of Korea, additionally this temple was most recently wiped out by a forest fire in 2005.

 

As a large complex, it requires quite a bit of walking up and down hills and steps.

Details at the main gate to the temple complex.

 

At the highest point of the temple complex, the granite Bodhisattva of Mercy looks out over the ocean and stands 45 feet tall.

You can ring the bell up here!

Naksansa Temple is especially beautiful for its location on the coast. Benches surround the Bodhisattva provide views and serenity for visitors.

 

Walking down to the ocean cliff, you pass beautiful Gwaneumji Pond

  

Behind Uisangdae Pavilion is one of the remaining old twisted pine trees, a distinguishing feature to the temple, that survived the wild fire.

 

Hongnyeonam Hermitage is the furthest you can walk along the complex’s coastal path.

Our final destination of the day was Seoraksan National Park, where we are spending the night. Seoraksan is a popular area for hiking, with several mountain trails and beautiful views from the mountains. 

Seoraksan National Park in the northeast of Korea.

After checking into the hotel, we set off walking the mile to the park’s entrance on a recon mission for our hike early the next morning. 

The giant bronze Buddha statue is a park highlight. Completed in 1997, Tongil Daebul ('Unification Buddha'), was built to symbolize the Korean people's hope for the reunification of North and South Korea.

Beyond the giant Buddha lies the Sinheungsa temple complex. At the entrance, four Heavenly Kings welcome all who enter the temple.

Geukrakbo-jeon Hall and the main temple courtyard.

Peeking through the doors of Geukrakbo-jeon Hall

Closeup of the lantern wishes hanging in Geukrakbo-jeon Hall

Looking up to the mountain with the cable car - what most people do here but not worth it when the top is clouded in.

The cable car up to Gwongeumseong Fortress it the park’s highlight for most visitors. Charging only ₩ 15,000 (~$11) round trip to the top, it is significantly cheaper than Palisades Tahoe’s $50 summer tram.   (The cable car closes in high winds; check the schedule on the official website the day before.)

The hotels at the park all look like dilapidated crap but are very convenient to the entrance.  I didn't realize we were sleeping on the hard ground at HK Resort - kind of like camping!

Today’s notes on driving:

Traffic enforcement cameras seem to be every few miles in Korea. Everyone drives fast for a minute only to have to drive awkwardly slow through the cameras. Not to mention that the GPS is screaming and beeping its warning. At one point the GPS told us that “for this section” we had to average 100 kph, obviously recording our entrance and exit times. (Fortunately the car knows this section and tracks your average speed.)

The excessive amount of speed cameras are annoying and what makes driving here exhausting! Having looked up the potentially low cost of the speeding ticket, I think Chris would choose to speed through them, but you’re forced to do what the cars around you are doing.