I left Choibalsan early for another loooong day of driving south. Not much happened along the drive. Just the usual herds of cattle, goats, and horses occasionally blocking the road. I made a quick stop about half way in dusty Baruun-urt for gas. I did see a fox late in the afternoon that was a bit too quick to get a picture of. I also saw a huge herd of gazelle shortly after that. I managed to get a long…
The drive from Dadal to Choibalsan was a very long slog. The muddy conditions didn’t last too long thankfully. As I got further south the ground got a little drier and the roads got a little smoother, relatively speaking anyway. At the risk of boring you with endless road pics, that really is what half or more of this trip is about. Seeing and experiencing the infinite expanse of grasslands that is Mongolia. I’ve been to some pretty remote out…
It’s time to start exploring the rest of Mongolia. I decided to start by heading east into Khentii province. But first just a bit outside of Ulaanbaatar is Mongolias easiest national park to access, Gorkhi Terelj. The main draw here it seems is to stay in a resort type camp and go on extended horse back riding trips. Which would probably be amazing, but it also seemed like a bit of a tourist trap to me. There were a couple…
I’m at it again! Greetings and salutations from Mongolia in the central Asian steppe! After roughly 38 hours of flights and layovers I finally arrived in Ulaanbaatar, the capitol of Mongolia, extremely tired. The ride from the airport took a little over an hour in Ulaanbaatars notorious traffic, but I made it to my hostel, checked in and headed to the main square, Sükhbaatar Sq, just a couple of blocks away to wander around with what was left of the…
I left Jeonju on a morning train bound for the capitol city of Seoul, where I started this adventure several weeks ago. I really underestimated how much there was to see and do here so I decided to spend a few days seeing the things I’d missed the first time before heading home. Also, many of the places I visited this time were way out on the outskirts of the city which allowed for a much more relaxed pace. To…
My departure from Jeju Island is yet another example of the awesomeness that is Korean public transport. An early bus from Seogwipo to the airport in Jeju City, a plane from there to Gwangju, a taxi across town from the airport to the Gwangju bus station, then a bus to Gochang, then another bus to Seonunsan Provincial Park. Once again it sounds very confusing, but once again, it was super easy. Before I talk about Seonunsan, though, here’s a picture…
I woke up early, said goodbye to Mokpo, and boarded the 9:00am ferry for my four hour sail to a giant volcano. Awesome! 1.8 million years ago lava began spewing from under the East China Sea creating Mt Hallasan and it’s surrounding 368 oreum, or parallel volcanoes, known today as Jeju Island. It’s always been a part of Korea, but the culture here did develope a bit uniquely. Historically, everything from houses to graves to tools and statues of the…
Well, as I always say, there’s always one leg of every trip that doesn’t go quite as planned. I’ve been a bit sick since about day three in Seoul. In retrospect, I think it was allergies, all the cherry blossoms and azaleas blooming all over the place. I also developed a shin splint that’s been slowing me down quite a bit. Anyway, I left Busan for Suncheon intending to do a big hike through Jogyesan Provincial Park, but between my…
A very quick one hour bus ride from Gyeongju and I’m now in the southeastern corner of South Korea in it’s second largest city, Busan. I was surprised to learn just a few days ago that South Korea had it’s own professional baseball league. There are ten teams scattered around the country, three of which are in Seoul, but one of them happens to be in Busan, so I decided to take in a game on my first night. I…
Only two buses after leaving Juwangsan National Park and I’m now back in a big city, Gyeongju. Before the Josean dynasty, Korea was in what was known as the three kingdoms period because the peninsula was divided between (any guesses?) three kingdoms, the Baekje, Silla and Goguryeo. The Silla was founded in 57BCE when six small towns decided to unite under one king and started violently taking over other towns until the kingdom spanned the entire southeastern part of the…