Labor Day Weekend in Jeongseon

Somehow I ended up getting to do more in South Korea for Labor Day weekend than I ever do while at home. When I first arrived, my host mom asked me if I liked waterparks and if I had a bathing suit, which made me very glad I had bought a conservative bathing suit before I left the states. The vacation, however, ended up way more than just a waterpark and gave me a weekend of adventures and new experiences.

Saturday

So we left home on Saturday morning and met up with the other family we were going to be travelling with at a rest stop. Let the three-hour drive commence. After stopping at a rest stop for lunch, we ended up at our destination by mid-afternoon. Our trip started in Jeongseon (정선). We went to a museum that was all about the history of the area, and then the real fun began. We took a monorail up the mountain, which gave us a beautiful view of the area, to a Hwaamdonggul cave entrance. So the cave had two parts. The first part was all about the history of gold mining in the area and the second part was more cutesy have animated goblins and stuff, but the beauty of the cave was magnificent. At one point you go into this room that is huge and you are surrounded by these natural rock creations. It was very cold and very wet, but it was so worth it. Even the stairs. There were probably 15 or 20 flights of stairs we had to walk down at one point. We had a nice Korean dinner that night where we sat on the floor. Then we went to the condo, where we ate chicken and watched Korea's triumph over Japan in the Asian Games final soccer game. That night, I had my first experience sleeping on a mat on the floor.

Sunday

The second day of the trip was so much fun. I didn't get any picture because I was at a waterpark with my host family. I convinced the kids to go on the waterslides with me, where they had so much fun, and we swam in the lazy river and a wave pool. I was so exhausted by the end of the day. It was so much fun though. I loved everything about the day. It was perfect. That night we went out for dinner again. This time we had beef, and went back to the condo, eating more chicken and talking well into the night (or listening in my case since I don't speak Korean...yet).
The scenery of the trip was hard to beat. We spent so much time going up and down in the mountains that there were too many really beautiful sights of nature.

Monday

Memorial to Danjong of Joseon in place of where his house used to stand. 

On Monday, we made our way home. But that didn't stop the adventure. On the way, we stopped at Yeongwol County and visited the historical site where the 6th King of the Joseon Dynasty was exiled to by his uncle and later executed. It was a piece of Korean history that I didn't know about and I was very happy that my host family wanted to share it with me. After that, we headed back, stopping to eat lunch in a traditional Korean market and making the long journey home.

This was such a great way to spend time with my host family as well as learn more about Korea and all it has to offer. I hope that I get to take more trips like this in the future around Korea. It has so much to offer and with such little time here, I want to learn it all.