Day 9

Today we took the a KTX bullet train from central Seoul to Kangnung. The train was capable of getting up to 176 kph and made the trip much quicker than it otherwise would have been. We went to Kangnung so that we could spend the night in Gangneung Seongyojang which is a typical upper- class house of the late Joseon period, built by Yi Naebeon, a 11th -generation descendant of Prince Hyoryeong. The building has seperate entrances for men and women as well as having seperate buildings depending on what generation you were in the family. The houses are set to different elevations to establish a sort of hierarchy in the family. The highest building belonged to the patriarch of the family with the second building being for the sons of the patriarch and the lowest building was reserved for guests or non relatives. As it typical with high end housing some of the living quarters were outfitted with ondol floors. With ondol floors a pit is dug under the base floor of a house and a fire is lit near the edge of the foundation. The heat transfer from the smoke to the floor heats up the house and provides a nice place to lay your head. The house itself is of wood construction and tile roof as is to be expect with tradition housing for the time but it his house has a nice white and dark wood grain theme.

While we stayed we got to listen to wear traditional hambok and listen to some traditional organ.

Afterwards we went too the coast line of kyungpo-beach-kangmun which spans 5.6 km. It was raining outside and it was not exactly the ideal swimming conditions but I’ve never gotten the chance to swim in the pacific so sacrifices had to be made. The beach itself is very well maintained with no trash as far as I could see. There were lots of seafood restaurants and stores along the coastline and an array of air pieces for your viewing pleasure. Beaches in South Korea are growing as land reclamation is an ongoing part of Koreas expansion plans so beaches like will hopefully become more frequent and ever expanding. Overall I’d rate the Pacific Ocean a 5/10 and the Gangneung Seongyojang a 10/10