The time has come to share the evolution of Explorations even further! Introducing the two additional core members of the Explorations Team. We have known each other for too long and have done too many ridiculous things together. As high school friends, now navigating the weekend warrior world, enjoying and sharing our adventures, please give a warm welcome to the new additions to the team!
Additional to the new team members, we will begin releasing short videos of adventure, our opinion on gear and accompanying adventures, along with insights of a sleuth of other fun things. This will be released through a forthcoming YouTube channel! Please stay tuned!
Damian G You know that feeling you get when you unlock a new skill in a video game or beat a boss after 16 lives? That’s my motivation! Life can be just as much a video game as Legend of Zelda or Forza… except now instead of my thumbs hurting, it’s everything hurting… and instead of restarting, it’s my back I’m breaking or brain injury I’m suffering through… wait, was I supposed to be motivating you? haha whatever, just come along, it’ll be great!
Rob W All my life I have been drawn to the outdoors. Often times I feel more at home out in nature than in my actual home. The world is full of adventures waiting to be experienced, and Explorations provides a way for me to document them and share them with family and friends as well as seasoned adventurers and those just starting out.
This is a quick update that I will begin again, writing a bit more onto the blog. I had been struggling to write something profound and thought provoking about my hiatus, in addition to a launch of the new Explorations website. However, in the exercise of writing, that will eventually come. In the mean time, please enjoy the the writing that is up. I had taken some time off the blog as there were several things going on in my life and navigating life in general.
Still adventuring and more to come!
There are old posts up, which I have curated. They are not, by any means, any posts I feel strongly about. Au contraire, they are the posts where I reflect the most about who I was back then and who I am now. More posts will be coming to discuss what I’ve learned in the journey of life, my relationship with the world, and myself.
There have several lessons learned since my last post. There have been other adventures as well and more to come. Admittedly, professional life is a challenge in balancing a private life, but I strive to continue to seek out adventures where I can. I will continue to write upon my experiences and my relationship with the world. Some reconciling needed to be done to find the angle in which I would like to narrate my stories. But now, I’m mostly ready (are we ever fully really ready?) to share more.
As it were, fittingly enough, I post this on South Korea’s presidential election day; to announce a new video. Explorations sneak peak into one of the world’s most secretive countries, North Korea. Aka, D.P.R.K. (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). This is my week in North Korea in 9 minutes, video below.
Yes, you are allowed to go in. Yes, you are told where to take pictures. Yes, they confiscate your camera in certain places. Yes, you can laugh and jeer at the tourists on the South Korean border at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).
This is Ian’s North Korea story… condensed and highlighted:
The summer in 2010 was sweltering hot in Seoul. Or so I thought, 2012 beat the crap out of 2010. I decided to hit up somewhere northern and cooler. The original plan was to head to Mongolia, but given a week, there were too many things to do. Last minute switch of airplane tickets from Ulaanbutar to Beijing. My second visit to Beijing that year. And this time, I didn’t miss the flight.
To get to North Korea, I had to fly into Beijing, then take an 18 hour train ride (which I didn’t know at the time). We arrived at the North Korean border at Dan Dong (no joke) and had to take a train across the river and into North Korea. This bridge is the opening shot in Explorations original introduction video. Once across the border, armed guards boarded the train. The Chinese tour group went ahead leaving the white people and the token Asian guy behind on the train.
Snapshots of the countryside while on the train
They searched through everything. They confiscated your phones and packaged them and made you sign a waiver that you won’t open it until after the trip. I left my phone in South Korea. I also hid my South Korean work visa permit so they wouldn’t see it. I think that might’ve stirred a few things up. I mean, they freaked out and thought some camp fuels were bombs when they first laid eyes on it. Some Polish guys needed to carry them through their journey… long story short, they were passed through.
Another long ass train ride into Pyong Yang itself. As the train was jammed pack of people, a high school student ended up sitting across from us. Imagine my amazement when he asked me in English “Excuse me, where are you from?” This guy knew how to speak English better than my South Korean middle school students!
During our little chit chat, I found out he’s attending a foreign language high school and wants to be a diplomat working in the government when he grows up. I asked if he enjoyed learning language. The conversation comes abruptly to an end when a guard on the train passes by. The student shushes me. When the coast was clear, he looks up and says, “Yes, very much. Now, no more talking.” I was not going to argue.
We stayed in a hotel called Yang Gak Hotel, or, “The Sheep’s Horn” based on a man-made island in the middle of the river (so that the foreigner guests couldn’t escape. At least our group joked). Through the days, our tour guides got drunk and so did we and the North Korean tour guides got… well… North Korean tour guide style.
I’ll admit, I got to move around a lot more freely than I expected. And I got to take a lot more pictures freely than I expected. The only restrictions were at the Kim Il Sung statue where we were told we had to take a full length body picture of him. And secondly, on the way to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) we couldn’t take any pictures on the 3 hour bus ride. (Yeah right, I did it)
We got to see a plethora of things which I will not go into detail. But a list includes war museums, children’s after school programs, monuments, battle-scarred ships from the Korean War, DMZ, Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum, and a club.
Outside Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum
In the war museum I started to realize and I found it incredibly hilarious, every chance they got, they said “…and we completely annihilated the enemy, the puppet South Korean army controlled by the U.S imperialists.” I’m pretty sure that’s word for word. If there was a drinking game to that sentence, you’d never be sober on the tour. Ever.
The only place where they confiscated my camera was entering this really grand hall to see Kim Il Sung’s body; the first President of North Korea. No pictures were allowed. We couldn’t even speak. We had to walk through 40 minutes of intertwining hallways and stairs and different security systems before seeing his body. And we must bow when we saw his body. That was the most sombre moment of the trip.
The DMZ from the North Korean side was probably the most hilarious. I hear all the stories when my friends and colleagues went to the border with all these strict rules. “Don’t wave, don’t smile, don’t take pictures”. When we saw them (the South side) we were waving and going “Hey guys! How are you?!” Trying to make them wave. Didn’t happen. The differences in border control is striking, to say the least.
The opening ceremony of the Arirang Games destroys any Olympic opening ceremony in a heart beat. 110,000 people participate in the opening ceremony. An estimated 75,000 of them are seated across from the audience all holding different colour cards. Imagine each person was a pixel in your computer screen. They would flash the appropriate cards at the appropriate times accordingly. As that was going on, in the field you’d have performances on an epic scale. Performers would weave through each other creating intricate patterns that change seamlessly on the dime in perfection. Through the performance there are also aerial performances with fireworks and everything. It was the most breath taking display of human planning and coordination I have ever witnessed.
Not sure what they were doing, but pictures weren’t allowed here
Funny enough, tourists are not allowed to use DPRK currency, I didn’t even lay my hands on any. They accepted RMB (Chinese), Euro, and the U.S dollar. Sometimes I would change RMB and they would give me the equivalent back in Euros or USD. Or if they really didn’t have anything, they would give me a few bottles of water as my change.
The trip came to the end too soon. To celebrate one of the last nights for us, some of the group paid more to stay, we sent to a club! Before you ask how hot are the North Korean clubbing fashion style, I’ll burst your bubble and tell you, we went to a diplomats club! We were damn fancy that night. We partied with our tour group in a huge karaoke bar filled with “oz”‘s of Russian vodka, it was a night to remember! Or kind of remember… How did we get back to the hotel? I had to fly back to Beijing because of time constraints on my vacation days from South Korea. I will never complain about American airport security again. Being puking-hungover going through North Korean customs was the most terrifying thing ever. Let’s just leave that at that.
Propaganda in the subway walls
After the trip, the biggest thing I hear is “did you see North Korean propaganda?!” Yes. Yes I did. Of course I did. It’s everywhere and its invasive. The only difference between “Western” propaganda and North Koreans is that the Western is more subtle. Very subtle. But it’s there and everywhere. Just like North Korea. It’s a matter of being able to identify it yourself.
Now, for some actual information of how to get to North Korea. To visit North Korea, I went through a tour group called Young Pioneers Tour. They were a damn fun group. This was a brief travel guide of what you’ll experience while on tour with them. You need a visa, but the visa won’t stay in your passport. Americans can go on this tour. I was advised to change my work from not South Korea, lucky I had a work address I could use in Canada anyways.They will search you at the border regardless. If you are interested in going, I would highly recommend Young Pioneers Tour. I’m still friends with the tour guides who brought me there, just be prepared for some seriously crass humour.
THE VIDEO: A WEEK IN NORTH KOREA IN 9 MINUTES The video was made by the North Korean tourist agency. I purchased the DVD and Azure Production helped highlight the most interesting parts of the video and put it shorter and more concise.
Rock climbing in Korea has become such an extensive part of our lives here in Seoul. If you followed us, you know we continuously post these pictures up with us on this mountain.
Please also note, rock climbing in Korea is generally trad climbing. Please be comfortable with your gear placement and anchor building before setting out! This post reflects our favourite routes and additional information on getting there, down and around, but climbing and information continues to evolve.
The information isn’t by any means secret. But if you’re wondering what we’re climbing or if you’re reading this blog sniffing out rock climbing in Korea, keep reading! This could be a great round the world idea for you to start your outdoor travel adventures!
Table of Contents
ROCK CLIMBING IN KOREA: What is there to climb?
Climbing Insu-bong in winter via Go Deok Gil
There are a lot of climbing gyms in Korea, but most of them are bouldering gyms. We’re not really gym rats… Korea is a very mountainous country. Don’t know where to go in Seoul? “Bukhansan”, on the northern edge of the city, a city which few would think of as an “adventure getaway”. Rock climbing in Korea, Seoul is actually very accessible. The city literally wraps around this mountain which is in a national park called “Bukhansan National Park”. This is a very popular park for Seoulites. The peak in the mountain we climb is called “Insubong” which is across from the main peak called “Baegundae”. From the summit of Insu, when you look across, it looks like an ant hill. Easy access (but complicated to get there) and a plethora of different routes attracts a lot of climbers to Insubong.
The climbs on the main face of Insubong are mainly high friction granite slabs and cracks. Multi-pitch trad climbing is prevalent. There are other climbs on the rappelling side that attract more sport climbers, single pitch stuff. There are 5.12 stuff for you stronger climbers. Most routes are about 5 pitches, so leave your portaledges at home! You can find a picture of the routes at the bottom of the main slab.
A few favourite routes of ours is “Insu-B [인수-B]”, “Yang Ji [양지]”, and “Gomak-B [검막 – B]”. Standard rack should suffice. There is this one 5.7 splitter crack, though, that requires BD5’s. But that’s one special case.
ROUTES ON INSU-BONG
A brief description of some of our three favourite routes for rock climbing in Korea, by no means comprehensive. We’re also a fan of mish-mashing routes together instead of sticking to one route the entire way. This is to give you an idea. For a more comprehensive climbing guide, check “more information” at the bottom of the page.
“Go Deok Gil” 5.6 (5.5?)
This route can be done with minimal trad gear. However, bring out your slings, because this is where you’ll need them. At the big slab head up right. Way right, like you’re going to leave the climbing area. This route is great for foul weather climbing as it’s very not-exposed. It’s about 6 pitches, but most of these pitches are less than 30m. Crux pitch is the last pitch that starts with a 5.7 shallow crack that opens into a layback. Several routes converge right here and usually bottle necks traffic. Bring up to a BD 3 here.
“Insu – B” 5.7
This is by far, our most favourite route, mainly because Ian learnt how to trad climb on this. We usually start this on the slab, but the official beginning is a 5.7 crack. The crux pitch is pitch 2, where you can navigate a 5.9 slab on the left and right, or stick into the off-width 5.8 crack. Ian usually sticks to the crack. Not a bad idea to bring a size 5BD camalot for this pitch, especially near the top of the crack. The rest of the 3 pitches are cruisers hovering around 5.7’s.
“Gomak – B” 5.9 (with A0 on crux pitch)
If you like slab, this ones for you. On the 3rd pitch, before you head up the climb, you have to walk down a bit to get to Gomak, otherwise, the route you’re looking at is a 5.8 splitter crack which requries 5BD’s and a lot of them. Navigate your way up the 5.9 slabs and you should find yourself at the bottom of the aided bolt pitch, 5.10c or A0. Quickdraws to aid should suffice. Just grab the bone and pull up. This is the crux pitch, freak out on it and cruise up the last 2 pitches.
GETTING DOWN
There are about 8 rappel anchors on top of Insubong that allows a quick descent. With the amount of teams up there though, getting down is a battle, mainly fighting for an anchor. You’ll need 2x 60m ropes. If you’re only stuck with one rope, like how we usually are, there are anchors at the 15m point to tie in again. There is a 7 meter over hang on the anchors to the mid and climbers left of the face. In the late afternoons, around 3 or 4, it gets windy.
GETTING THERE
Ian on Gomak crux pitch, 5.10c (A0) slab
To get to Insubong, get out of Suyu Station (line 4), exit #3. Get onto the bus island and take the 120 bus to the last stop, which is a small bus terminal. Hop on a taxi in front of the area where the bus for the temple picks up people, which is located across from the small bus terminal. The taxis usually shuttle people up and down for a flat rate of 2,000kw per person. This area also has a lot of small little stores with hiking and climbing clothes you can brows
Or, alternatively, catch a taxi from Suyu station and tell them “Doe Sun Sa”, which takes you to the rotary. It shouldn’t cost more than 10,000 kw (~10 USD).
You’ll arrive at the rotary and the trail head. Enjoy the view of the Koreans decked out in their finest Sunday climbing clothes. From here, start up the trail. The approach takes about an hour. Once you reach the campsite (about 40 minute hike in) look for campsite 11. From campsite 11 you’ll see the a trail that leads up. Follow it, but keep in mind your navigation toward Insubong.
MORE INFORMATION
On the anchors of the rappel station
If you’re a well established climber, you can search for more routes here on Korea On The Rocks (KOTR). This site gives you a lot of beta and different climbs; bouldering gyms, climbing gyms, and artificial outdoor walls. KOTRI (KOTR Initatives) recently just came out with a guide book “Climb”, you can find here. Rock climbing in Korea continues to change and evolve. So at the time of writing, this is the information provided. There would be updated routes and recommend to check as it is user generated content and updates: https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/south-korea/insubong
If you’re not a well established climber but want to head out on the mountain anyway, there’s a great guide company called SAN. They offer various beginner and intermediate rock climbing courses, rescue courses, ice climbing, guided climbs, and programs, a great way to get started in climbing! It’s all conducted in English. They’re also great for satisfying your outdoor travel adventure junkie inside you! That’s actually where we started climbing. SAN also helped sponsor the Reel Rock Tour film festival in Seoul. Check out more of the Reel Rock Tour here. So that’s the gist of it, rock climbing in Korea! Hope it was helpful!
Another food place worthy of commenting! We’d have to say, there really isn’t a whole lot of authentic Chinese cuisines when it comes to being in Korea. This is really surprising, considering how close we are to China. Infact, North Korea is connected to China! The peninsula is only seperated by the Yellow Sea.
Regardless, we finally found a Chinese restaurant, kind of, worthy to say “GO AND EAT SOOOOME!”
This Chinese restaurant isn’t your typical Chinese restaraunt, and it isn’t serving Korean-ized Chinese food either! If you lived in Hong Kong or Guangzhou (Canton), you would have this stuff for breakfast/lunch/snack. It’s fast, easy and incredibly delicious! This is something Ian ate almost everyday for breakfast when him and his brother went to China. And because it`s kind of a “fast food”, it’s not your typical restaurant.
What this is called, wonton soup. It’s a soup served with egg noodles and these dumplings called wonton, a Cantonese word. But that`s not all they have. They have a few more selections of different dumplings, and braised beef in wonton soup. This is, afterall, a “wonton dim” (roughly translated would be: “wonton house”). You can order large or small portions, 8,500 and 5,500 Korean won, respectively for your straight up wonton noodle soup. That’s about 8 or 5 USD. If you order the large portion, it could be a meal. The smaller portions are tie-overs to your next meal.
The dumplings were incredibly flavourful. The kind of flavourful like dim sum’s har gaow tastes. Infact, this is how it should taste in the har gaow. It’s authentic, that’s for sure, unlike the Western China restaurant that we went to before. The broth and the noodles are dead on. It feels like it straight out of Hong Kong.
From Hong Kong to Seoul, the food finally made a debut! You can see the noodles being prepared in one of the pictures by two sweet old ladies.Can’t get your dim sum fix? This place’ll tame those cravings for now. But still searching for dim sum… Ian is a happy guy.
We’re not sure who the owner is, but they were all speaking Korean when we entered. The restaurant itself is a franchise stretching out of Hong Kong called Mak`s Noodle Co., LTD. Yes, a company limited. The business card is all in Chinese and a seperate one in Korean. Mak’s Noodle is located right on Itaewon Street, infact outside the station. This is one of those places to eat in Seoul, one to mark down, and one for us to come back to again and again.
To get there: Itaewon Station (Line 6, brown line) Exit 4. Do an about turn and walk toward the IBK bank, and Gecko’s is above. Go to the left of the bank (don’t enter the bank) the house is tucked in the back corner.
You like Indian food? You’ll love this place! Any party goers to Hongdae on a Friday and Saturday night will definetely recognize the first and lovable kebab stand guy. His name? Shalla. The friendliest lovable guy who works long hours and never seems to be angry (must be the kebabs – which are made with love!)
A little less known fact about him, he owns an Indian restaurant just off Itaewon Street near the Seoul Masjid (directions below). If Halal Muslim Indian food is your thing, look no further! Not only are his kebabs astounding when you stumble out of the club at 5am, but his restaurant is even better.
Explorations went ahead and visited him at his restaurant, and then several more times later! We pretty much order the same dish, mainly because it’s A LOT of food for a modest price. The one set we usually order comes with 2 different curries, loaded with naan bread, rice, samosa and tandoori chicken.
Usually the tandoori chicken in other places are overcooked and dry. Here, it’s juicy and succulent. Forget knives and forks! The “finger licking good” definetly lives up to its name! The naan bread is hot, chewy, and loaded with a good amount of garlic, for those garlic lovers. The curries come out in a small candle lit, self heating apparatus. A nice little gimmick.
Even Ian, a huge eater, can’t finish these portions, and Shalla is more than happy to wrap it up and send it home with you on a very happy full stomach. You can order chai teas and lassi’s among the usualy drinks, which are equally astounding.
We’ve tried a few Indian restaurants in Seoul, and this byfar trumps them all. Not only does he personally greet you with a warm welcome and make you feel right at home, his food is just incredibly flavourful and out of this world! Next time your looking for places to eat in Seoul, remember this Indian restaurant! Yumaste!
P.S – Don’t confuse this place with Little India in Insa-dong by Tripadvisor. This is an entirely different place!
Get there: Call ahead 02- 793-5416. From Itaewon Station, (line 6) Exit 3. Go straight to the first big road. You will pass UN Club and Mr. Kebab (You want Shalla’s place) At the intersection, make a right. Go straight. You will pass “Foreign Restaurant” and the “Foreign Food Mart”. Continue to the 3rd small road and make a left toward the mosque. It’s along this road on the left handside. Check map below.
Considering Korea is so close to China, you’d expect it to have some amazing Chinese food. This is entirely not the case.
Since Ian arrived, he’s been scouring the corners of Seoul to find a decent Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum. The most recent expedition brought Explorations to a place called Western China restaurant. It prided itself with dim sum and that’s what sold us to try it out, finally.
We ordered a chicken dish that seemed Asiatic in flavour, a noodle dish, and four dim sum dishes.We should also note, this was dim sum a-la-carte; and we don’t mean the usual push around carts that defined Ian’s childhood of dim sum meal times.You had to order it from the menu.
We’ll skip the other dishes as dim sum was the heart of the course for tonight. The dim sum dishes we had were Har Gaow, Siu Mao, Siu Long Bao, and Law Mai Fahn. Hovering at around 5,000 Korean won a piece or approximately 4.50(USD). Your usual dishes came with 3 pieces. Usually it’s 4 pieces an order elsewhere. First, Har Gaow. This dish is one of the staple dim sum foods. You can tell the skill of the chef, and subsequently the quality of the restaurant by this dish. It was incredibly underwhelming. You could barely taste the shrimp, let alone the other spices that’s supposed to go with it.
Next, Siu Mai. Also one of the staple dim sum foods. Sure, there was pork and a little garnish of roe on top, but the shrimp was missing and most other spices that go into making this piece. Things are looking very grave for the next few dishes.
Along came Siu Long Bao. Ian’s first time trying this dim sum piece was, actually, in Korea. It was on par with the other dim sum retaurants he’s tried. but, we’re not entirely sure how good this is. This one is a dumpling with soup inside the dumpling. There’s promise that it could go well, but not here.
Last but not least was the Law Mai Fahn. This dish comes pre-wrapped in lotus leaf as it’s steamed in it. Inside the lotus leaf is sticky rice and in the middle of it, a concoction of chicken blend of spices. This was the closest tasting dish to what dim sum actually is. But having said that, it was still lacking in most flavours that define what this dish is. The sticky rice also wasn’t very sticky.
All in all at the end of the meal, we were full. The flavours of dim sum were less than impressive and even more so, a bill to rub salt in the wound really doesn’t justify the cost vs. taste ratio. First and last time we’ll ever go there.
The quest for dim sum continues…
We have Pictures of the other dishes. If you so chose to go to this restaurant, it’s in Itaewon in Hannam-Dong. The website and phone number is in the pictures, however we don’t reccommend destroying your hope of dim sum by going here. Good for Korean-ized Chinese food.
