Explore Gyeonggi and Gangwon
In terms of size and numbers, GANGNEUNG (강릉) is a big player in Gangwon terms – it’s the biggest city on the northeastern coast and, like its provincial buddies Sokcho and Donghae, is spread thinly over a large area. Despite its relaxed atmosphere, staying overnight in Gangneung is not really recommended; nearby Jeongdongjin is a far better option. That said, Gangneung makes a good base for hikers or temple-hunters heading to charming Odaesan National Park, and has a couple of sights of its own, including excellent beaches. If you’re here in winter, you’ll be able to make use of the superb facilities at Yongpyeong Ski Resort. However, if you can, try to time your visit around the fifth day of the fifth lunar moon – usually in May – when the riverside Dano festival is held. Events take place all over the country on this auspicious date, but the biggest is in Gangneung, a five-day event which has commemorated the “Double Fifth” with dancing and shamanist rituals for over four hundred years. The festival provides your best opportunity to see ssireum, a Korean version of wrestling often compared to sumo, but far more similar to the Mongolian practice.
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Ojukheon
Ojukheon
Gangneung’s main sight is Ojukheon (오죽헌), a network of floral paths and traditional buildings, and the birthplace of Lee Yulgok, also known as Yi-Yi, a member of the yanbang – Korea’s Confucian elite – and one of its most famous scholars. The complex is quite large, and much of it is paved, but there’s a pleasant green picnic area surrounded by tall pines, as well as a patch of rare black bamboo to stroll through. Ojukheon is especially popular in the autumn, when its trees burst into a riot of flame.
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Odaesan National Park
Odaesan National Park
A short ride to the west of Gangneung is ODAESAN NATIONAL PARK (오대산 국립 공원), markedly smooth and gentle compared with its jagged Gangwonese neighbours. Full of colour in the autumn, and with magnificent views from the stony peaks, it’s relatively empty for a Korean national park as hikers tend to be sucked into the Seoraksan range a short way to the north. Odaesan has two main entrance points – one in the pretty Sogeumgang area to the north of the park, and a south gate reached via the small town of Jinbu. Between the two are two temples and innumerable shrines, some of which are quite remote and receive next to no visitors – just the treat for adventurous hikers.
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Yi-Yi: star of the W5000 note
Yi-Yi: star of the W5000 note
Lee Yulgok (1536–84), more commonly known by his pen name Yi-Yi, is one of the most prominent Confucian scholars in Korea’s history, and once lived in the Ojukheon complex in Gangneung. A member of the country’s yangban elite, he was apparently able to write with Chinese characters at the age of 3, and was composing poetry by the time he was 7 years old, much of it on pavilions surrounding the glassy lake at Gyeongpoho just down the road. At 19 he was taken to the hills to be educated in Buddhist doctrine, but abandoned this study to excel in political circles, rising through the ranks to hold several important posts, including Minister of Personnel and War. At one point, he advised the King to prepare an army of 100,000 to repel a potential Japanese invasion – the advice was ignored, and a huge attack came in 1592, just after Yi-Yi’s death. His face is on one side of the W5000 note, while on the other is the famed “Insects and Plants”, painting from his mother, Sin Saimdang (1504–51), who was a well-known poet and artist; you’ll find her on the W50,000 note. Her selection, interestingly, managed to ruffle feathers with traditionalists and liberals alike – Confucian-thinking men were aghast that a woman should be on the front of Korea’s most valuable note, while feminists were similarly distraught that this role model of “inferior” Confucian-era womanhood should be chosen ahead of more progressive ladies.
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Victims of nautical nomenclature
Victims of nautical nomenclature
The victim mentality drilled into Korean students during their history lessons is such that any perceived slant against the nation, no matter how slight, can turn into a serious issue that has the whole country boiling with rage. Anger is further magnified should the insult come from Korea’s one-time colonial masters, the Japanese – witness the case of the waters east of the Korean mainland, generally known across the world as the “Sea of Japan”. Koreans insist that this name is a symbol of Japan’s imperial past, and youth hostel wall-maps around the world have had the name crossed out by gimchi-chomping Korean travellers and replaced with “East Sea”. Korean diplomats raised enough of a stink to take the issue to the United Nations, which tentatively sided with the Japanese, but left the topic open for further discussion. Although both terms have been used for centuries, neither is strictly correct – Korea controls a large portion of the waters, yet the sea lies plainly to Japan’s west – so while this storm in a teacup continues to rage on, feel free to send your own suggestions of compromise to the UN: “Sea of Peaceful Diplomatic Negotiations”, perhaps?
