I went to bed at midnight the night before, but I couldn't sleep properly until 2am because the car noise was so loud. I set the alarm for 7:15am, but I woke up at 6am. I tried to sleep again, but I woke up. Instead of the 9am bus, I decided to take the 7:40am bus to Kyodong.
Snacks I had with non-alcoholic beer the day before.
Non-alcoholic beer tastes weird
The place I stayed was Seomunjang Motel.
I went to Ganghwa County Office stop to catch the bus..
Perhaps because it was early in the morning, there weren't many passengers.
After arriving at Gyodong Island, we went to our first destination, Daeryong Market.
It was a little after 8 o'clock in the morning.
I didn't know what would happen when I arrived.
Maybe because it was morning, the shops were quiet, but there were some tourists even early in the morning. There were a lot of riders coming to Gyodong.
It was so early that there weren't any stores open. There was only a supermarket and a rice cake shop. I decided to kill time at a convenience store...
Restaurants were marked as opening at 10 on the map, but there were almost none that opened at 10. In reality, they were posted saying that they were only open at 11.
I held out until 9 and went to a hotteok store satisfy my hunger.
Corn hotteok is delicious.
The hotteok shop owner asked me why I was out so early.
I decided to just look around Daedong Market.
??
There were cats locked up in the middle of the market street. It was cute how they were huddled together because it was cold.
Change of plans
I couldn't wait any longer for the restaurant to open. I remembered the Hwagae Garden I had passed by. It opened at 9, so I decided to walk from Daeryong Market around 9:30.
The last tour is over there!!
Fortunately, the road to Hwagae Garden is connected to Daeryong Market, so it doesn't take long to walk there.
Parking lot
There were quite a few people. There were more elderly people than my age.
To the top of the mountain
There is a monorail to the top of Hwagae Mountain. However, to ride the monorail, you have to buy the Hwagae Garden entrance fee.
A garden seen while riding the monorail
The garden is not flat but carved into a mountain, so I don't recommend it on a hot day... I recommend taking the monorail. The monorail takes about 20 minutes to get to the top and is very slow.
Unique Skywalk
There is a cafe at the top and a skywalk towards North Korea.
The monorail runs every 5 minutes, so you don't have to worry too much about how long you have to stay.
It felt different from the Peace Observatory. It was a bit cloudy so I couldn't see it well, but the rice fields on the North Korean side were doing well. They say you can see Gaeseong when the weather is good, but unfortunately I couldn't.
There is something called a digital telescope.
It seems that the performance is not as good as the telescope that costs 500 won, but I was a bit surprised by the new technology.
After coming down from Hwagae Mountain
I heard there was a place in Gyodongdo that sells Hwanghae-do style cold noodles, so I headed straight to the restaurant to eat cold noodles.
I had to eat something quickly because I had to go back to Seoul a little early.
Hwanghae-do style cold noodles
There was seasoning sauce, but it didn't turn red even when mixed... It was a bit different from South Korea. The taste wasn't too spicy, so it wasn't burdensome.
There seems to be a cafe next to the restaurant, and it looks like a place where riders meet up.
I took bus number 18 again and went to Ganghwa Island.
The weather was nice but hot..
After doing some work in town, I took the 12:50 bus to Ganghwa Hospital stop.
The reinforcement event I saw the day before
For those who want to ride the 3000 bus, I definitely recommend getting on at the terminal. This bus is one that you can't stand on, so if there are no seats, the driver won't let you on. I thought I couldn't get on because there were 11 seats left at the bus stop. There were really a lot of passengers.
Back to Seoul again..
The reason I brought my arrival in Seoul forward is because it had been 5 years since I visited Seoul, so I wanted to do some sightseeing in Seoul.
My wish was to visit Deoksugung Palace once, and I achieved it today~
Those who are going to Ganghwado by public transportation, please check the bus schedule carefully before going..
It is difficult to get out of Seokmodo or Gyodongdo when the bus service is cut off..
It's fun to visit Ganghwado..