Sokcho: Day of stairs

Yesterday I hung out at the House Hostel in the morning to meet up with Matthew and Loraine and while in the lobby I met an awesome guy from Finland.  I can't remember how to spell his name, but it sounds like Jared without the J, but he also was ok with us calling him Yoda (how can you really turn down such an invitation).  Anyway, since he was planning to go hiking in Seoraksan park I asked him to come along with me and the Hong Kong couple (who was not yet up due to a evening skirmish with mosquitos).

The park was cool.  I was most impressed by the various food stands that were on the trail.  It seemed like there were some as far as 2 miles down the trail.  We took this trail that was supposed to be about 2 hours and has a lot of red metal staircases.  Stairs did they have.  It was kinda like ascending Vernal falls in Yosemite, but the stairs were steeper, narrower, and greater in number.  I was really impressed at all the older folks who were hiking--I hope I am that spry when I am old.
Get ready for a lot of pictures (more blog below!)

Yoda and I ended up separating from the Hong Kong couple and made it to the top in about 2 hours.  We descended the mountain and stopped off at some of the trail vendors for some mekjul (beer-a valuable word to know).  These places were the bars John Muir probably saw in his dreams. 

After getting back to Sokcho, Yoda and I scoured out a place to eat near the docks.  We walked in and after a few confusing exchanges of language, we mimed eating and they sat us at a table a brought out a ton of fish and cooked it in front of us, all for about 20 bucks in total.