Seoul really does have it all and there is almost always something to do. Despite Seoul's liveliness, sometimes one might want to get away from the city to enjoy a quiet weekend with friends. A group of HSK friends were invited to a weekend in Suanbo at a friend's vacation home.
Suanbo is located near Chungju in North Chuncheon province, just south and a little east of Seoul, Suanbo is about 2.5 hours by car from Seoul. Our Korean friend rented a car and we made the trek to Suanbo, just making a few stops for bathroom breaks and snacks. Keeping ourselves entertained with lively conversation and road trip games, our Korean-style road trip was a success and a fun time.
Once arrived in Suanbo, we settled in and had a small dinner with some drinks and card games. We all hit the hay early as there was a rigorous schedule planned for the next day.
After a good night's sleep, we woke up early and hit the trails. Suanbo was filled with small secondary homes of Koreans who live in bigger cities such as Incheon and Seoul. The people of Suanbo were very friendly and welcoming. I felt as if I was a part of the community as everyone smiled and waved as we walked by. There were fields of green speckled with bright red apples ready to be picked. Additionally, our pension was just near a small stream home to tiny fish darting here and there. We took a trip into "town" and bought ice cream and saw Suanbo's famous hotel containing spas that nearly every Korean knows about. Furthermore, we paused at a local watering hole to enjoy some specialties of the region : rice wine and potato pancakes with vegetables. Our last stop was a Buddhist worshipping place of which almost only ruins remained, but this didn't stop Buddhists from coming to worship. After a long day, our friend treated us to a delectable array of Korean food. We went to town on a homemade spread including grilled samgyeopsal, potato pancakes with fresh veggies, and doenjang jjigae.
After our much too short weekend in Suanbo, we hit the road back to Seoul and felt well-rested and ready to get back to the grind back in our home away from home.
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