Daegu to Sokcho via Seoul

I have a ticket for the express KTX service to Seoul. A stopover in Seoul is the easiest (and quickest) way to travel between Daegu and Sokcho. The train leaves from the Dongdaegu train station, made famous in the 2016 ROK box office smash movie "Train to Busan" (which I've seen). Zombies on a train, whaaat???

The train leaves around 11:45 and I have a reserved seat in car 6. The train comes, it looks a bit short and only has 4 cars. It's further up the platform so I roll up in a hurry, as do other people. I show the guard my ticket, and he tells me to get on another train coming in behind this train. So I roll back down and can see the next train pulling in behind the first train. I've done a lot of overseas train travel but have never seen this. People are frantically running along the platform in both directions, so I'm not the only one not knowing what's going on. Essentially it's an 8 car service split into 2, perhaps for safety reasons.

Anyway I board car 6 and find my seat without further incident. There's decent free Wi-Fi on board so I watch "4 Corners" on ABC iView. It's a bit under 2 hours to Seoul, where I transfer to the metro to check in at Hotel Atrium.

I have to pick up a data SIM card from the KT shop near Hongik University. Back on the metro heading west, find the shop, insert the 5-day SIM card and I'm back online!

I take the same line back east to the stop next to Dong Seul bus terminal. Here I buy a ticket to go to Sokcho tomorrow. Then back to the hotel, stopping in at Starbucks next door for a take-away coffee.

Next morning, I partake/gorge once again in the hotel's breakfast buffet. Everything I need to sit on a bus for 2 1/2 hours! Check out, then roll my luggage back to the metro to go to the bus terminal. No issue in boarding, but as always there's heavy traffic to negotiate before exiting Seoul. We cross the river and the slowness of our progress allows me to take some photos. As I have unlimited data I watch the latest "Q&A" on ABC iView. KRudd and Alan Jones together? Irresistible TV - if only KRudd was still PM 🤗

We arrive in Sokcho and I buy a Seoul return ticket for 2 days time. The lady at the information booth gives me details about travelling to Seoraksan National Park. It takes an hour by the 7-1 bus as it travels down the coastline for some distance before heading west to the National Park.

We close in on the National Park. I can see my destination (Kensington Stars Hotel) on the right. I attempt a quick exit, well as quick as it can be trying to haul my luggage off the bus. I'm early to the hotel by an hour, so they store my luggage while I go inside the National Park. Firstly I take photos in the vicinity.Read more