What may be most interesting about the trip is my method of transportation: I got there on the Seoul subway network. Amazingly, I can scan my card into the “subway” system here in Bucheon, and arrive in Chuncheon 2 or 2.5 hours later. Total charge: $2.65, deducted from my card. Less than Koreans tend to pay for a single cup of coffee.
(My friend Jared dreams of a day in which the subway system is nationwide. Scan-in with your card at your home station in Ilsan [say], and get off in Daejeon [say], several hours later. Not very speedy, but essentially free, and gloriously easy. Why not?).
______________________________________________
Chuncheon is famous for the tasty Korean chicken dish called “dakgalbi“. We ate a delicious meal on “dakgalbi street”. The soda was free, all-you-can-drink, which delighted me.
I find it funny that in Seoul, everybody claims to make “authentic Chuncheon-style dakgalbi“. Naturally, in Chuncheon, though, I noticed several businesses bearing the name “Seoul”. Seoul Dry-Cleaners, for example. The grass is always greener on the other side. I also noticed a bunch of quaint establishments called da-bang (다방), tea houses. I’d read about these in old tourist guidebooks. I had no idea they still existed. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any in the Seoul area outside Insadong, the tourist street. In Seoul, it’s all coffee. Maybe I just don’t look hard enough.
