Go strait to day 1 (Buckwheat Festival), 2 (Gangneung) or 3 (Sokcho).

I took a trip, solo style, last weekend for two nights and three days in Gangwon province. The first day, Friday, I took an express bus from the Dong Seoul Express Bus Terminal to Bongpyeong. They were having a Buckwheat Festival built around Hyoseok, a famous writer who used the town for his novels. The buckwheat fields were great, albeit the atmosphere was a little down since it was pouring rain. Still, I just took the rain as giving the quaint village a little character. I tried some of the local flavors: buckwheat noodles, buckwheat sikhe, buckwheat bread, and yes, even buckwheat drunken rice (makgoli).

After the festival ended I headed back to the bus terminal and set off for Gangneung. Once I arrived there, I realized it was too dark and too rainy to do anything so I decided to go to the biggest Jimjilbang near the beach so I could easily walk to all my destinations the next day. The baths used water from the ocean, so I didn’t feel entirely gypped. I was able to get some great rest and then see some beautiful and interesting places the next day. Stay tuned for my walk around Gangneung and arrival in Sokcho.