Driving into the Hahoe Folk village visitor parking area where we would camp for a couple of nights, we noticed some interesting woodcarvings and Korean style “totem poles”. We later met the artist, Mr. Kim Jong-heung, who, as it turns out, is quite famous, having presented his works to Queen Elizabeth II on her 73rd […]
While traveling through South Korea we were constantly reminded of just how modern this country is. Sometimes it was hard to find anything that would be ancient or historic, so we were delighted to stumble upon the Hahoe Folk Village. Located near Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, it was established in the 16th century during the Joseon Dynasty. […]
Returning from our visit to the DMZ, we took a side road to visit the Hwanseon Cave. Personally, I’m not a big cave person. I (Gary) would put spelunking next to ice climbing at the top of the list of things I never want to do, but big caves are always interesting. The Hwanseon Cave […]
Tearing ourselves away from our comfortable campsite in the beach town of Samcheok, we headed north to the DMZ, (Demilitarized Zone – East Coast). Just to give you a little history, at 4 o’clock in the morning on June 25, 1950 North Korea carried out a sudden attack against South Korea led by Russian tanks. […]
South Korea! What everyone knows about South Korea (or correctly called The Republic of Korea) is its caustic neighbor, North Korea. As it turns out, South Korea is a modern and well developed country ranked 22nd in the Human Development Index, the highest in East Asia. In terms of average wage, it has Asia’s highest and […]
It had snowed off and on all night in Khabarovsk but the snow plows had been busy. We considered putting on our heavy rear Pewag chains but we were heading south so maybe road conditions would improve. It wasn’t our first time putting on chains, but it is still not fun in freezing weather. Doing some […]
Leaving Chita, the roads had been plowed and were nearly dry. We made good time. There were very few people or villages now, since previously this was only a “cart road” or nothing; deep permafrost mud in the summer and impassable snow in the winter and no bridges. The Trans-Siberian Highway is the unofficial name for a […]
After a final goodbye to our old friends in Rubtsovsk, we hit the icy roads of Siberia with memories of our crossing in 1996. Many good changes had taken place but it also brought much more traffic. Now instead of frozen mud and gravel roads, they were mostly paved, covered with treacherous black ice and […]
Our emergency trip back to Ulaanbaatar, (the capital of Mongolia), to pick up repair suspension parts from Hellwig and get the necessary visas and extensions had been fun and interesting, but it definitely threw a wrench into our expected travel plans. We had hoped to drive back to the capital on the spectacular road we had […]
With the excitement of the Golden Eagle Festival over, we were quickly brought back to reality and the fact that The Turtle V had a serious suspension problem. The good news was that repair parts from Hellwig Products in Visalia, CA were waiting to be sent. The bad news was that there was nothing remotely like […]
