lyoung88
My fiance and I are teachers in South Korea, so during a summer vacation, we decided to get away from the cities and spend some time in Danyang. Danyang is situated in the mountains, in the North-Central part of South Korea. The bus ride alone inspires "ooohs" and "ahhhs" on the way there as you can see some amazing lake views. ||||Once in Danyang, we chose to stay at a Love Motel called "The Opera House" - it is easy enough to find: while leaving the bus station, take a left and walk along the street that overlooks the river. The Opera House has a huge white facade on the front, with greek/roman-type statue replicas. For those of you not familiar with Love Motels, that may be something else to look into online, but suffice it to say that love motels are a very economical hotels that can sometimes be 'hit' or 'miss' - we were lucky with The Opera House...though the lobby contained pictures of naked ladies under blacklight (ugh!), our room was very clean. There were no dirty surprises here (as I can assure you, we have found at other hotels). The price was reasonable - I think it was about 60,000 won on the weeknight and then increased to 75,000 won on the holiday weekend. We were not opposed to paying, though, since the staff was friendly, we had internet, cable TV, hot water in the bathroom, and an in-room refrigerator - not to mention, there was a karaoke room downstairs, too, which was very convenient for walking home after some drinks! We had also stopped at several other nearby motels and found that this one was cheaper than the others during the holiday week.||||Danyang is a quiet city, so if you enjoy nature and want an out-of-the-way vacation spot, with cheap things to do, it is very nice. We enjoyed our time here very much. Some highlights included a trip to Gosu Cave (interesting walking tour - lots of stairs - beautiful cave formations and an opportunity to get your picture taken by a professional photographer in the cave!), an outdoor lunch on a table situated in the middle of a stream, souvenir shopping, a ferry boat ride, a singing karaoke fountain, and a trip to a Buddhist Temple (Guin-sa) in the mountains (lots of stairs, but very cool - also if you get there between 12:00 and 1:00 you can get a free vegetarian lunch, including some of the best kimchi I've had in Korea). ||||Danyang does not have a lot of English speakers, though the buses were easy to navigate if you can read Korean or have a tourist map on hand to point out locations. Taxis are sparse, but available. There wasn't much of a 'night life' to speak of, but walking along the river at night was romantic and pretty. The bridge is lit up at night and the geraniums are very pretty. There is also a massive garlic market and extremely cheap watermelons - the pride of Danyang farmers. Overall, this was the perfect vacation for two expats who wanted to see some natural beauty in Korea, without all the hustle and bustle of the big cities. The people were kind and helpful and we found plenty to do in the three days we were there. It was also very economical!
