So I've realized I've been doing too much reading and have been neglecting writing on here so here I am updating fully a month since my last update.
I was actually frightened into writing this post. This weekend my camera and I were dearly reunited-- my camera, the sweetheart I thought I'd never see again; myself, the neglectful one who dropped said sweetheart into the laptop section of his backpack.
Jirisan
So in the past month I've gone with friends from HongSeong to two different mountains and had a most excellent time. The first mountain was Jirisan in the south. We went there to see the fall colors. We actually took a path through a valley for that very purpose.
It was rather beautiful. Some people in the group were looking for the whole place to be red leaves but I think the variety in colors made it even better. I got a bandana out of it too! There were signs everywhere about Moon Bears. The group I was with was hoping we wouldn't run into one. Me, I actually wanted to see one. For the sake of the story I'm going to say we did.
And to further the story, I fought it to the death
with a sharpened spork. I won't say who won though.
The next day we visited a Buddhist temple which was quite interesting. There was an exhibition on at the time as well so we got to see some cool paintings and figures from... I want to say Tibet.
Would've bought one too, if it weren't a month's salary!
We also saw the most Zen dog ever. Usually dogs here in Korea have the cheery demeanor of someone who would gladly separate you from your throat if you'd just let them off their chain... or just stand... a little closer... Come on...! This dog just sat there looking at us like the most chill dog ever. Not hoping for someone to pet him, not wanting to kill someone... just at peace.
I mean, if that doesn't say "One With the Universe," what does?
Seoraksan
Two weekends later we went to Seoraksan in the Gangwon province. THAT was fun... and terrifying. Fun and terrifying. ...and tiring. We began the day with breakfast-- where rather than telling the lady at the counter that the food was delicious, I used the phrase that means "I don't know." Very confused look ensued.
Then we took a cable car up to Gwongeumseong -- in the cable car I think they were playing Christina Aguilera circa 2000 or something.
The car took us the majority of the way up but the last bit was a beast to climb... a steep climb with no rails or anything...
Great for my acrophobia...
...and this sign halfway up reminded me of the distinct
possibility of me losing my balance and tumbling to my death.
Next we went up Ulsanbawi which was also an adventure. We saw a Buddhist shrine carved into a cave halfway up...
and an enormous rock called Heundelbawi which can be rocked but never rolled. (Khalid and I could hardly get the thing to budge!)
After about two hours of climbing, we managed to make it halfway. The second half is faster-- if you can get over the fact that you're climbing the staircase from Hell that is. (800+ steps)
But in the end getting to the top of both of those mountains was pretty epic and well worth the climb.
At the top of Gwongeumseong...
...and at the top of Ulsanbawi
In summation, hiking in Korea is friggin' awesome. And now, since you read all about my clambering up various rock formations, I will now post some of the weird and funny crap I saw on these trips.
Thank God-- now I know where to pak!
Take THAT, Grandma!
Creepy shut-down carnival ride...
Hmm... I'm not so sure about THAT flavor...
...and last but not least...
Ohhhh THAT'S where they go!
Thank you very much for reading-- now let's see if I can pull off a 6am trip to the gym tomorrow now that it's 11:50pm.
Goodnight, my freaky darlings!
