Saturday, April 2 - Sunday, April 3, 2011
After a late night, we woke up Saturday morning to clear skies and a warm temperature; the perfect weather for the hike we had planned for today. We met up with the other seven foreign teachers, packed up some lunch and headed into Bukhansan National Park, which is only about a ten minute walk from our apartment. Bukhansan (="mountains north of the Han River") is the most visited national park in all of South Korea. It's 80km2 coverage contains dense forests, deep valleys, and interestingly-shaped cliffs composed mostly of granite. On our way up Soyosan Mountain, we had lunch on a cliff overlooking Uijungbu, explored some bunkers from the Korean War (super neat) and shook hands with a few Koreans who were quite happy to see and talk ("Hello!" or "I love you!") to a group of waegooks. At the first peak, we stumbled upon a little tent where a little old Korean lady sold food and beverages. Naturally, some of the boys got some beer (because apparently, what else do you do at the top of a mountain?) while others drank makkoli (=a popular rice wine native to Korea) out of a bowl. With our drinks, we got a free snack platter that consisted of some beans, onions, little dried (whole) fish/underwater creature things and some dipping sauce (because you obviously can't eat dried fish without dipping sauce). The highlight of the day (at least for me) was when the little old lady picked up one of the crispy creatures and, babbling in Korean (naturally), stuck it in front of Mike's face to try to get him to eat it. Mike shook his head no, but in his slight disgust, he accidentally said "ne" (=yes) instead of saying "annio" (=no). So, the little old lady took that as a cue to shove the fish into his mouth and he had no choice but to acquiesce. He claims it "wasn't that bad" but the little fish reminded me of a capelin that's been baked in the sun (eww), plus it still had eyes (double eww). After speaking with a Korean man whose English was pretty impressive, we decided to push on to the next peak. A steep climb (in which we took only half-advantage of very loose guard rails/poles and ratty rope) and about 15 minutes later (2 minutes for one of the teachers; I swear he was bitten by some kind of radioactive mountain goat) we made it to the second peak, and were rewarded with the most spectacular views of the day. From here, we could just make out the temple that sits on the mountain's third and highest peak. As tempting as it was to carry on, we wouldn't have had enough daylight to safely make it back down the mountain. All in all, it was a pretty solid day. The sky could've been a bit clearer, but the views were still breathtaking (and very difficult to capture on camera)
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| View of Uijunbu, from where we ate lunch. |
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| I had to throw this one in for Ida =) |
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| One of many bunkers that was used during the Korean War (1950-1953) |
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| Inside one of the bunkers (no standing room here) |
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| Hello bunker...didn't see you there! |
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| Our snack at the 1st peak of Soyasan Mountain: Makkali and dried fish (yummm...?) |
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| Dongducheon City |
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| This flag lets you know you're in South Korea, just in case you forgot |
On Sunday, my body was punishing me for staying up super late Friday night (exposing my lungs to enough second-hand smoke to lose at least a year off of my life-span) and hiking on Saturday, when I probably should've just rested. Mike ventured down to the War Museum in Seoul, but my sore throat and congested everything told me to take it easy. So, I cleaned up the apartment a bit and then played some video games. I cooked dinner for the third time since being in Korea, a grilled cheese sandwich (don't judge, I was sick!), while Mike went out for galbi with a few friends.
Below are some of the photos that Mike took outside of the museum.
In keeping with last point's theme of public transportation, this point has to go to Canada. While I love paying a flat rate of about $2 for a 20 minute cab ride, I do NOT appreciate my cab driver watching TV during said ride. Yep, you read that right. Watching TV. The monitors that I assumed were solely dedicated to a GPS, also function as TV screens. And most of the cab drivers don't watch informative programs (like the news) that they can just listen to while keeping their eyes on the road, but those crazy Asian game shows, that you really need to see in order to know what's going on (and even that doesn't work half the time). Being from a country where it's illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving, it's just a tad bit disconcerting when the person responsible for your life has their eyes glued to a TV (and is Korean and drives like a maniac besides). Chalk one up for Canada!
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| You win this round, Canada! |
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