Seoraksan National Park

Yesterday (Saturday October 24th) I hiked what may have been the most difficult hike of my life. Now, that's not saying much considering I am not, nor have I ever been, much of a hiker so my repertoire of hikes is not long. Of those that I have done, however, this hike kicked it 10-fold.

Let me start from the beginning:

The hike was organized by a Korean man named Warren who has a Facebook hiking group and takes anyone who wants to hike (though mostly foreigners) on trips throughout Korea. The trip cost me about w35,000 which included a chartered bus to and from Seoul (Yongsan Station) and admission into the park.

I met the group at 11:30pm in Seoul. I got to the bus at the nick of time and still lucked out on a window seat. :) I sat next to a girl named Lisella who is from South Africa. In the seat across the isle were 2 other girls from South Africa as well. As I mentioned before, there are lots of people from South Africa teaching English here. It makes me want to learn more about the country because truth be told, even though one of my best college friends is from South Africa, I still know very little about the current state of the country.

But I digress.

The ride to Seoraksan National Park was about 3.5 hours depending on traffic, but since it was the middle of the night we got there a bit early. It was about 3:15am when we arrived. I took a 1-hour nap before I left for the subway to Seoul and got a terrible 2 hours of sleep on the bus. So I was running on about 3 hours of not so adequate sleep.

We hiked from 3:30am with a goal of hitting a certain point in order to see the sunrise. It was a great plan but it went awry. There were about 40 people hiking in this group (more than normal, I believe) and it was hard for the group leader, Warren, to keep track of everyone. He should have stopped at the sunrise overlook spot, but he didn't. He just kept on walking. And so we all just kept on walking. We ended up walking waaaaaay further than we needed to. And it was hard. Really, really hard. Each step up was a stair made of rock and it was ridiculously steep. Many times I was bent over on my hands practically crawling my way up the mountain. And this went on for 2.5 hours until 6am when the sun came up.

Well, since we were past the Sunrise Point we didn't get to literally see the sunrise come up, but it was cloudy and foggy and we wouldn't have seen the sunrise regardless. Instead my hiking group and I propped ourself up onto a rock that over looked the valley and took the views in for a long time.

Let me take a second to explain my hiking group. As I mentioned before there were 40 people in the group all together. So we all branched out into smaller groups of about 5. I ended up joining up with 2 sets of couples who knew each other because they all teach at the same private school. That made 5. Before we even entered the gates to Seoraksan I started talking to this other couple from the Missouri that were not in a group yet. I told them to join ours and so they did. My hiking group was perfect for me. They were all around my age and all my same hiking ability. Actually, I was surprisingly one of the better hikers of the group! Who'd have thought?! They were all fans of taking it slow and steady with lots of breaks to rest and sip some water. They were all smart, well-educated, and very friendly. Just completely perfect for me. Sometimes I felt like a fish out of water as I was hiking with 3 married couples and but they were all understanding of me and my situation.

Ok, so back to the hike:

Here I am at the peak of the mountain. Some people hiked all the way around to those far ridges, but we decided not to. A fine choice.

After a breakfast break it was time to head back down the mountain. It was a little tough on the knees and I rolled my ankles more times than I dare count, but it was much easier to descend the mountain. The other nice thing about the descent was that it was daytime and whereas we started the hike in the dark with nothing more to see than the extent of our flashlights, the daylight proved to have breathtakingly stunning views. We couldn't help but smile at the splendor of the Autumn leaves and the sheer cliffs around us.

The Descent

The leaves in all its full glory!

Here I am amongst the pretty leaves.

These are the rocks we had to climb up.

View from mid-mountain across the valley

Obscured by Leaves

Try as I may, my camera can not demonstrate how stunning the view really was.

Finally we made it back down to the base of the mountain. I had heard that Koreans like to hike but I was not prepared for how many people there really were. And I guess that as the day goes on more and more people show up. We were lucky to have hiked in the wee hours of the morning when the trails were less packed.

Later on it looked like this:

Back at the base were saw many things that were hidden by the darkness of night.

Here I am with my hiking partner Leslie

Finally we made it to the very start of the park. In the dark we could see the buddha but had no idea it was so massively cool.

Just to show a little perspective. Buddha in front, and the mountain we climbed in the background at the left. There is Cynthia in the front, another one of my hiking partners. The dude in purple was also on the bus with us, but he didn't hike in my group.

Huzzah!

Finally, at about 11pm Saturday evening I was back in my apartment in Suwon. After a much-needed shower, I fell asleep and slept soundly for 10 hours straight. And then again for 2 more hours after that. :)

On my way, so it seems

After I had a completely and utterly uneventful weekend I resolved to make some changes.

The first thing I did was join the Seoul Hiking Group (on Facebook). I also joined the Seoul Travel & Culture group on Meet-Up. And this weekend I have booked and paid for my first group hike to Seoraksan Natational Park which is supposed to be absolutely stunning this time of year due to the Autumn colors. I will leave Friday at midnight, take a 4-hour bus ride and start hiking in darkness to see the sunrise. We come back Saturday evening.

I also resolved to start really working on my book and documentary, both of which are still just ideas right now, but have major potential to be something amazing.

When I get my next paycheck on the 25th of the month (just a few days from now) I will march myself over to the Welfare Center (think "well-being" or a YMCA) and sign up for the gym. I will also look into 1. Korean language classes, 2. art classes, and 3. Korean cooking classes.

I have a LOT of free time on my hands now, much more than I used to when I was juggling grad school and three part-time jobs. I can--and will--make something of my time here.

a little venting is healthy, right?

Sometimes I feel like there is nothing to do here. I suppose I have this notion that since I am in a foreign country I should spend every waking moment filled with an exciting new adventure. This, I guess, is the difference between traveling and living. When you travel you do spend all your time seizing the moment and ensuring that you max your time. But when you are just living there are many slow moments.

This weekend I didn't do anything at all. I didn't go out on Friday or Saturday night. My highlight on Saturday was going to Suwon station to buy makeup and nail polish remover. I have spent over an hour flipping through my Seoul guidebook and online Seoul guides to find something to do. Sure there are museums, but eh. Sure there are temples, but see one you've seen them all. And I've seen way more than one. I considered going to a movie theater but there isn't really anything I want to see.

So I waste time on the internet, read a bit, listen to NPR podcasts, sleep, and just wait until it is finally the Monday so I have something to do again. Funny how most people pray for the weekend, and all I want is the weekday.

Class in Session

I have perhaps the nicest classroom in the entire school.

This is what I see as I sit at my desk.

Those are computers at the back-left, but no one ever uses them.

This is the front of the classroom.

That big screen right there is a Touch Screen. It copies what is on my computer and displays it on the screen. I can then touch the screen and open documents and use the CD-ROM that all of our lessons are on. Because the classroom has internet, we also watch a lot of YouTube videos (educational of course) in class.

This is my desk. See, it's the same image as the photo above. The other desk there is Eunju's. Her computer does not connect to the touch screen.

(I am a hardcore instant coffee drinker and require two reusable mugs)

We recycle in our classroom.

Actually, I'm not sure how well the recycling is sorted. Either Koreans are way more advanced than us in the United States or else they are just very confused and recycle anything possible. I have seen plastic knives and plastic cups in the plastic section. This, to my knowledge, is not recyclable. Neither are paper napkins which I have also seen in the paper section.

My workday is from 8:40am - 4:40pm but I usually get to school at 8:20am. I like to get in a bit early and settle my mind and do a little last-minute class prep. Homeroom starts at 8:30 for the kids, and 1st period starts at 9am. School ends for the kids at 2:30.

Each class is 40 minutes long with a 10 minute break in between classes.

Lunch is served after 4th period at 12:10pm and lasts until 12:50pm. 5th period begins at 1:00pm. There is a 6th period but I never teach during that time. It's supposed to be my prep and planning time but it tends to be my email/Facebook time.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I teach 1st, 2nd, 3, 4th, and 5th period.

On Wednesday I teach 1st, 3rd, and 4th period. (No class 2nd, 5th, or 6th)

On Friday I teach 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods.

During 6th period on Fridays some students go to English Movie class. That means they get to watch English movies as a class. I'm not sure if it's really an after-school choice or what. Right now we are watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but it's the old version so it's not 1/2 as cool or exciting as it could be.

It's a pretty sweet deal.

Dynamic Busan

Last Monday (um, I'm a bit behind on my blogging so I'm referring to Monday October 5th) I went to Busan to spend the day and explore.

Some background:

Busan is the once place in South Korea that I have already visited. Back in the summer of 2004 when I did Semester at Sea we traveled all around Asia including a short stop in Busan, South Korea. I loved my experience there and it was much of the reason I am here today.

Background part 2:

Many cities in Korea have these brand names/nicknames attached to them. Suwon, for example, is "Happy Suwon" and there are signs everywhere that say Happy Suwon. Personally, I like that I live in the "happy" city. There is also Hi Seoul, Colorful Daegu, Fly Incheon, and Dynamic Busan. There is some controversy about why these cities have these names attached to them and the accuracy of them all. Is Suwon really any happier than Busan? Is Deagu really anymore colorful than the rest?

When I arrived in Busan I went straight to the tourist information center in the train station for an English map. On the map it says that you can do a city bus tour for only w10,000. I thought that would be fun and a good idea until I realized that all the stops on the tour were basically on the one subway route. True I would be underground instead of beneath it but eh. I bought at w3,500 day-pass and set sail for my own version of the Busan Bus Tour.

The first stop was the fish market. It was 10am and I knew that the best action was early in the morning at about 6am but I figured it would still be worth going and checking out. It was practically closed by 10am so now I know to go earlier or not at all.

I found the baby octopus quite disturbing.

I wandered a bit more around that area and then by noon I was ready for lunch. On the map there was an area called "Food Alley" and I thought that if there was anywhere in the city I should eat, that would be it.

This is Food Alley. Each umbrella is another street food vender.

I chose to eat at this place because there were a decent amount of people inside and the woman out there was making fresh noodles. It's pretty amazing to see them making fresh pasta right in front of you.

The restaurant was a small hole-in-the-wall type place but it was very busy. I took my time eating because as a solo tourist I had to real place to rush off too. I did notice that everyone else was eating really quickly and I felt a little bad for sitting there for longer than the other patrons.

When went to pay for my noodle soup the guy told me that it was w30,000. I stood there in utter disbelief. That's $25! There was no way that my meal was $25. I just stood there dumbfounded trying to figure out what to do. He didn't seem to understand why I wasn't paying either. Another lady came up and handed him a 5-note to which she received w2,000 in change. Ohhhh! It's not w30,000 it is w3,000! The $2.50 is much more like it. Actually, that's a hell of a deal. Normally those things are 5,000 or 6,00o won (between $4.30 and $5.15). I paid and then left.

But oh my! When I left there was a line out the door. I think I picked the best place to eat on all of food alley.

After lunch I went in search of the Ginseng Market which was the next stop on my pseudo subway tour. I couldn't quite tell if I was going in the right direction or not so I asked a random guy who was sitting on the sidewalk smoking a cigarette if I was going the right way. He didn't know so he asked another random set of guys walking towards us. They studied the map for a moment (which was all in English and a bit hard for them to decipher) and then decided that they would help me find the market.

These two men walked about 15-minutes with me in the opposite direction they were heading just so that I could find this market. Koreans will always help you if you are lost and it's so mind-boggling. One guy was really excited to help me find this place, the other looked so pissed at his friend (or possibly co-worker?) for having to show me this marketplace. oops.

Well I made it to the market which was just like all the other Korean markets and there really wasn't even much more ginseng than anywhere else either. Lots of fish and spices of course. I would have bought some ginseng candy if I found it but I didn't. Instead I bought some freshly made sweet red bean thingies that are my favorite.

I also took a picture of this woman:

I think she wanted me to buy her cabbage, but I didn't.

Oh Busan, you are so dynamic.

After that I went to the beach and thereby ended my Faux Official Tour because once you are at the beach it's hard to want to go to the city again. I ended up talking to a guy from Barcelona, Spain because he came up to me and asked if he could sit down. This guy was 31 years old and en route on a year-long trip around the world. He would spend about 2 weeks in Korea and then move on to China. He started in Japan and would end up in the US. He had no real timeline and was just going by the seat of his pants. He was impressed with me being a teacher and I was impressed with his round the world travels. Isn't it funny how we all find different things more impressive/difficult/worthy of admiration?

Blue City Geoje

Because Saturday was the Korean holiday Cheosok (much like our Thanksgiving) we had Friday and Monday off of school. As I mentioned in the last post I spent my Friday at the Korean Folk Village.

On Saturday morning I got up bright and early in order to take the train to Busan. I actually wanted to leave for Geoje (where my step-sister and her husband live and teach English) but all trains were sold out because of the holidays. Thus, the first train that I could take was at 7:10am from Suwon Station.

I left the house at about 6:15am in order to catch a bus to Suwon Station (SS) and arrived at SS at about 6:40am or so. I wasn't sure about busses in the morning and I certainly could not afford to miss my train so I got there extra early.

The train ride from Suwon to Busan is just over 4 hours. When I arrived at Busan Station it was about 11:30am or so. But by the time I got off the train and figured out how to take a ferry to Geoje Island, I had missed the 12:00pm ferry. I had to wait 2 hours until the next one.

The ferry from Busan to Geoje is about 50 minutes long and by the time I got to the island it was almost 3pm.

Yes, that means I had about 9 hours of travel time... But it was worth it. I had a great weekend with my step-sister and her husband and I was glad to get out of town for a few days and explore Korea.

Although naturally I slept for much of my train ride over, I did manage to wake up for the last leg of the trip and see some really amazing sights. The land before you get into Busan is stunning.

Finally I arrived at Nicole and Sam's home in Geoje.

This photo was taken from inside their home.

Once settled in Nicole & Sam's beautiful home, it was time to explore the island. We went for a walk down a wooden platform-path to a lookout point.

(Left) This photo was taken from the walking path. You can see some of the pathway on the left side of the picture.

(Below) Dusk at the viewpoint spot.

That night for dinner we ate this:

I've found that if you stare blankly at the menu long enough the Korean waiter or restaurant owner will come up to you and point to what they think you might like. And then, because you still don't know what it is, you will say yes (in Korean the word is "nay") and then you will either be pleasantly surprised or disappointed in your dinner choice. In this case I think I was content but not totally happy either. I mean, you can just see how spicy that is.

On Sunday we went to the beach. I entertained myself by eating Ramen noodles (Rameon) and doing handstands in the sand.

After the beach we went to the spa for naked hot tubbing and steam room action. Spas in Korea deserves its own post entirely and will be expanded at some point in the future.

That night...

View while standing on a bridge in Geoje Island.

... dinner was not as tasty. That is pork inside a sausage casing.

oh well. win some you lose some when you can't order at the restaurant.

On Monday it was off to work for Nicole and Sam and Busan for me.

Korean Folk Village

On Friday I went to the Korean Folk Village (KFV) in Yongin City which is also in the Suwon area where I live. Although there may have been a more efficient way to get there, I took the directions that were provided in my Lonely Planet guidebook: get to Suwon station and from there take the bus to the KFV. The ride was a lot longer than I expected and took up to an hour.

It costs w12,000 ($10.25 according to today's currency exchange) to get into the KFV for the regular admission price. There are also options to go to the amusement park there but it is for kids and so I didn't choose that.

The Lonely Planet says that you can spend all day at the KFV and you might be able to if you do every single thing there, but the 2 hours that I spent there seemed just right.

More background about the Korean Folk Village:

After the Korean economy boost in the 1960's the government decided that they needed a way to preserve some of their culture. In January of 1972 the KFV was established and by September of 1973 it was officially recognized by the government.

The village was both recreated and reconstructed to act like a model of what traditional Korean life was like years and years ago. Over 30,000 items of daily life have been collected and restored to ensure an accurate depiction of the village. And it's huge! Really really huge! I literally walked around for 2 hours and did not even cover all of the site.

I got there at 4pm so I missed all of the performances of the day but I still had fun walking around and being a tourist taking a million pictures. At the KFV I didn't feel embarrassed or silly taking pictures because all the Korean families were doing the same.

The sun was shining and light was beautiful as it glistened off the river and seeped through the the trees. The weather was a warm 70, dropping down to about 65 when the sun sank below the mountains in the distance.

One cool thing about the village is that there are people doing the traditional crafts and services that they would have done back then. This guy is making a rice candy which I bought for w2,000. They are semi-sweet candies that taste like really hard taffy. Good stuff but kind of difficult to eat.

Old pots.
Red chilies. You can find these same chilies on just about every street corner in Korea. They lay the chilies out to dry like that. Koreans eat a LOT of chili. If you like spicy food Korea is your heaven.
These are Korean totem poles. They used to put them in front of their homes to scare away the evil spirits. I guess that's a worldly tradition.

I mentioned above that chilies are dried on the ground. These other vegetables are hung to dry from the roof of the homes.

Since the KFV is designed for families with children they have interactive things like jumprope. This kid kinda sucked at the jumprope but at least I got an air shot..
I have no idea what kind of flower this is but it sure is neat.
The leaves are just starting to turn colors. It was pretty spectacular.
This is a wall the surrounded the reconstructed traditional Korean home. If you look carefully you can see the moss on the slats of the fence's roof.
The inside of a traditional kitchen.

Outside of a traditional home. This was a rich person's home though.

The river that runs through the KFV.

A lil' boat on the river.
Wind-power. The light was perfect when I took this shot.
Here the light is gloriously shining through t he weeping willows.

**

There are some more photos but eh, I think you get the picture. hah. No pun intended, I swear.