This week was one filled with many funny encounters with little kids but thankfully, we got some much needed rest on Saturday evening. The two Americans and 3 South Africans who work at Gwangju English Village were so worn out and wasted from the long day of teaching that all of us were joking about the need for a brew. Our Korean coworkers must've been reading our minds because we were surprised with an awesome cake, beer, and champagne to celebrate Teacher's Day (picture forthcoming).
I was so tired that I struggled through eating the equivalent of a piece of cake. The Kiwi was awesome though. Anyway, we spent our Saturday night getting some well-deserved rest. After a lengthy sleep, Christina and I awoke and debated our plans for the weekend. I had a vision of traveling to Seoul and maybe satisfying my need to touch millions of electronics at Techno Mart. After a moment, I realized that a trip to Seoul might need a few minutes of planning. Christina said "abracadabra!" and a moment of religious awakening occurred. We decided to hike at the biggest of Gwangju's mountains, Mt. Mudeung.
After breakfast at The First Alleyway, we took a bus at 11:30 to the area where everyone prepares to hike. There are many trails one can take and we decided to hike to Sae In Bong which was about a 3 or 4 kilometer (1 or 2 miles) walk and 648 meters (2125 Feet) high. So we began our trek but first had to buy some proper hiking gear. Actually, Christina and I just bought a windbreaker to fit in with the locals.
When reading travel books preparing for the trip to Korea, I sensed exaggeration but was wrong. Koreans really have to LOOK like they are hiking and have to dress appropriately. They buy hiking jackets and hiking pants. I saw women wearing multiple hiking scarves in an effort to completely block the sun and men wearing hiking hats. Of course, everyone knows that you have to wear hiking boots! However, I learned that boots will be essential to hiking because my adidas running shoes didn't really cut it amongst the many rocks that we walked over.
Anyway, we began our adventure at noon and took in some of the local scenery.
This is a group of people washing their feet after hiking. The first part of the hike felt like any normal walk we take everyday. There was a bit of an incline but nothing too noticeable. The stream to our right was truly an indicator that today was going to be nature-intensive.
Even though Gwangju has 1.6 million people living here, it doesn't feel like it in our part of town. We live in a quiet part of the city called Pungam. The city still has that feel of a beehive that never stops moving so getting out to Mt. Mudeung was obviously refreshing. We continued walking.
We came to our first tough stretch at about 100 meters. After our first really steep incline, we came to this large set of stairs. Earlier in the day, the nice man at First Alleyway told us that much of the hiking trails only recently had these protective ropes installed to help hikers along the way. Thankfully, we just arrived here a little over a month ago and didn't have the experience of traveling without protection.
Christina and I kept pushing on and forced ourselves to keep moving.
It grew tougher but we reached the top!
Uh.... Or did we??? Oh god, why? We didn't reach the top! Did that mean that we had to keep moving??? We kept moving.
This time we were at the top of Sae In Bong. I sat down and looked around without speaking. Staring into nothing occupied my time while Christina sat near the edge and stared out into the vast mountain range here. Sae In Bong might not have been the highest a human has traveled but I can understand why monks climb mountains and meditate.
Two friends smoking cigarettes and having a drink on a rock at the top.
An old man was sitting behind me having his moment of meditation. So beautiful! This truly is what I want to do now, forever, yesterday! I loved this moment.
Unfortunately, what goes up must come down. And you know what, why did it have to be so damn rocky at the start? This is why Koreans buy hiking boots, I thought. It took us roughly 1 1/2 hours to get up to the top and we spent about an hour at the top just taking it all in thinking about everything in the world.
To get down, seemed like a race. At other times, we were carefully traversing winding and narrow staircases to reach the bottom.
Location:Chungjang-dong,Gwangju,South Korea
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