Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: Seoraksan

So this weekend Stephanie (my friend from HS who is also teaching in Korea this year) and I decided to make the trip to Mt. Seorak -- it is the hardest mountain to climb in all of Korea. Unfortunately, it's clear in the other corner of Korea for me. This meant that I left immediately after I finished class on Friday at 1pm, headed back to Suncheon directly to the bus terminal, and caught the 1:40 bus to Seoul. I heard the bus ride was 5 hours, but then my host family told me it was only 4! Too bad they got my hopes up, because I got stuck in Seoul traffic pretty bad and didn't end up getting in until 7:00 or so. Stephanie also was stuck in traffic and got there after me. Well, Seoul's Gangnam bus terminal is pretty crazy! It turns out there are 3 different bus lines (so like 3 different bus terminals practically) and a subway station all rolled into one! I came in on a different bus line than the bus we had to take to Sokcho. I asked someone for help, and lucked out big time! I asked a mid-20's looking guy for help -- always better luck with people in this age range as far as English abilities go. It turns out he had done is mandatory military service with US troops, so his English was amazing! He took me all the way to the other bus line (which was pretty complicated to find) and we just talked for about 25 minutes while I was waiting for Steph to get in. He also lives in Seoul and offered to show me around when my parents visit next month!

Anyhoo, we couldn't get a bus to Sokcho until 9pm, and it was a 4 hour ride there, so we got in pretty late. Also, our bus was full of foreigners! I was appalled at their behavior. They were drinking wine on the bus and got really loud and rowdy! They were also using horrible language. I guess I'm just not used to being around foreigners, and when I am, it's usually other people in my program, and since we're "cultural ambassadors" we try to act decent in public! Not to say we are saints, but come on. Anyway, I had made a reservation at a "love motel" near the bus station (these are cheaper and usually have crazy "romantic" things in the rooms -- Stephanie told me one she stayed at had pictures of sperm on the comforter. Yikes!) Ours was pretty normal, and for 40,000 won a night, split between us, it was fantastic! It was really warm inside (so warm we had to open a window to sleep actually) and the bed was comfortable. There was even a fridge/tv/towels/etc! I was shocked.

Saturday morning we planned to get up at 6 to catch the first bus from Sokcho to Osaek at 6:45, where you hike up the mountain. Well, our alarm went off and to our great disappointment it was RAINING!! GAH!!! So, we went back to bed for a bit longer, thinking we'd catch the 7:45 bus. Still RAINING! We finally got on the 8:10 bus and said what the hell. It wasn't pouring out, but it was very cloudy and looked like it'd last all day. We got to Osaek, and were literally dropped off along the side of the highway near a small convenience store. The store was closed, the info booth was closed. Yes it was bad hiking weather, but we were still shocked by this. Anyway, we headed up the road towards the trail. We stopped in this little hut at the entrance to the trail, thinking we had to pay a small entrance fee. Turns out we didn't have to, but the park rangers told us that it was "impossible" for us to hike today. WHAT? We explained that we came a long way to hike and so we weren't going to let the rain stop us. Pretty much they thought we couldn't handle it bc we weren't decked out in all the Korean hiking gear -- they are ALL ABOUT THE GEAR HERE! It's crazy. For Koreans to be able to hike, they have to have the poles, the boots, the rainproof pants, the rain proof coats, the huge pack, and gloves, etc etc. Since we didn't have the rainproof stuff or the hiking poles, it would be "impossible" for us. They really weren't going to let us go up the trail. Finally I said "we'll just go a little way" and that worked for them. We thought we might try to go all the way to the top and stay at a shelter there over night, and then come back down the next morning.

The leaves were beautiful despite the clouds and rain. The mountain also wasn't very busy at all. The rocks, however, were pretty slippery! The first kilometer was pretty brutal -- stone steps that went straight up ON AND ON! The whole first kilometer! It was brutal and a great cardio workout!

We ended up deciding to turn around at the halfway point as the rain was turning to snow and we heard from everyone we passed that was coming back down that there was a TON of snow up top of the mountain. With the cold and the rain and the snow, we decided it'd be safest to turn back. The rocks were pretty slippery and we didn't think we'd want to go all the way to the top with the snow anyway. Coming back down was tough, but in a different way. Going up was all cardio workout, coming down was all leg strength work out. Our legs started trembling because they were so tired! And we were both nervous about slipping on the rocks. Actually, we each slipped pretty big time on the way down once. I caught myself with my hands and it jolted my shoulders -- I feel it in my muscles today.

Anyway, we made it to the bottom and found a restaurant for lunch. I got bibimbap and Steph got some meat stew. It was nice and warm! But we realized how soaked our outer layers were and how cold the air was! Then the bus schedule had told us that there was a bus leaving at 3:05, so we planned to take that one. Turns out, though, that the bus wasn't until 3:35. So we were waiting in the little convenience store/bus terminal for quite awhile. At 3:30 we went out to stand by the highway with other people waiting for the same bus, and we waited, and waited....., and WAITED. Neither of us had watches on and were too cold to dig our cell phones out of our bags, but we were pretty sure we had been waiting longer than 5 minutes. Anyway, after quite awhile one of the other girls went in to the convenience store/bus terminal to ask the lady what the dealio was. By this time it was 4pm! And she said the bus wasn't going to come until 4:35 now!! I guess they just didn't send the 3:30 bus or something! We were FREEZING standing outside by this time and did not want to wait for ANOTHER half hour. We ended up catching a cab back to Sokcho with 2 Korean girls about our age. With the four of us, it was actually cheaper than taking the bus back to Sokcho then the taxi to our hotel, since it dropped us off right at our hotel!! How convenient!!! :-D

We thanked God that the hotel was super hot and it warmed us right up! We changed out of our damp clothes, each took really hot showers, and layed down to watch some quality Discovery Channel on the TV. Pretty soon we had both dozed off. At 6:30 we dragged ourselves out of bed and went to E-Mart for a little shopping. We bought matching green marshmallow vests (couples vests!!) and I bought a shirt for work. Then we headed off to get some fried chicken for dinner and ice cream for dessert, then back to the room for some more Discovery Channel and a movie that looked like a precursor to "The Day After Tomorrow" with hillariously bad acting and bad special effects. We dozed off around 10pm.

Our plan for Sunday was to get up and watch the sunrise on the beach, looking over the East Sea. Well, what do you know, when we got up at 6 on Sunday, it wasn't raining, but it was still super cloudy!!! We headed out to the beach after sleeping a bit longer and took some pictures and took a stroll along the beach, but didn't get to see the sun at all because of the clouds. We hopped on an early bus back to Seoul, as we were told Sunday traffic back into Seoul was horrible and the bus ride from Sokcho usually took 6 or 7 hours!! Well, we were smart in taking an early bus, because we made it back to Seoul in just under 4, so we must have beat all the traffic. We had Pizza Hut for lunch in the bus station, then parted ways.

I caught the 12:20 bus back from Seoul. I met 2 Canadian teachers living in Suncheon, and exchanged info with them, so hopefully I can get in on some of the foreigner get togethers in Suncheon now!! I guess they have book exchanges every other week or so and are planning a Christmas potluck!!! Yay! They seemed pretty normal too, so I hope that I get in on the loop. I dozed, finished my book, and enjoyed the scenery on the way home, and got back to my apartment around 5pm. My host family was still gone hiking and didn't get back until 6:45pm. It was nice to have some quiet alone time. I spent the rest of the night watching the latest Grey's episode, uploading pictures, and talking with Ike. I was hoping to find High School Musical 3 online, and while I found a link that worked, the quality was so bad that I decided to wait till I find a decent video.

Anyway, now time for bed -- gotta get some rest for a week of work!!