Hiking in SK!

The geography of SK is pretty mountainous and South Koreans love hiking so much that they’re married to it. But seriously, the hiking here is really popular and South Koreans are the best dressed hikers you will ever see. They all look like ninjas powering to the top with their expert hiking gear. Most are really friendly and they all like to chuckle when they see an American hiking in tennis shoes and a long-sleeved tshirt. This picture to the right is the view of Seoul from the top of Suraksan.

I've been up three mountains now, one is called 송리산 (Songnisan) and is about 2 hours outside of Seoul by bus; and the second is 술락산 (Suraksan) and located in Seoul about an hour away from me on the subway; and the third is 도봉산 (Dobongsan) which is in 북한산 (Bukhansan) National Park right next to Suraksan and you can read about Dobongsan in the next blog post.

A big group of us went to Songnisan from Cheongju the night before we hiked it. This was a few weeks ago I think. It’s in a different province about two and a half hours out of Seoul. We took a bus into the little village at the base of the mountain and found a nice little minbok to spend the night in. A minbok is comparable to a hostel in that it's extremely affordable, but it's basically just an extra room in someone's house. We ventured off the beaten path and wandered around until we found it. I think I was spoiled in my first minbok experience because I'm pretty sure this was the most clutch* minbok ever. It was a big room with a heated floor, two huge wardrobes full of blankets and pillows (no beds, so we all slept on the floor), a TV and a VCR which I wasn't sure still existed after 1998 and more than an ample amount of terrible American VHS tapes with Korean subtitles. If memory serves, a couple of the treasures were Sister Act II and Roadhouse with the Swayze.**

Sunday morning, we woke up at the crack of noon and began the journey. The walk up the to where the hike starts was interesting. I saw lots of families, people selling hiking gear on the side of the street, street food vendors and lots of kids running up to us yelling "Hi! Bye!" which I've now grown pretty accustomed to. It's now really unusual if that doesn't happen to me in public. The best part of it was simply the fact that I wasn’t surrounded by pavement, concrete, neon lights and people trying to sell me a cell phone. There were actual trees! Grass! Granted, it’s too early for there to be any significant growth, but seeing dead trees and grass was enough to give my spring-loving hope a kick in the ribs. At the base of the mountain is a famous Buddhist temple called 법주사 (Beopjusa) and many people come here to pray. This picture of the big golden statue is part of Beopjusa at the base of the mountain. The statue is gilded with 80 kilograms of gold. The atmosphere at the base of the mountain was very solemn and respectful. However, once we started the hike, I witnessed quite the egregious 180-degree turn.

The hike itself starts about a mile or so from the village at the base and I'm not even going to try to sugarcoat how it went: Meg. Got. Her. Butt. Kicked. Big time. Our group was four guys and two girls and the two girls were quickly abandoned behind. I was more than exhausted when we made it all the way up. I think it took us about 2 and a half hours to reach the top, but ooohhhh boy, once we did, it was absolutely breathtaking. I think I took about a zillion pictures; I've posted a few of the better ones here. This picture is of my friend Chris buying our tickets.

Now, describing the hikers who we were sharing this beautiful mountain with is going to be fun and herein embodies the aforementioned “180 degree turn.” Think of the tiniest Korean man you've ever seen. Then give him some tiny Korean friends. Put them in black ninja gear and give them backpacks about 10 inches taller than their heads, huge hiking boots, rosy cheeks and then feed them lots of alcohol. That's your average fellow hiker on these mountains. Evidently, it's pretty normal to go hiking with one or two buddies and once you reach the top, you share a few (read: 17) bottles of soju. For all of you curious readers, soju is Korea's interpretation of vodka. It is weaker and tastes a lot smoother than actual vodka, but makes you feel like death the next day. To everyone reading this who I call Mom and Dad: this information does not come from personal experience. I hear tell of this mystical beverage but have yet to partake, so rest easy.***

Thus concludes the part about Songnisan and we move on to Suraksan.

Suraksan is a mountain located in Seoul, quite a bit north of me. I met up with Sarah and Phil and we took the subway to the base of the mountain. This one wasn’t nearly as steep as Songnisan so Meg did not get her butt kicked. It was a beautiful day, just a bit chilly. About three quarters of the way up the mountain there was a woman selling popsicles from a cooler and I may or may not have professed my undying love to her. I told her that we would be back after making it to the top and that she’d be giving us our victory popsicles, of which I’m sure she understood diddly-squat. Suraksan is near the northern edge of Seoul, so there was only so much I could see through the pollution. Nonetheless, a pretty remarkable view of the city.
Captions for these three photos:
The first was taken from the top of Suraksan and it is a temple that sits atop another peak of Suraksan. The foggy mountain behind that one is Dobongsan, which I hiked with Sarah just this past weekend.
The second is of me and Sarah before we started the hike of Suraksan. And the third is Sarah trying not to fall down the mountain. Pretty much the last 100 meters of Suraksan was just barefaced rock with a rope guardrail to hold on to and pegs hammered into the rock to step on. Not for the Average Joe seeking a leisurely stroll.

It makes me laugh how seriously Koreans take hiking. I mean, they literally all traipse around decked out in the sharpest North Face gear they can find, huge hiking boots, walking poles that look like cross country skiing poles and backpacks full of goodness knows what. Their backpacks are stuffed, but I’ve never seen a Korean with anything but kimbap, water or soju on the mountains. I feel like the best way to describe Koreans is that they’re always dressed as if they are ready for a spy photographer to pop out of the shadows and just start snapping away. Decked out head to toe on the street is one thing, but even when they’re exercising, they just look dapper as ever. This explains why they look at me and just think I look as silly as a baby holding a newspaper.

* Clutch - used to describe situations that have the potential to completely disintegrate but somehow become exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. For example, one might overhear during football season: "We snuck in 14 bags of marshmallows and just when everything started flying, this usher comes over and puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Excuse me, young lady." I turned to see what he wanted. "You dropped this," he said as he handed me a bag that had dropped out of my sweatshirt. Totally clutch." (Also, to the ones I call Mom and Dad, not a personal experience. People talk. I hear things.)
**Patrick Swayze, nicknamed “The Swayze,” (pronounced “sways.”)
*** wink! But really, it’s a death sentence.