Wait...what do you mean THATS the top??

After spending all week debating whether or not we should go, Tina and I packed our bags and headed to Korea's favorite national park, Seoraksan. Seoraksan is KOrea's 3rd highest mountain, and let me tell you, you know it. Its part of the Taebeack range, one of the most important ranges in all of Kland. After a 3 hour bus ride we ate lunch. Tina and I walked around trying to find a place to buy Magkoli (my favorite refreshing beverage) to quench our thirst at the top of the moutnain of Doom. As we were broadcasting our needs, a boy claimed that he had an EXTRA bottle, cause he is just that wise, and we became buddies.
We got to the mountain and treked around for a while, and it was fairly easy. I mean, some uphill, but we're thinkin' we can take it and are beasting around.We get to some famous rock that rocks back and forth but you can't push off the cliff. Its a little over rated. Heundeulbawi seems silly, and we did try to push it, to no avail.
Push EP Pussssh!
After that we started our climb to the summit. It didn't look that far and my cocky ass was sure we got it. I didn't realize that there was between 800 and 900 steps at a 80 degree angle to climb. Try doing that with a broken hand! Once we got to the top we enjoyed our Maekgoli and sat among the mist making new friends and taking pictures. It was beautiful and worth the effort. We had some fun up on the top and generally just chit chatted, made poor decisions about barriers before scaling back down. IN Korea, going down is almost as difficult as going up, just not as steep. But we made it to the bottom triumphantly. We spent the night with our new friends drinking and relaxing in a hot pool.
Top of the mountain
The next morning we woke up early for a "Not so hard but Long hike" This was a LIE. It was 7 km, the first 1.5 was straight uphill. KILLER. AND SPIDEY FELL OFF THE TOP. It was tragic (I have since gotten a new one, but c'mon, that was the ORIGIONAL SPIDERMAN!) The rest of the hike was amazing though. We hiked through valleys that were absolutly beautiful. This area (the Oesak valleys) is probably the prettiest thing I've seen or done in Korea. The rock formations and the trickling streams were awesome. It was a beautiful trek on a beautiful day, and made me realize how much I love natural beauty.
Valleys
We ended our trip by laying in the sun and just relaxing. I have never been so sore after 2 days of hard core hiking! I understand why Koreans believe this is the most beautiful place in the country, because it may be.
Tina, me and our new badass friend Fiona in the valley

I loved Seoraksan, and am so happy to have done this!
On the Next Editions:
Zoo animals,
September 5th

Patience, Faith and Calves of STEAL,
ErinJ

And you see now, the korean in their natural environment.

So this weekend I went on a merry adventure down south to Jeollanam-do, a different province in Korea to get some adventure.
It started early, as it almost always does on Saturday, where we met up with the group (theres an excellent tour group that does trips through Korea) and started our 4 hour trek down south. Traveling so much has taught me that transportation is so much easier if you just sleep through it, so I did.
We got to Gangcheonsan (San means mountain) and started trekking. The first hour or so was really easy, just enjoying some nature, and a suspension bridge.
it was actually a little scary
we walked around, climbed some stairs to the top of a dam, enjoyed some views, and started the trek up. I guess the hike was only 40 minutes straight up (600 meters) but it felt like so much longer. I was, however, able to make it to the top with the first group, and without stopping which is a HUGE accomplishment for me.
The top was actually pretty cool. There was an old fortress wall that seemed to wrap around the top of the mountain, and you could follow from one side around.
See? wall. Neato.
So we did, and when we got to the end rested a little waiting for the rest of the group, and chatted with other hikers that beasted up the mountain, and took heaps of pictures before it was time to head down.

Lookie me!

view from mountain tops.
we took a seemingly endless path all the way down, but lead to some beautiful views, especially cherry blossom trees, and a fortress of sorts. I spent a long time trying to get pretty pictures but there was too many people, which was frusturating. But thats okay.



We finally got to the bottom, where some people went into the spa, but in korea, spa means (Sit naked at koreans staring at you) so I opted to reward myself with a beer instead. It worked out.
We went to a small town called Damyang to eat some galbi, which was different than what I've had here. I'm not sure if it was better, but it wasn't bad. We went back to our hotel (Hotel BOOM) where we were assigned roomates. We then just lurked this town (read:strip of 4 stores at the base of a mountain) where we hung out with some kickass people doing some light drinking before we called it an early night.

the next morning we got up, walked around a tad before getting on the bus to go to Hampyeong for the Butterfly festival. We got there and mad papparozzi followed the foreigners, which was weird. We went to a greenhouse to go look at butterflies, which was pretty. I really think Butterflies are neat.


We then made our way to a pen where we chased around chicken and rabbits trying to catch them. You know, EP from the BOZ had to give everybody (by everybody I mean immediate bystanders) chicken catching lessons since my technique is solid. It was so funny. I did get a bag of special rice for pouncing on foul and winning their game. So funny.
Chickenns
we then cruised around the park, had a KID PUT A MUDFISH IN MY FACE. A. MUDFISH. Cause he wanted to get a picture with spiderman. NASTY. got our face painted, hung out.
Lindsay would have kicked his ass
I was able to order lunch for 7 people in Korean and fight with somebody when they tried to overcharge us. I guess I never write about struggling with the language but its hard. Even being immersed in it, I just am not picking it up. So this was a huge victory on the EP front.

New Friends

We then got ice cream cones, boarded the bus, and drove back home where I chatted with my new friends and slept, and realized after a rough week, that Life really is beautiful, I am so fortunate to be able to live such an unorthodox life style,that I really do enjoy. So hopefully this is the return of the Erin you know and love :)
Patience and Faith,
erinj