Bukhansan

Ok, so I couldn’t leave Seoul without at least climbing ONE of the mountains accessible via the subway. I went with Bukhan-san, which is in the northern section of Seoul.

The really great thing about this hike is that I LEFT my 35 pound hiking bag at home!!! I went up with just my poles, a small, normal sized day pack, some food, and water.

This was my first view of what I was going to climb.

Man climbing the side of Bukhansan; now at the top.

The last haul up to the top.

If you look really hard, you can see a couple of rock climbers that look like they are just chilling out on the side of the mountain. It doesn't even look like they have anything attached to them.

Close up.

It was a fairly easy hike, until I got to just within reach of the top. It became much colder and it required the use of both my hands to climb up using the railing and ropes provided. On my way up, I sort of made friends with a fellow named Chris. He was in Korea for a short visit as he was living in Japan, originally to teach English, but was abused by the company (so he quit), and decided to go work on an organic farm instead (still in Japan).

Chris has sprained his wrist somehow and had climbed up with essentially one hand/arm and a journal. We became descending buddies at one point (obviously as we descended) and train buddies until we had to part ways. It was nice to have a conversation in English, as Chris was literally the very first non-Korean person I had encountered through my travels in Korea. It kind of refreshed me.

This woman was sitting right behind Chris.

I loved climbing the mountains in Korea. I look forward to when I can go back and do multi-day hikes when the National Parks are not in national resting period. I think the fall would be a great time. The foliage will be in brilliance of colors, it will be cool, and I think the ideal time to go.

I leave you with this shot of me - content on top of the world.

Boseong

The bus trip from Jindo to Boseong was looooong. It was even loooonger when a drunk older halmoni (grandma) got on the bus and HAD to sit RIGHT next to ME! (despite the bus being basically empty). She smelled and was obnoxious from the start. She smelled of a mix between alcohol and like kimchee, BAD combo.

When she sat down, I had to turn to her and ask, Do you HAVE to sit right there?! There are other seats!! She responded in a temperament that reminded me of children who don’t know any better (but it was clear she was uneducated), how she wanted to sit in the front because she too liked sitting in the front. She repeated it several times, as if I hadn’t heard her the first or second or third time. But she wasn’t upset at me for asking this question, she was just responding with the reason why she sat there, regardless of the fact that this annoyed me. I mean SERIOUSLY, I’m going to BOSEONG; WHO goes to Boseong?!?! I guess I wouldn’t have cared as much, if she didn’t smell.

She dozed off at some point, then literally, ALL OF A SUDDEN she awoke startled, with a jump, and grabbed my left arm. She started saying things like, oh you’re just so pretty, where are you from? She continued with other nonsensical comments. At this point, I was tired, and wasn’t in the mood to be gracious. I just wanted to be left alone and was hoping that she’d get off soon.

This halmoni then started badgering the bus driver about when she was going to arrive at her destination, how much longer it was going to be, etc. When the driver told her how long, she was like, can’t you go any faster, is it really that far? I could go faster on foot, blah blah blah. The driver was like, I can drop you off and you can start walking if you like.

She continued to say things to him, thus annoying the OTHER passengers on the bus. The other passengers on the bus then started to yell back at her to calm down, keep quiet, stop pestering the bus driver, just stay still… asking if she’s been drinking, etc. Much of this reminded me of parents scolding their children.

At first she was like – No, I haven’t been drinking, I’m just having a good time. She shut up for all of 2 seconds, then turned to me and was like… “gi-buhn nuh-moo nah-pah suh, suuhl johk-o-man mah-shu-suh” – English → I was feeling really bad today so I had a little to drink. She then continued to repeat this statement for the next 30 minutes adding emphasis to how bad she was feeling (it apparently got worse as she repeated it) and to how much she actually did consume (this too got worse with repetition). And well, I just sat there having mixed feelings of pity/almost understanding, and annoyance. She was a very sorry sort of person and there were moments where my heart went out to her, quickly retracted though as she breathed on me, fell asleep on me, grabbed me, and well just sat there next to me.

She got off, FINALLY, but at the next bus stop, a ha-duh-buh-jji (grandfather) got on and sigh, yes sat down next to me.

................

I swear this part IS about Boseong; I DID go there and on this same day. The bus from Jindo dropped me at the local bus stop, where I had to take the bus to Daehan Dawon Plantation. It’s the oldest tea plantation in Korea and I think the most famous.

I arrived, paid the small entry fee (absurd for a tea farm, but whatever), and strolled along the grounds, taking photos and breathing it all in.

Up close tea leaves...

They look like rows of velvet... mmmm the tastiness that awaits.

This was both funny and sad. This poor ahjussi has to sit here, hoping someone will want to pay for his photographic skills. As far as I could tell, everyone roaming around had cameras of their own.

My final look over the plantation.

There’s not much to do on a tea plantation other than look at rows of tea leaves; I went into the store to (obviously) buy some tea (the point of me even coming here) and at their little café thing, I bought a cup of nok-cha latte aka, green tea latte. I paid 3,000w for this and it was putrid. Completely disgusting. WORSE than the coffee I mentioned drinking at Il-deung bawi. It was waaaaaaay too sweet and the flavor was just, vomit inducing. I tried to down it as I had paid for it…but this proved to be impossible. I, in the end had to chuck it. I had even carried it to the bus stop, waited there, talked to others waiting for the bus who had asked what I was drinking, where I was going, etc. They all seemed to be amazed at what I was doing (mountain hopping solo) and everyone was very curious.

There were like 8 of us standing there waiting for the bus back to Boseong terminal, when this cop car pulled up and asked where we were going. It all happened so fast that I didn’t get it until the car had pulled away, but the cop (since he clearly had nothing better to do), offered a ride to the elderly woman and a few others back to town. I thought this was a nice gesture; the protectors of the people combining their jobs with plain old good will. I wish more of these kinds of actions were visible with cops in NYC but, alas, I do not know of one place in America where I could see the same thing happen in front of my eyes.

I decided to just go back up to Daejun this same night, as I was tired of traveling by bus and just wanted to go “home”. However, there is no such thing as a direct bus to Daejun from Boseong, so I had to go through Gwangju, then onto Daejun. Basically, it took forever and I got into my aunt’s place late. But, I was tuckered so, I passed out immediately, as I had also decided to go back up to Seoul with my gomo very early the next morning.

Jindo + Gaes

Since I arrived in Jindo fairly late in the day, I decided there really wasn’t much time for me to go to the beach where there is a “Moses Parting of the Sea”, as I also wasn’t exactly quite sure when this happened during the month of March.

I decided to walk around Jindo and see what the town was about. What I came across after first stepping out of the bus terminal was a river where a few men were doing what looked like some washing.

I went into a stationary store, bought an eraser that made me feel like I was going to go to school as an adolescent in Korea, took some photos of local flowers overflowing the walls enclosing a private home...

and then, as I was taking photos of the varied rooftops and gates in town (colors, textures, etc.) ...

(I found it interesting that these two gates were right next to each other; the obviously very new and the obviously very weathered and old.)

...somewhere behind me, I heard a young voice say in Korean, “Nah-doo sah-jin jji-guh joo sae-yo.” Translates: Take a picture of me too please.

I turned around and saw these two schoolgirls; I asked them, do you want me to take your photos? They immediately replied yes. So, I had them stand again the gate and proceeded to shoot a couple. I am not sure what to say about them, look for yourself. It seems that their style of hair was rather ubiquitous in the country; I saw it everywhere.

I kid you not, this is EXACTLY how these two posed for me.

I am not sure what to say about them. I think the above shots speak for themselves.

This was just another gate to a home I came across. It's fascinating, the juxtaposition of so many gates like this next to so many more modern buildings.

As it was cooling down and getting darker, I went in search of my resting place for the night. This motel was the least interesting of all of them and actually, I think the most expensive.

The next morning I got up “early” and went in search of the bus that would take me to the folk museum I was interested in going to go see. I had watched a movie several years back, “Chi-wah San” whose subject was this famous artist/painter from back in the dynasty days who painted for his majesty, and I was curious to see if it might be this particular artist. It wasn’t, lol.

The museum was on this fairly large parcel of land about 15-20 minutes from Jindo proper. The bus dropped me off right in front of it. I went up to the teller, paid a rather high fee (as I was literally the ONLY one there), and proceeded to stroll around on the grounds of where this folk artist used to live; found my way to a mini museum of his work and work done by generations of family after him. It took me like an hour or two, max, to get through all of this stuff.

This is how weeds are pulled and grass is cut. A bunch of ahjuhmas grouped together, with hand shears, cutting and pulling away.

This is the artists' estate as you enter.

This is a closer look into the grounds of his home.

The artist I went to see is the one at the top of this lineage. At the bottom (the most modern photo) is an artist in this lineage who is currently alive and apparently has made a name for himself.

This is some of the modern artists' work. He is known for his stylistic fog and clouds.

I wanted to take more photos of the work in the gallery (I wasn't using flash) but, because of the dim lighting, it made it difficult.

I went back to where the bus dropped me off to see about my return ride, only to find out that the next bus wasn’t due for like 2-3 hours. Now this might not be a problem exactly, but my bus OUT of Jindo to go to my next stop was in like one hour. So, then I ask about getting a taxi, cursing to myself already about how much one was going to cost etc., when a very nice man, I believe one of the gardeners for the folk artists' estate, offered me a ride back. As the woman in the ticket booth did not seem concerned with this man offering, nor did the other man who worked for the place, it being daylight and me having a pair of trekking poles I could whip out for good whipping use (should the need arise), I accepted this ride.

Along the way, the guy was making conversation with me, the usual where are you from, what are you doing out here, explained the bus times…and at some point, I was mentioning that I was a little bummed because I hadn’t quite figured out where the National Jindo-gae Research Center was, and it was the one other thing I had wanted to do.

This ahjussi being the nice guy he came off to be, offered to take me there as it was along the way back and it was no problem. He knew exactly where it was. So, to my very merry delight, I was able to go to the National Jindo-Gae Research Center.

I wanted to see Jindo-gaes in real life and here they were, tons of them. There were even a few puppies in the front that were allowed to roam freely for the public. Totally cute.

This white puppy RAN towards me when I came up to the gate. He was so happy for attention and petting love. I wanted to take him to the States with me.

The ones in the cages were rather yappy. I don't know why

The ahjussi then took me to the bus terminal (after handing me a CD of what I think are Christian sermons) and wished me well (see folks, one can hitchhike and not get killed… ok ok, so I didn’t tell my mom this part, but really, it’s SOUTH South Korea, they are like country folk – and if I had died…well I had already accepted that potentiality and was ok with it).

I caught my bus in time and was on my way to Boseung, land of green tea plantations!!