Hiking Adventures

After joining two hiking groups in Seoul, I've spent the last two weekends on hiking trips. Two weeks ago I went on a 24 hour trip to Mindungsan. We left at midnight and drove through the night. We started hiking around 4:30am and hiked til about noon. The hike was supposed to be quite beautiful, but unfortunately we did not have great weather. We got to the peak and could only see about 10 feet ahead of us. I took a picture of the sign showing what the view should've been (notice what the view actually was).

 

Although the view was a disappointing, the hike itself was still a good workout and we enjoyed ourselves. After the hike, we went to the town of Jeongseon for a special market. The group leader created a scavenger hunt for us and we had a great time trying to get pictures of everything we needed to find. It was particularly fun because it created the opportunity to connect with Koreans. For example, one item on the list was to get a picture drinking makkoli  (rice wine) with ajussi (old Korean men).  We found a table of them and gestured that we wanted to get a picture with them. A few of them spoke English and they shared their homemade wine and were happy to help with our scavenger hunt.

Although the weather wasn't great, the trip was a success and we had a great time.

This past weekend I went on a slightly longer trip to one of the highest mountains in Korea, Seoraksan. We left at midnight, drove through the night, and got up to hike around 6am. The trip was split into two groups- a group doing the whole hike in one day and staying at a motel that night, and a group hiking to the peak in one day, camping on the mountain, and coming down the next morning. Since I don't have any camping gear here (and the idea of sleeping outside in sub-zero temperatures didn't sound too appealing), I decided to join the group hiking the mountain in one day.

This was definitely the most challenging hike of my life. We hiked 18km in 12 hours. We took the shorter route to the top (4 hours) but it was very steep. At one point I was hiking by a Korean ajumma (old woman) who was using her hands and feet to get up the mountain. She looked at me and cried "oh my goddddd." I don't think she spoke any more English than that phrase, but it made me laugh for a good 10 minutes.

When we reached the peak, we were met with another disappointing view. It was absolutely freezing so we moved through quickly and stopped for lunch in a heated shelter. We then started on the 8 hour trek down the mountain (we took a different route than we took up). The views on the way down were spectacular. The changing fall colors were absolutely gorgeous.

adventure: bungee jumping

After my wonderful trip to China, I was prepared to deal with the not so wonderful side effect: "quarantine." My school decided that since I was putting myself at a greater risk for H1N1 by traveling abroad, I would not be allowed to work for a week after my return. I was pretty upset about this, given the loss of income. I sat down with my boss with facts, showing that there are more cases of H1N1 confirmed in South Korea than in China, and I'm really at no greater risk traveling than I am taking the subway here in Seoul. However, H1N1 is not something to be messed with here.. so the decision remained.

Another coworker, Jake, traveled to Japan over the holiday, so we decided to take the week to do things in Seoul we don't often get the chance to do. We went to a university one day to have lunch and see what campus life is like, we hiked a bit on a mountain in the city, and best of all: we went bungee jumping.

Bungee jumping has always been on the "things I want to do" list, but I am not sure why. I was terrified by the concept and honestly, still am.  I'm not sure I ever would've sought out the opportunity to do it, but a lot of my friends have bungee jumped here in Seoul and its relatively inexpensive. We went on a gorgeous day, and from the ground, the platform didn't seem too bad. I was excited as I was putting on my harness and getting ready to go. Once I was in the elevator to the top, and saw how high up we were going, I started shaking.

I reached the top, listened to the instructions, and walked to the end of the platform. Once there, I looked down, and decided there was no possible way I could do it. The concept of jumping was an impossibility. I looked at the guy and said "sorry.. I can't." He didn't speak much English, but he responded with "I go to count from 5:   5....4...3....2...1" and I jumped! I'm not sure what came over me, but I was able to do it.

I kind of expected the jump to be terrifying but the fall itself to be amazing. That wasn't exactly the case. Free falling was an intense feeling. After I got back to the ground, it took about 20 minutes for me to fully calm down. Afterward, I was exhilarated. I had faced a fear and survived it.

Now that I conquered that one- I really want to sky dive next :)

adventure: China (part 2)

Alright, one final post on the trip to China.
Our last day and a half in China included shopping at the Silk Street Market, seeing a Chinese Acrobats show, and visiting the Temple of Heaven.

I found myself noticing a lot of things about China and differences between China and Korea during those last days. I found China to be a lot more laid back than Korea is. Women in China are not constantly in heels, as Korean women are, and there is more of a sense of ease in Beijing than there is in Seoul.

One of the most interesting things I noticed was kind of odd.. Chinese toddlers do not wear diapers. Instead, they wear pants with a giant slit through the crotch so they can relieve themselves wherever they are. Walking down the street it was very common to see a child squatting and we learned to avoid the puddles all over the city.

All in all, Beijing was a great experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go.

adventure: The Great Wall of China

On Saturday of our trip, we woke up bright and early to head to the Great Wall. There are a few options of portions of the wall to see, but we decided to go to the farthest one away from Beijing. This part of the wall (hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai) isn't quite as touristy as the parts closer to Beijing, and the wall isn't restored.

A bus picked us up at 6am and we drove 4 hours to Jinshanling. From there, we took a cable car up to the Wall and set off on the four hour hike to Simatai. I was blown away as soon as we stepped foot on the wall. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. It was absolutely gorgeous, stretching miles into the mountains. It also was just awe-inspiring to be standing in a place you've read about since childhood.

The hike was definitely not easy. It was very steep and parts of the wall are falling apart. It was worth every second of it though. We ran into some friends while hiking, and even saw the couple from Missouri we had met on the flight! We took a "Missouri" picture of all of us: 2 from MU, 1 from Stephens, 1 from SLU, and 1 from Truman.

At the end of the hike, you could either walk back down to ground level, or take a zip line. Although I was a bit nervous, I did the zip line and it was awesome. My friend Kristina and I went down together, and she took a video of it. As soon as I get it from her, I'll post it on here :)

Basically the whole experience was absolutely wonderful and definitely is up there on the list of best travel experiences ever. 

adventure: China (part 1)

For my Chuseok Holiday (the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving), I flew to Beijing for a five day trip. I traveled with some friends I met at orientation and ran into a girl I had met before on the flight and she ended up joining our group.
The trip was interesting from the very beginning, as we unknowingly had chosen to travel to Beijing during a huge Chinese holiday, National Day. We found out our flights had been delayed as no flights were allowed to enter Beijing that morning and our hostel had to cancel or reservation for the first night because of its location near Tienanmen Square. No foreigners were allowed within a certain distance of the celebration and I heard of a fellow traveler who was arrested for getting too close.

As we were waiting for our flight to take off, I was talking with someone on the plane and mentioning that I went to school in Northeast Missouri. Someone else on the flight called to me saying, "I'm so sorry to eavesdrop, but did you just say Northeast Missouri?" Me: "Yes, I went to Truman in Kirksville." Leticia: "I was born and raised in Kirksville!" We started talking for a while about what a small world it is, and how Leticia and her husband both went to Mizzou. I said I was from St. Louis and her husband said "Everyone from St. Louis always wants to know what high school you went to... you're not a Marker are you?" I about fell over at the randomness of the situation, and that someone on a flight from Seoul to Beijing guessed my high school. It really shows what a small world it is!

The next few days were full of so much activity, I'll try to keep the post from getting too long and uninteresting.  We stayed with my second cousin Sawyer the first night (who I didn't really know but generously offered us a place to stay when our hostel canceled our reservation) and got to enjoy a bit of the nightlife Beijing has to offer.

Our first full day we went to the Forbidden City, climbed up Jinshan Hill to get a view of all of the Forbidden City, and went to Tienanmen Square. The highlight of the day was probably when we were at the top of Jinshan Hill. There was a tacky tourist attraction where you could try on traditional Chinese emperor or empress clothing and pose in a throne. Obviously I jumped at this opportunity and quickly rushed our group to sign up. They dressed us in the outfits and started taking massive amounts of photos of us. It became even more interesting, when other people started coming over to shoot pictures of us as well. Throughout our trip, we found ourselves being asked numerous times to pose for pictures with people. This was probably the most paparazzi-like moment. At one point I think 10-15 people were standing taking pictures with us, then sending their children up to pose with us as well.

After the excitment died down, we sat down to watch the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful and probably one of the calmest points of our action packed trip.

 

After the sunset, we went over to Tiananmen Square. We weren't quite ready for what we saw. As the holiday was not yet over, the Square was PACKED with people. Huge screens were showing the festivities from the night before, and the floats from the parade were on display.

After the Square, we had reservations to eat Beijing Duck. It took us over an hour and a half to find the restaurant, but once we did it was definitely worth the wait. It was delicious! We went to bed early that night, as a bus was picking us up at 6am to head to the Great Wall.