I went to SorakSan with my host family over the holiday weekend, Buddha's birthday~
We actually ended up leaving at night to beat the traffic. They had been planning to leave very early the next morning, so I went out to meet Mark in Sinchon for dinner, and towards the end of our meal, I got a phone call from my host mom informing me that we were actually leaving that night. So, I went home, packed up some clothes and necessities and we left~
I think the drive was about 4-5 hrs, but I fell asleep for most of it, so I couldn't really say... I was kind of assuming that it was going to be kind of like camping or going to camp. Boy was I wrong. My host mom's parents own an apt. right near Soraksan, so basically we got to stay in a really nice, new, sweet apartment! wow. It had an amazing view too! Out one side was the city and ocean and on the other was the mountain!
day view out towards the mountains
night view from the other side. The area where it just turns black and there are no more lights is the ocean.
We left Thursday night and left to go back to Seoul Sunday morning. On Friday we went hiking on the mountain. The mountain is huge, its more like a small mountain range. So, we picked 2 pretty easy trails to hike. The weather was perfect! and the scenery was beautiful. It was so nice to see lush green foliage! I really hadn't seen anything of the sort since I left Minnesota, actually before that, since when I left everything was covered in snow.
entrance to the National Park
John and Nicole getting water
Nicole and I on the trails
The second trail we hiked took us to a really nice stream that ran down the mountain. The water was extremely clear and the really cool part was that the rocks all around it had Chinese characters carved into them! I asked my host dad and he just said they used to do that way back when. I'm not sure how long ago that means, but I'm thinking pretty long ago. A lot of them looked really worn away. But they looked really neat!
view of a section of the mountain
carvings on the rock
a close-up
looking at the map
bunch of visor wearing ajumas coming!!! Ah, run and take cover!!
priceless video of John blowing his pinwheel with his nose! haha... he found the thing on the ground on our first day and wouldn't let it out of his sight for most of the trip~
priceless video of John blowing his pinwheel with his nose! haha... he found the thing on the ground on our first day and wouldn't let it out of his sight for most of the trip~
Later that day, we went to the 대포항 fish market, which was awesome! We wandered around looking at the variety of fish and sea animals for sale (presumably, to be eaten) and other street food. I saw the craziest looking fish there! It was HUGE and had these gigantic sharp teeth. It looked terrifying!!! I can't imagine eating it...
the fish market
scariest, craziest looking fish ever! look at its teeth!!!
gigantic crabs
We also saw an American TV crew there filming for something. I really wanted to know, so I went up and asked one of the camera people. His response really bugged me and was very unsatisfactory. I asked him what they were filming for and he said, "something for American TV." (Obviously.) It was obviously a canned response that he told everyone, and I felt like he didn't realize I was American. So, I tried again. I asked him what station it was for and he told me PBS. He wasn't particularly friendly or talkative, so I gave up and wandered on. A bit later, I came across another few people from their filming/production crew and decided to try again. I asked one of the women who seemed to be in charge. She said, "For an American television program." (Again, obviously!) I pried for some more info, just because I was curious and it was bugging me that they were assuming I was Korean and didn't realize I was American. I got that it was for PBS, a new series, didn't have a name yet, and was focusing on Korea. I'm not sure if this means, just this particular episode focuses on Korea or if the entire series focuses on Korea. It was a bit more satisfactory than my first attempt. However, I thought it was really strange that both people assumed I was Korean (after I told the second lady that I was American, she seemed more willing to tell me details) because I was obviously speaking fluent English with a very American, actually Minnesotan accent.
American film crew
Anyhow, that was a huge tangent. After the fish market, we went to the beach and my host brother and sister went wild! They were so excited!!! There were speed boats giving people rides - it looked extremely unsafe and would def. not happen in the US. They were speeding around the shallow area where swimmers were and taking all these crazy turns to get the passengers all wet. They just seemed way to close to shore... I really wanted to touch the water; just dip my fingers in it to say that I had touched the East Sea, but right when I leaned over to touch it, a big wave came crashing in and got my shoes all wet... Arg. I guess that's what I get. Now I can definitely say, with conviction, that I have touched the East Sea.
darn... that kinda sucked
sunset from the beach
On Saturday, we went to a different beach. The beach is right in front of this very fancy resort that my host family stayed at one time. It was really nice and my host brother dug a big pit to push his sister into. (Later, when I was tutoring him in English writing, it was this event that he chose to write about ^^) There was also this big rock out in the water, but there was a sandbar so you could walk out and climb it. I wish I had a picture, but my host dad took it on his camera and I forgot to get it from him...
John's infamous pit of doom
Anyhow, after the beach we drove up to another point on the mountain and had lunch there. The trail there was pretty steep, so my host mom and sister hung around while my host dad, host brother, and I climbed it. I went pretty far, but then decided to turn around, as it just kept getting steeper and steeper. At one point I had to use a rope that was lying there (for that purpose) to pull myself up on a gravel path. It was really pretty though! My host brother has so much energy and had ran ahead - he and his dad made it all the way to the top!
John, CK, Nicole, and me
After that, we made a stop at Osaek, this famous mineral spring. My host mom said that its supposed to have healing powers and be really good for your health. (My host mom collected a bottle full and I tasted it and man was it disgusting! It just tasted dirty to me... My host sister vehemently spat her mouthful out and look to her mom like she was crazy to have given her that water. My host brother made the most hilarious face!)
So we went and my host brother had a great time skipping rocks and running around in the water. There was a famous waterfalls down about 2 or 3 km away. We were going to go there, but it was getting late and my host mom as tired. However, John (host bro) really wanted to go, so they compromised and we were to go part way and then turn around. John dashed off and CK (host dad), Nicole (host sis) and I followed.
It was really pretty and we walked quite a ways. But then John disappeared. CK went ahead to find him and Nicole and I turned around and went back to the car, where Young (host mom) was waiting. She got really worried when she found out that we couldn't find John and that he had run ahead. She tried to call, but there was no phone service out there. We waited a good 20-30 minutes until we saw CK and John walking towards the car. Whew.
the entrance to the spring
people gathered around collecting and drinking water
On the way back to the apartment, CK and Yong went to get dinner and dropped me and the kids off at a nearby beach. They had fun pretending to dig for buried treasure and swinging. The next morning we got up and left by 7. We got stuck in major traffic getting back to Seoul~ I think we were maybe 15-30 min. from their house and it took us over an hour... But we made it back!
It was a really great trip!!!!
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment