Dobongsan hike

On Tuesday I spent most of the day in Buyeo. Leaving my motel at 9ish I walked the 30 or so meters to the temple site of Jeongnimsaji. Arriving on the opposite side of the site to the entrance, I walked around and looked over the wall to see excavation work going on, and a fairly uninteresting looking temple with a brick pagoda next to it. Although I completed the circuit to the entrance, I decided not to bother going in and instead headed up to the other attraction of Buyeo – the Busosan park and fort. This area was even nicer than the fort in Gongju and I spent a very pleasant 90 minutes or so just strolling around the perimeter, checking out the restored buildings, enjoying the views and the autumnal colours. With a minimum number of school trip children crossing my path, this was a very enjoyable morning. From there I decided to head back to Seoul, and then slowly back to Dobong (Chi-Hé's stop).

Yesterday, I did pretty well nothing. In the morning I tidied and sorted my bag out a bit, and in the afternoon I drank coffee, read my book and watched two couples break up (I assume that's what they were doing...there were certainly tears). That was pretty much it.

Today I went on a hike. Despite the fact Chi-Hé lives spitting distance away from Dobongsan – even drooling distance away in fact – she has never set foot on this mountain. I thought that, I having more time than she, it might be nice for one of us to attempt this feat, and we could share the pictures. To give some indication of where Chi-Hé lives in Seoul, and what type of city Seoul is, this part of Seoul is not on the lonely planet Seoul map, only on the Bukhansan National Park map, a National Park which is mostly within the area of the city of 10.4 million that is Seoul. So I set out to walk to the next subway stop and the entrance to this particular hike this morning, picking up a pizza baguette at the local Paris Bakery, making sure I had some layers and lots of water, and that my (holey) shoes were tied securely on.

Starting at the bottom of the mountain, I had my usual 'why are all of these people wearing all this hi-tech crap? What the hell do you need climbing poles for? Are those hiking boots really necessary? Gloves?! He has climbing gloves?! Oh give me a break!' reaction. Having got a fair way up, I stopped briefly to check out the view and munch on the fruit (this: http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/1623710.html) a friendly Korean had thrown to me (after I'd politely declined his offer of Makgeoll [막걸리 ], which is unrefined rice wine...often with bits of rice still in. Chi-Hé – presumably in a fit of madness, or thinking of something else - recommended it once...we left it at the motel, I also had some in Busan...as much as I thought was necessary to be polite). From there it was all up hill. I mean, it had been all up hill anyway...but this was real knees to your chin, grab hold of that handhold and pull yourself up, up hill walking.

The last stretch (about 10 meters) up to the very peak was up a 70 degree angle piece of rock, with a very conveniently placed fence to one side, and the odd hand hold – quite fun, but a touch tiring. The view from the top was beautiful if hazy. Walking back was fairly uneventful aside from a couple of 'almost flat on my ass' slip ups which I largely blame on my shoes and the sandy soil in some areas, and some slightly sore hands from gripping trees and ropes. The route I took takes you via a fairly uninteresting temple – but it was nice to stop for a minute and take a look at the art on the outside of the building, and then continue down the last stretch back towards the subway – which I walked alongside for 2 stops to get back here. All in all I think I walked about 14km (8.5 miles) on my 5 hour hike, which is not bad going...although I may be going on another walk tomorrow...and then dancing in the evening, so we'll see how I feel then.

I'm now approaching my last days at Chi-Hé's, in Seoul, in Korea, and indeed on holiday which is somewhat daunting particularly as I was hoping I'd know more about what I'm doing for the next 12 months by now...but I'll still be waiting to hear about those things when I get back. Anyway, the plan for the next few days is – go on a Shamnist walk around some shrines (apparently Korea has a history of Shamanism and presumably some of this is still active), go to Chi-Hé's school to help out with some Haloween activities on Saturday, and then to Suwon to go to the Folk Village on Sunday. Monday will be my last day of souvenir shopping and coffee drinking, and then I fly home via somewhere on Tuesday night, arriving Wednesday.