End of Season Trek

     Green had transformed into the many varied hues of autumn by early October, and despite my best efforts, I had not been able to explore much further than Buraksan to see the change of season.  By the beginning of November, the prospect of getting out to enjoy the colors and weather were looking dim, until I ran into Mr. Pae at the library.  He suggested that we take a day trip to the northern side of Seoul  and hike through the Bukhansan National Park.  I had never heard of it before, but that was of little consequence, and so I jumped at the opportunity, and we quickly made plans to embark that weekend.

    Our journey began, as many do, at a bus stop, haha.  This trip was to be a lesson in traveler's patience.  The express bus took the expected hour to arrive at the station in Seoul from which we departed further North using the subway system, for another 35 minutes.  Upon arrival, I was foolishly expecting the park entrance to be within a mile of the station, easily within walking distance.  Well, I was wrong.  We still needed to take another bus, about 20 minutes up the road, which is still reasonable....except that we were apparently not the only pair who thought it would be a great weekend to get out.  I present the bus line:

 

     Ummm, so at the risk of hyperbole, the line was INSANELY long!  Persevere we did, however, and with little complaint or grumbling I might add, hehe.  In all actuality, for such a long line, it moved rather quickly, and after about an hour we were on the last leg of the journey there.  An interesting note was how nice the town just before the park was.  It looked like mostly new construction, and very clean and organized. They even had a Coldstone Creamery!

     By early afternoon we had finally arrived.

     The area just outside the park entrance was well developed with all manner of outdoor clothing shops, recreational gear vendors, hotels and of course restaurants.  One item of note was the abundance of Kimbap.  This is very similar to Japanese maki rolls, but in most cases, contains no seafood, rather cooked egg and sausage or spam in addition to various vegetables.  I came to understand that this was the preferred traditional hiking food, as it keeps well, is full of carbs, and packs easily.  To my great pleasure, as we were ready to hit the trails, Mr. Pae told me that his wife had prepared some for us as lunch, and we indulged.  I have to commend her preparation.  The rice was perfect, and the combination of pickled radish and sausage (similar to a small diameter mild peperoni) was delicious!

 Map of Bukhansan

 This was the first time I encountered this particular solution to cold weather cycling...Tonya take note, hehe!

 

     Happily satiated, we started on our trek to conquer the mountain, which began with a quaint trail along a beautiful boulder strewn trickling stream.  After a ways, the easy trail brought us to a rest area and very small temple.  This also happened to be a major crossroad for the various routes through the park.  Since it was already early afternoon we decided for the shortest path to the top of the park's namesake, and put the temple behind us at an eager pace.  However, whereas the first leg of the journey was gentle and languid, this path proved to be steep and treacherous, utilizing root, stone and loose leaves and gravel to making footing uneasy, and near vertical crevasses to bring all but mad men to a crawl.  We would not be deterred.  In fact, we both fell prey to the most classic of masculine vices; pride.  Neither of us would be outdone in speed of ascension, and so we drove up the mountain at astounding speed, heaving with breath and dripping with sweat, and bewildering the multitude of Koreans enjoying a leisurely stroll  in the park, complete with picnics including beer and soju!  It was not long before the reality struck that we are, in fact, not supermen, and would require several breaks along the way, and we were better for it physically and spiritually, for it afforded us a chance to really take in some of the hidden beauties of the park, such as this hidden engraving of a poem.  As well as some spectacular tumbles of limestone.

 

     After about two hours from the crossroads, we reached the bare rock and final assent to the peak.  The view from the knobs of stone, a mere 3,000 ft compared to our Rocky Mountain standards of 10-14,000, still felt like the top of the world.  We decided to content ourselves with these lower peaks because the crowds to the very top were just too thick, and not worth the frustration.  We spent some time here admiring the vistas as well as a pair of birds of prey hunting from the cliffs below.  After some time the wind changed and a cold crept into the air, and we departed with the same gusto we climbed, and really had a blast getting lost in the adventure of the decent. 

     Outside the park, the bus line was just as long as when we arrived, but now that we knew the way, we chose to walk back to the Metro instead.  It took us about 45 minutes, but that was less than the wait for a 20 minute bus, so we considered ourselves the victors, hehe.  It was not until I sat down on the bus 30 minutes later that the exhaustion hit me.  I barely had the strength to devour a delicious persimmon that Mr. Pae produced as we took our seats, before duly passing out, completed with contented snores and dreamless sleep.  It was a fantastic hike, and one I am deeply in debt to Mr. Pae for indulging me!  Hopefully I will have an opportunity soon to return the favor.  

Still to come, a visit to hot springs and Jimjilbang culture...

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With a slight hang-over induced headache and absent any fanfare, I awoke at the lovely hour of 0530 to collect my things and board the bus back north.  This morning's breakfast was a much more typical affair as we were no longer treated to a grand buffet, rather to what was considered a "continental" breakfast.  By no means was this a disappointment, since it gave me an opportunity to try the rice porridge once again and confirm it's bewildering appeal.  Surprisingly, for a hotel occupied by mostly Korean businessmen, excepting our group, there were more western breakfast options than Korean.  It makes me wonder if we have somehow insidiously influenced the native concept of what should entail "Breakfast Food."  I certainly hope not.  I believe, as the Vulcans put it, that Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations makes for a more interesting universe.

Awaiting us on the bus was the ever cheerful Ms. Linn, and the prospect of a five hour drive to our next destination, the Korean Navel Base in the city of Pyeongtaek.  This city also happens to be the neighboring city of Songtan, where Osan AB is situated.  I admit that I was a tad surprised that this large navel base was so close to us and I had never heard of it before.  With the exciting tour of the Hyundai shipyards fresh in my memory I was eager to get to this base and take a gander at some mighty warships.


During the ride, which was unfortunately extended do to some serious traffic, I was able to finish reading a short history book on Korea.  It was dated, and only documented up to 1993, but it was still very helpful in understanding the tenuous evolution of the Korean-American Alliance.  The author put forth that the American military was in an oversight position after the armistice was signed and South Korea rebuilt its government.  In this position, despite taking a generally hands-off approach to internal Korean politics, there still appeared implicit backing from the Americans for the next several presidential regimes, who acted more like dictators.  The American forces stood by as the ruling regime suppressed freedom of press, speech and assembly, and imprisoned many political prisoners.  By the late 1960s and into the 1980s there were large and occasionally violent protests against the Korean president as well as the United States due to the perceived intervention in domestic politics.  After nearly two decades of autocratic rule by a president who came to power through a military coup, he was assassinated  and replaced by his prime minister who continued to follow some of the same repressive policies, including the Gwangju massacre of 200 civilian protesters.  It was not until 1992 that South Korea would have its first democratically elected civilian president.  His wave of democracy, promise of renewed freedoms, as well as the strict but effective economic policies of the previous rulers put South Korea on the path to a bright future, which I am happy it has seized.  Had things not turned out this way, I doubt I would be able to explore so carefree, nor meet so many welcoming and helpful people.

Unintentionally, the end of this book and my lesson in modern Korean history was to prove poignant regarding our naval base excursion.  After a standard lunch of Bulgogi in the marine barracks we were taken to the salvaged and partially reconstructed wreckage of the Korean frigate Cheonan.  It was split in two by a North Korean torpedo, killing over 40 sailors and bringing the two nations closer to war than at any other point in the past 60 years.  There is no official reason why the North would capriciously attack a single vessel.  This was not part of some larger conflict, rather an isolated incident of aggression.  In my opinion, the North Korean government has these deadly "temper tantrums" every few years to demonstrate its commitment to hating South Korea and western democracy, in order to give them some bargaining power when they approach the West to beg for money and supplies to feed the thousands of countrymen that the "magnanimous" communist party is allowing to starve.  The ultimate question remains.  How do you bring this derelict and dangerous country back into the fold without a massive loss of life?  I am hoping that with the recent passing of Kim Jong-Il, that his son will have more sense and compassion for the millions of citizens relying on his leadership to get his country out of the mess it took his fore bearers 60 years to create....Let us have patience.  A bit more patience than we are giving our current president to clean up a mess in only three years that took over eight to create.

It was heavy thoughts that we departed for Suwon and the Hwangseon Fortress.  Having previously visited, and extensively posted on the fortress, I will forgo any repetition.  Instead of touring the fortress again, I spent my time trying my hand at Korean National Archery.  I may not be Robin Hood, but with just a crash course and 30 minutes of practice, I was able to consistently hit a 6'x6' target at 30 paces, HAHA.

As is only appropriate, the tour guides planned to have our farewell meal at a local Galbi restaurant. Galbi is the local specialty, and is a meal of sweet/spicy Bar-B-Que-like marinated pork.  As with all traditional Korean meals, it is served around a table for four.  You all share a built in skillet to cook the Galbi as it is brought to you, as well as roast some whole garlic.  The meat, when cooked to your liking, is eaten in a manner common to many meals including sashimi and roasted meats served cold and sliced.  That is to have an assortment of lettuce and sesame leaves, as well as Korean ketchup (a thicker, darker, spicy and less sweet style), garlic and fresh hot peppers.  The fresh sesame leaves are beautifully heart shaped and have a pleasant anise flavor.  With little complication, one takes the finished meat, and whatever condiments are desired and places them in the leaf of choice, and promptly devours said package of joy.  Like most Korean meals, this is experiential and community dining meant to create conversation and this dinner was definitely fun and delicious! A bit surprisingly, there was no elaborate good-bye ceremony, or even a collective "See you later."  We simply were politely told that the buses would be leaving in ten minutes, and we should probably be on one of them, hehe.  By this time, I was eager to get back to my twin bed in a closet, and spend the upcoming weekend relaxing!  All in all, I could not have asked for a better welcome to Korea trip, especially on the company dole.  A great big Kamsahamnida to Hyundai and MSgt Sprague!!!!!!!!!