Oh Right Mountains are Giant Hills!

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April 27th 2008

Published: April 27th 2008

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CanuckinKorea

Photo 1

The Entrance

Well I think it is safe to say that I am a terrific hiker and a terrible mountain climber!
Today a few members of Convo Club, myself and Aurora included traveled to Palgongsan Mountain for a "hike". Now I've hiked, I've hiked many many times but what I have always considered hiking was mainly...not always but mainly on uneven terrain through a forest or something like that! Well we arrived at the mountain and it suddenly hit me...OH A MOUNTAIN! I wasn't feeling all that great to begin with, yep I'm getting sick again, so I was starting to think that it wasn't such a great idea to come, although then I thought "well it IS mountain air it may actually be better to do this!". Spoken like a true idiot! We started our climb and I was feeling great until suddenly I became intensely nauseas and had to sit down. Everything else was fine, my legs were happy, my arms were swinging and my feet were walking. After about a 10 minute rest we continued up but the walk didn't last long because I felt sick again and so 4 of us stopped. Aurora said that I was incredible white

Photo 2

so I knew that something was up as I'm usually quite rosy. Eventually we sent Stylish and Brian up without us and after Kumar came to check we decided that we would rest longer and either continue later or go back down. For the record I did NOT want to go back down I was there to climb a freaking mountain not descend one. I felt bad but Aurora assured me that she likes mountains for their beauty but not so much for climbing up them!
We eventually crossed a um...I really don't know what you would call it...stream maybe, and chilled on some rocks on the other side for awhile. Eventually we started to head up and I must admit that the second leg was far more fun than the first. The path wasn't so manicured and you really had to pick your way through rocks and branches which was something that was more familiar to me. We actually got a decent way up when we decided that we'd head back down and just hang out and wait for them to get back. Going down was actually far harder and way more painful! My knees were killing me and

Photo 3

Ajimma's selling their wares amongst the rocks!

I rolled my ankles 3 times but I kept quiet because I felt like I had already been enough of a baby.
When we got to the bottom I walked around the temple and took some pictures and then joined Aurora on the grass where we talked about music and rested. I still didn't feel great which honestly made me feel a little better as I realized that perhaps I did have more than just a cold. Mike was really sick on Friday and I think I may have caught something from him...although I am not feeling nearly as bad as he is. By the time we got into Brian's care and headed down to the main road my head felt like it was going to burst and I eventually fell asleep for the 30 minute ride back to the city. I was invited back to Aurora's for food and drinks but I honestly had no intention of eating or drinking when I got home! I popped into Home Plus to grab some things for the week and then jumped in a cab and with a "Goo Byung Won chusayo" I was well on my way to my bed!
The

Photo 4

Stylish

mountain was gorgeous and the air was better than the city but no where near being clean! One of the guys told me that I would have been able to get to the top if I walked fast more...um...I walk fast all the time...I walk all the time...I don't however climb mountains when I'm under the weather all the time. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to slap him!
Anyway I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the scenery!

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