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Published: July 18th 2012
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After talking about it for about a year, we finally planned a rafting trip to Northern Korea, and it came to pass last weekend. A group of 8 of us met in Inje, a small town that seems to make most of its money from outdoor sports activities—there was rafting, bungee jumping, and hiking (Seoraksan National Park) nearby. It was a long journey from Daegu. We left from Bukbu Bus Terminal at 8:40, transferred buses at Wonju, and finally arrived in Inje around 1pm. The scenery was beautiful, but the weather wasn't encouraging. After about 2 weeks of muggy 85 degree Daegu weather, we were unpleasantly surprised to end up in rainy, 70-degree Inje.
Our Seoul friends got in about the same time, and then a Korean-speaking friend called the rafting company to pick us up for the 10 minute ride to the rafting area. Because it had been raining for the past few days, the water level was high. So the guides rushed us to start as soon as possible. They said if the water level got any higher, we wouldn't be able to go. Some of us traded our shoes for rubber rafting shoes, which turned out to
be a good idea. The people who wore sneakers had soggy shoes the rest of the weekend.
We took another short bus ride to the launch point. As our bus drove along the river, I got a bit nervous looking at the high, muddy river water swirling below. When we arrived, the instructor taught us the commands he would be saying for which kind of paddling to do. His English was decent, but it was easy to have our friend Beth translate. After the instruction, he made us all get into the water and squat until we were submerged to the waist. Brrrr. It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't totally pleasant either. It was time to get in the raft.
I ended up in the back next to the guide, who was a fun, nice guy. He'd lived in Whistler, Canada, for a while (in the winter, he's a snowboard instructor—how's that for awesome jobs?). He had us 'roll', where one side of the raft would lean back and then sit up. When they sit up, the other side would lean back. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it was fun and an ab workout. At
Leafy Greens
Grown by our new ajumma friend! one point, as a guy leaned down a wave of water washed up over him, and he was completely underwater. The water wasn't as rapid-y as I expected it to be, but it was a good level for me as a first-timer. There were times when it seemed like we were going to dip down in a swell, but the raft would go right over top. Then, there were other times, when the opposite happened, and the people in the front got drenched.
After a bit, we pulled off to a bank to have a dip in the water. The guide got us to play 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' (Korea's unofficial national decision-making game) in order to choose a person to throw in the water. It wasn't me, luckily. Unfortunately, the guide said we couldn't go much further because the water level further down was too high. So actually we only rafted for about 1 hour instead of the 2-3 we were supposed to. My arms were tired (weakling!), so I was alright with that. I needed all my strength to help haul the really heavy raft back up the hill.
If you're wondering, we paid about 25,000 won
Pork and Garlic
Dinner's almost ready! ($22 USD), but usually it is about 30-35,000 won. We think they gave us a discount because of the shorter trip. Our accommodation was even cheaper—about 11,000 won ($10 USD) per person. We stayed in a pension, which in Korea pretty much means a group motel room with no beds/furniture. You get mats, blankets, and pillows, and sleep on the floor. Pensions also usually have kitchens, and ours had one as well as an outdoor grill and picnic table. Our rafting guide offered to drive some of us to town to get food so we could grill that evening. So some people went food shopping, and others stayed and played rummy, which was fun (except that I lost. Grr.).
The shoppers returned with bread, beer, makkeoli, soju, garlic, canned pineapple (to grill), lettuce, chili peppers, ingredients to make dwenjang jjigae (a tofu/soybean soup), rice, snacks, eggs, and 4 kg (9 pounds) of pork (for 8 people, one of whom is a vegetarian). The raft guide had tried to get them to buy 7 kg, because that's how much they would normally get, but I guess some rationality prevailed, luckily.
The ajumma (older woman) who runs the pension was
Misty Mountains
Above the river we rafted a little standoffish with us at first. First, she wanted to charge us 15,000 for the coals for the grill, but the rafting guy argued with her and got us to pay only 10,000. Then one of our group saw her cat and started asking her about it in Korean, which was probably the ice-breaker. Her husband, as ajoshis (older men) usually do, started cooking our meat for us. As we rotated cooks and people holding umbrellas, she watched us and occasionally assisted. We offered both of them some beer/makkeoli and food. After that, she brought us some coleslaw-salad stuff, and really nice greens for with the meat. We all complimented her on the salad. After everyone was stuffed, we cooked more meat for with breakfast tomorrow, and still had about a kg left. So we gave it to them, after some polite “Take it. We can't eat it”s.
After dinner we all chilled out. We drank a bit, and played some Pictionary, then went to sleep. The next day, I'd wanted to take a hike, but it was still raining, and most people's shoes were still wet. So we made breakfast and hung around. We watched a drama
unfolding outside. A group of Koreans in their 20's were staying next-door to us, and the ajoshi was yelling at them. We figured they were trying to leave without cleaning up some mess they'd made. In contrast, when we finally left, our place was in the same state it'd been in when we arrived. When we left, the ajumma gave Beth her card and said if we come back we'll get a discount.
At the bus station, it was time to say goodbyes to the Seoul-ites. Even though we'd had pretty bad weather all weekend, I'd had a great time because I got to see some of my favorites, who no longer live in Daegu. We headed back to Daegu. As nice as it had been to breathe in fresh air and be in the countryside, it was also comfortable to be back in my “home” city.
Sorry there aren't a lot of pics. The rain and river didn't really go well with my camera!
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