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Cherry blossom
The first part of the hikeThe trip to the Bukhansan national park was an adventure in many ways.
I made it there by subway and bus and was met by lots of Korean hikers carrying walking sticks and the very latest in hiking fashion. What I had heard about Koreans being into hiking seemed more than true.
After walking along the road through one of the still remaining gates of the old fortification wall, build to hold off intruders from the north, I got into the valley. Lots of locals selling lots of food to tourists. I got off the main road and on to the trail. My goal was Baekundae, a peak of 836m. As I went on it got rockier and rockier and steeper and steeper. The second part of the hike was actually tough and I'm glad I had my boots on. As I made it to the ridge there was another city wall gate and the last part up to the peak you had to heave yourself using steel wires mounted on the rock. I was real tired...so much for underestimating the guide book 😉. Up there I did what everyone else did...screamed!...so I finally had my freedom yell in
Rocky
The steep and rocky trail... Swedish. An old Korean man made push ups and took my picture.
The trip down from the top was easier and I made it to the main road while there was still sunlight. To see something new I decided to take a smaller trail in the woods, parallell to the road, to get out of the park and back to the bus stop...should be pretty much straight forward. I went past puppies and a buddha temple...all nice...before I realised I must had taken the wrong turn somewhere. It got darker and darker and I didn't have any flash light, cell phone or anything. I was also getting quiet hungry since I had only had breakfast and fast carbohydrates to eat.
I made it to the river, crossed it and asked a local about the way. He pointed me in one direction. I went on and came upon a cottage where I asked again and this time showed my map...now this woman pointed me back to where I came from...Great! I went back to the first guy and, after having consulted the map, he still seemed sure and again sent me in the opposite direction. I asked: "Main road,
On top!
Check out the guys climbing in the background... how far?" He said: "30 minutes". 30 minutes on a small forest trail, maybe in the wrong direction, in the dark without any light or means of communication..."This doesn't look good", I thought as I went along...
After about 15 minutes I found another house, this time with cars parked outside. Cars must mean that the road is close...so I asked again...this time a family. First the dad wanted to send me back to where I came from...as if I could expect anything else... Trying to remain calm I tried again and finally after some intense conversation... 95% of it in Korean which I don't speak...and after using one of the language phrases in my guide book "I want to take the bus to ___.", putting Seoul in the open space...the daughter smiled and right away took me the 20 meters from the house to the main road.
It's easy when you know, isn't it...
;-)
/Magnus
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tina och magnus
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lost
du skulle haft en orienterare med dig :-) eller en bordtennisspelare..... skönt att se att du kommit välbehallen till en pissoar. När du kommer tillbaka kan du väl bjuda pa middag pa din och Christians toalett ;-). Nagot svar fran Bosch? Enligt Piedrahita ser det bra ut! Ha det bra!