Monday, June 11, 2007
Baekundae
This past Thursday was a holiday in Korea - the equivalent of Memorial (if you're Canadian)/Veteran's (if you're American) Day. Seeing as we had the day off, we decided the best way to spend it was hiking. We headed into Seoul, met up with David and Jerra, and...proceeded to wander the streets aimlessly for 20 minutes looking for our bus. We decided to ask someone where we should go, and chose a sporty looking man with white running shoes on. He was so nice - hummed and hawwed, asked store owners and finally led us to the correct bus stop. That's when he proceeded to tell us that he was going to come with us and be our guide that day (he probably figured that if our luck navigating the mountain corresponded to our luck navigating the bus system, we would be goners out there). And that's what he did. We found out that our new friend's English name was David, and get this - he hikes barefoot! He's been doing it for a year, and says it helps with blood circulation. Let me just say that this was not an easy, barefoot-able hike! The last 30 minutes of it was up a cliff face, where we had to pull ourselves up with a wire cable...he was still barefooted. Extremely hardcore!
Here are some pictures from our day:
A pretty guard post we came across.
You might want to click on this picture to make it bigger. Can you see the little black line that looks like a bunch of ants marching single file? Those are people! You're looking at the final part of the hike...up the cliff face to the top. I have never before had to wait in a line of people for my turn to reach the top!
Sam on his way up the crazy rock part of this hike.
Sam and David...our fabulous guide (this guy even shared his food with us and taught us some history of the mountain).
Heading back down the scary rock face...extremely steep!
Enjoying a little snack on our way down. (Notice that David is still barefooted).
Sidenote: this is a fabulous new dessert we've discovered. It's called bing-su, and it's basically crushed ice with frozen yogurt and fruit on it. You mash it all up and then enjoy. It's so good and addictive. The traditional Korean stuff comes with red beans and rice cakes in it...also delicious, but the fruit is my favorite!
Here are some pictures from our day:
A pretty guard post we came across.
You might want to click on this picture to make it bigger. Can you see the little black line that looks like a bunch of ants marching single file? Those are people! You're looking at the final part of the hike...up the cliff face to the top. I have never before had to wait in a line of people for my turn to reach the top!
Sam on his way up the crazy rock part of this hike.
Sam and David...our fabulous guide (this guy even shared his food with us and taught us some history of the mountain).
Heading back down the scary rock face...extremely steep!
Enjoying a little snack on our way down. (Notice that David is still barefooted).
Sidenote: this is a fabulous new dessert we've discovered. It's called bing-su, and it's basically crushed ice with frozen yogurt and fruit on it. You mash it all up and then enjoy. It's so good and addictive. The traditional Korean stuff comes with red beans and rice cakes in it...also delicious, but the fruit is my favorite!# posted by Becky @ 12:02 AM 
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Mmmmm....I hope you had that dessert after your treacherous hike!!!!! Bec, I am so proud of you!
You are HARDCORE!!!!!! Love you and love the pics. xoxoxoxo
You are HARDCORE!!!!!! Love you and love the pics. xoxoxoxo
That dessert looks so yummy... i can't believe some of the places you hike.. you are hardcore.. our small little paved path hike around the lake will be a cinch for you when you come and visit!!!
Love you
annie
Love you
annie
mmm mmm mmm. please start up a shop with that dessert. i swear i'll be your number one customer!!! and the mountain...holy smokes hardcore! love your new friend David! haha! :-)
Sweet pics. I just did that same hike a few days ago with some friends, but I didn't get any shots that captured the treachery of the approach to the peak quite like yours. Nice job, and I may link to your pics as well if you don't mind. ^^
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