Episode 44: In Which DFM Walks A Third Of The Way Across The City, In The Wrong Direction!

With my mountain half-marathon only one week away I thought I would get in one last training session by hiking.  I haven't been doing any running to speak of, but I've been doing a lot of hiking, since mountain half-marathons are more about hiking than running anyways, I've found.

A couple of weeks ago I blazed up Baegundae, but then I got sick afterwards.  Today was my first time hiking since then and I wanted something a bit easier so I went for a nearby mountain, Dobongsan, which is about 100 meters smaller, but still the second highest mountain I will have hiked here.

It was a beautiful day.  When I stepped off the train I found this beautiful blue building, with a blue greenhouse type structure in front of it, and if you look off to the left you'll see a blue bus driving past.  I should have taken the picture earlier and then the bus would have been in front and the whole picture would have been blue.

All the way up to the start of the trails were dozens of shops all selling hiking gear/paraphernalia.  The North Face shop decided to get some extra attention by putting this giant statue out in front, but I still wonder how it can be good for business to be right beside three other shop owners all selling the same thing.  I guess there are thousands of hikers walking down this street every week, so the law of averages says that eventually one of them will stop and buy something, but I still don't understand how so many identical businesses can survive in the same area.

I tried to run up the mountain like I did two weeks ago, but I was so stunned by the scenery that I kept stopping to take pictures.

I'm rather partial to rocks and paths, so these are the things of which I took the most pictures.

Eventually, after a couple hours of running and then stopping to take pictures, I finally reached the summit of Jaunbong ("Ja-oon" is the name, and bong means peak).  The view from the top was fantastic in all directions.

Of course you can't have an unscalable peak in Korea without some Koreans trying to scale it in order to have a picnic on the top (click the last picture to enlarge it and see).

On the way back I took my usual wrong turn and found myself in a valley between two peaks.  By the time I realized I was going the wrong way it was too late and I couldn't make it back up since the footing was so bad and the slope was too steep.  Everywhere in the picture that you see leaves is a minefield of disaster.  One spot might be solid, but the next step can drop you a foot without warning and smash your ankle or shin against a hidden rock.  Stuck between a rock and a hard place (literally, sometimes) I had no choice but to keep playing a painful game of Korean  roulette, as I tried to guess at the nature of the footing below each step the rest of the way down.

At the top of the picture you can see a giant pile of boulders.  I decided to lower my self into the area in the middle of the picture, without the leaves, for some more solid and less sporadic footing.  Unfortunately I stepped on some leaves and slid right off the boulder.  The landing was a smattering of small, sharp boulders with dark shadows between them that hid large holes.  Luckily I kept my wits about me and landed one footed on the sharp edge of one of the boulders.  Had I missed I would have suffered a severely sprained ankle... or worse.

Eventually I came across a sign that said "do not enter."  Well, I think that's what it said, it was in Korean but there was a picture of a "safety bear" with its hands up so I feel confident making that conclusion.  It was nice of the park rangers to keep hikers on the trail, but they could have used one at the top end of the valley because when I came across the sign I was on the wrong side.

I jumped across a creek and finally found my way back on a packed trail.  I had no idea where I was, but I soon ran into a group of Korean men on their way home.  Korean hikers are notoriously friendly and they were so impressed with my Korean (we've already established that I can barely speak it) that they invited me along with them to have dinner.  Actually my Korean has improved a fair bit and although I can't speak much of it, I can understand basic questions about myself and could tell them where I was from and when I had come to Korea, and for how long I was staying and where I was staying, etc when they asked.  It was a high pressure situation since very few of them spoke any English and they kept asking me more and more about myself, but I managed to pass and they knew the phrase "very good," and kept using that in reference to my Korean.

We stopped in at a Korean-Chinese restaurant and had some jajangmyeon, which is a bowl of spaghetti in black-bean sauce with some unkown beans and vegetables thrown in for good measure.

On the way to dinner, and afterwards everyone took turns teaching me the name of a new tree.  I can only remember a couple of them, but at least I now know what a "tree" and "teacher" are in Korean, which helps me catch up to my students.

It was actually quite  a lucky break to come across this group of hikers.  I had lost my bearings on my trip down the valley and when I came out I had no idea where I was.  It turned out that I had crossed the entire Bukhansan National Park and was on the other side.  When I had started my hike I was in North East Seoul, in Dobong-gu, but when I finished I was in Eunpyeong-gu, four administrative districts over!

The hikers helped me find the hidden bus stop and rode the bus back with me to the subway station.  There was a white girl on our train, and my new friends all thought it was necessary to point out to me that she was a foreigner like me (as if I couldn't tell).

I had started my trip at 1 PM, but I didn't get back to Itaewon station until 8 PM.  I was pretty exhausted and I wanted to refresh myself, so I took a trip over to the nearby sauna.  

I still don't believe in the sulphur water claim, but the process of going from hot to cold water repeatedly sure did make me feel a lot better.  On the way home I felt no fatigue from the hike whatsoever.  In fact I was even more refreshed than I thought I would be.  There really is something to this sauna phenomenon and I wish we had it in Canada.

Episode 30: In Which DFM Races Up Baegundae And Gets Some Money And Free Food

When I woke up, I had a nice shower at James' place.  It was nice to not have to worry about getting my clothes wet (at my gosiwon you have to hang your clothes up in the shower stall while you shower).  And then after my showerJames made me a grilled cheese and ham sandwich for breakfast.  I also had a bowl of rice krispies.  Rice Krispies aren't quite rice and kimchi like Koreans eat for breakfast, but as Richard Hammond would say, "am I eating rice?  Am I in Korea?  Then I'm as native and local as you."

I got a ticket on the cheap train back to Seoul and it was a way better ride than its $2.50 price would suggest.  The seats were relatively wide (although the guy beside me seemed to think that his elbows didn't need to stay on his side of the arm rest) and the train was no less smooth than the KTX.  In fact, if I had a whole day to spend, I'd take this train to Busan and finish a book on the way.

When I got into Seoul I rushed home and got ready to go hiking.  I had to hurry because I planned to meet Lee for an afternoon at the Sauna and then meet Nelson to see a potential new gosiwon, and then after that run to meet Hyeun A for some more Korean lessons.

I think that big mountain at the front is Baegundae.  It is 836 meters high, which makes it the highest mountain in/around Seoul.  The guide book said it was a 6 hour hike, but I figured the author  was working on Korean hiking speed, not DFM speed, so I was banking on less than four hours.  It had better be less than four hours because I still had an hour and a half subway ride back to meet Lee.

On the way up, some of the scenery was impressive, but it had nothing on the view as I got closer to the top.

One of my few complaints about Korea is the ever-present haze around Seoul that always seems to rob the amateur photographer from getting a good picture.  I think this picture does a good enough job though of illustrating just how mountainous Korea is.  There's a saying that if you ironed out Korea it would be the size of China.  I'm not sure about that, but it might just come close.

If you're traveling to Korea, take some time to learn the language before you leave!  I barely know but a few phrases, but on this hike alone I met three separate groups of people so impressed with my pronunciation that they gave me free food.  This woman on the right has a son going to the University of Texas.  He doesn't want to speak Korean though because he thinks it's uncool.  I told her that I thought her son was making a mistake.  She agreed with me and gave me a delicious ham and egg toast sandwich.  Later I met a woman who gave me some sting ray jerky and a man who called me over to share in some soju and kimchi with his friends and him.

Eventually I came to this gate in the fortress wall near the top of the mountain.  A quick turn left after going through the opening and I could scramble up on top of the wall and follow it up to the peak.

That can't be natural, can it?  He must have had a nose job.

I've poked fun at Korean hikers and their need to go way overboard when outfitting themselves for just about anything in the past, and it's like this for everything.  Want to rent a bike to ride along the river?  Better have a racing suit on.  However, I will say this - for a slope this steep running shoes just don't cut it.  The man at the top, taking pictures, was a mountain goat with his special hiking boots and I felt a knot in my stomach every time I saw him walking out on to the mountain side away from the safety cable to take pictures.  One slip would have meant certain death, but it did not seem to phase him one bit and he just trotted around on the 35 degree slopes and steeper as if he were on flat ground.

The peak of the mountain was very crowded and some brave hikers balanced themselves on top of boulders to get that perfect shot.

My favourite image from the day was of these rock climbers finally reaching the summit of a neighbouring mountain.  It made me excited for my climbing trip with Choi on Sunday.

I couldn't dilly-dally at the top after I reached Baegundae's peak, because I needed to get back home quickly and meet Young San.  I sprinted down the mountain as fast as I could, and made it back in a total time (up and down) of 2.5 hours - less than half of the advertised time.

My biggest success though, I felt, was that on the way to the National Park to hike the mountain I got a little brave and took a different bus than that which was listed in the guidebook, because I was fairly confident I had read the sign correctly and that it was going to the same place.  Additionally, I had my first real language break through and figured out that the phrase "anchuseyo?" (or something like that, I'm certain I don't have the write spelling) means "aren't you cold?"  I had taken off my coat and sweat pants and was in shorts and a T-shirt.  I must have been asked this question at least twelve times while people made mock shivering motions at me, and it felt good when I finally figured out what it meant.  I felt like I was developing the language abilities of the girl in my class who picked up "good job" from me.

I love the smell of money in the afternoon; it smells like pay day!  Lee called me over to his office to give me my salary for the week.  Now if only the Koreans had bills larger than 10 000 Won (roughly $10).

Actually, most of my plans for the evening fell through after this.  Lee said he would go to the sauna later, but fell asleep.  Nelson had to work overtime, and Hyeun A had to work overtime too.  However, Hyeun A worked at the same office as Lee and she gave me a quick lesson and some homework.

Lee and Hyeun A were impressed with my pronunciation and Lee told me "I'm not a fortune teller, but I think you will have a Korean wife."  He wasn't necessarily referring to Hyeun A, only that many Korean women are afraid of the language barrier between foreigners and themselves and so shy away from foreign men.  If I keep learning Korean there will be a 9:1 Korean:White Woman ratio, which is why so many White men marry Korean women when they're over there, I think.

Episode 19: In Which DFM Hikes Up The Wrong Mountain

The plan today was to cram as many supplies as possible into my back pack and head off for a day of hiking and climbing.  I decided to scrap my initial plan to hike every mountain in Seoul,  since many of the "mountains" are little more than hills and I didn't want to waste my time traveling across the city to run up a hill.  Instead, I have focused my plan on training for my summer mountain running season with some steep hiking up only the highest mountains.  The highest of them all is Baegundae peak at 836 meters high and so that's where I decided to go today.

I probably should have read at which stop to get off for the Baegundae hike, but I decided to wing it.  When I got off at my subway station nobody even knew where Baegundae peak was (never mind that it is in the Bukhansan National Park and you can see it from the street when you come out).  I finally found someone who recognized it but said there was no way to get to the park from where I was because it was too far.  They don't know DFM.

After about a half hour of walking and navigating by "feel" I came to the park.  A friendly park ranger sent me in the right direction and I was on my way.  I asked a number of people along the way if I was still on the right path, but I kept getting the same response:  "mulda."  I checked it out and that spelling means "bite."  I must have spelled it wrong because I'm pretty sure they were trying to say it was a long way.

I came across many friendly hikers, but these two were special.  This is Mr. and Mrs. Cha and they spoke quite a bit of English.  They have two daughters who are now grown up and married, and have both traveled around the world going to various Universities.  One of them had been to Montreal, Seattle, and is now living in San Francisco (I think I got the order right), and the other is living and studying in London.  Every few years they all get together at one of the cities and have a reunion.  Mrs. Cha also said that she had been to Vancouver, Toronto and was in Calgary during the '88 Winter Olympics, which would mean that she went to both Olympics that year since the Summer Olympics were in Seoul.  When I took their picture, Mr. Cha kept saying "thank you" to me.  Either taking a picture of a Korean is a sign of respect, or Koreans just haven't figured out how favours work and exactly whom is doing whom a favour when they let me take their picture.  I had a great time talking to Mr. and Mrs. Cha, but I had to get going so I said good-bye and raced on up the mountain (Mr. Cha called me "young and strong").

Eventually I came to a large wall with a gate in it.  Apparently this whole area was part of an 18th century fortress built in 1711, and part of the wall is still in tact.

 

The gates are attached to walls, and the walls connect many of the peaks.  Not only did they provide a good history lesson, but they also helped me find my way back afterwards.

I'm pretty sure that tall peak is Baegundae.  I am now on the other side of the mountain though, which means that not only can I see the other side of the mountain, but also that somewhere along the way I made a very wrong turn.  I decided here to turn back around and head back because it was getting late and I still wanted to go climbing.

On the way back, even though I had a wall to follow, I still managed to make a wrong turn and had no idea where I was going.  The footing got really treacherous and on more than one occasion I thought I was going for a bad tumble down a steep slope.

Eventually I staggered back down to the bottom absolutely exhausted.  Luckily there was a bus back to my subway station waiting for me.

After eating some tuna and rice I was ready to go again and so I set off to find the Climbing Academy climbing gym.

Climbing Academy is owned by Chung Seung Kwan.  I was told that Mr. Chung is a North Face sponsored Alpinist.  I did some research and it turns out that just last year he led a climb up K2 -the world's most dangerous mountain - and in 1988 was the leader of an expedition that summited Everest.  In 1998 he won a silver medal in the X-Games for Ice climbing in both the difficulty and speed divisions.  He is also a very nice guy and shook my hand and let me climb for free this day.

In the picture above you can see that everyone is stretching.  I swear that Korean rock climbers spend more time stretching and doing crunches than actually climbing.  Every gym I've been to always has at least one person who stretches and/or works on his/her abs the entire time I am there.

At the top-right of the picture you can see a white guy in a white T-shirt.  His name is Billy and he is a former Marine from Illinois.  Billy is a genius.  He speaks four languages and finished a degree in Linguistics in one year while holding down two full-time jobs (yes, one year).  He's only been in Korea for five months but he seems to have almost mastered the language.  I was in awe.  Billy told me that after going through so much needless suffering as a Marine in training finishing school in a year was nothing.  Billy also showed me how to get to O2 World climbing gym, which is the largest gym in Seoul and probably next on my list of gyms at which to climb.

Well, that's the short version of a long day, but I need to get ready to meet Perry for what he calls "a funny speech."

Special Episode

This episode exists as an insert to tell some funny stories that happened this week which I forgot to mention earlier.

1.  While hiking with Perry I saw some hikers worshipping a pig's head.  It looked as strange as it sounds.  Since I had read about this phenomenon from other foreigners who had been hiking in Korea I asked Perry what it was all about.  Perry originally told me that they were praying for a safe hiking season with no injuries.  This seemed reasonable, but I had to ask about the significance of the pig's head.  Apparently the pig represents money in Korea, and praying to the pig's head also had the added benefit of bestowing great wealth upon the worshippers.

2.  After hiking I was searching through Itaewon for the jjinppang as I mentioned a few episodes ago.  What I forgot to mention was that at one of the street vendors I checked out, there was a great deal of chicken (dak) being sold.  The woman operating the restaurant asked me if I wanted some chicken.  I said no, and she must have taken this for meaning something else.  She gave me a "special price" of $60.  For some chicken? I thought.  My confused look prompted her to lower her price to $40.  I still thought this was too high so I asked her "for what?"  "For sex," was her reply.  Later, I recounted the experience to my friend Nelson who said he and Noel had the same experience when they asked her where they could find a masseuse to relieve Noel's sore back.  It's no wonder I always get the same look of pity from Koreans when I tell them I live in Itaewon.

Episode 10: In Which DFM Does Some Korean Hiking And Eats All Sorts Of Foods For The First Time

One of the first people I met when I went to Ace Climbing Center yesterday was a man named Kim In-Paik (I call him Perry, because that's his "English name").  He mentioned that he was going hiking at Gwanak-san the next morning and I asked if I could tag along.

Hiking on the weekends is like driving during rush hour.  Swarms of people could be seen all over the subway stations wearing Norwegian knee-high wool socks and with every conceivable type of hiking aid imaginable, all heading towards one of the 25 mountains in and arround Seoul.  This picture is just of the back end of a mob; there are more up in front of the pack and a lot coming behind me.

Of course there were myriad workout parks.

Even when the trail split off in many directions, there were still enough people to make sure you could never get lonely... or a have a moment to yourself.

 

Along the way I saw the last ice of winter and the first flower of spring... look closely, it's there.

About halfway up the mountain, Perry, myself, and Perry's two friends, Ji-Sun and Young-Joo (I have no idea if that's how you spell them, but that's my best guess) broke off from the herd to have some lunch.  Ji-Sun and Young-Joo whipped out all sorts of ingredients and Perry had brought a small propane-fueled camping stove and accomanying cookware.  We had oysters cooked in some sort of batter, pickled rice shoots in soy sauce, a very similar soup to the one I had yesterday, and dubu kimchi (sounds like "tow-go gim-chee") with daeji bulgogi.  In English that's tofu kimchi with pork.

Perry brought along a small bottle of Chinese wine with which to have a toast.  In an effort to sample everything Korean (Chinese wine sort of counts) I had a very small cup (you can see it in the picture next to the normal sized clear plastic cup).  My report is that Chinese wine tastes like Robitussin.  It's quite powerful, and will clear your head up right away (it'll clear it right off if you're not careful).  Perry is a big fan of the wine and seemed to think that drinking a little wine was good for keeping the body warm, good for learning a new language, good for curing any illnesses, and good for solving just about any other problem life throws your way.

To pass the time and keep warm, Perry and I would climb on the boulders surrounding our lunch site.  Perry would also tell me many Korean parables and try to teach me how to speak Korean.

Warning:  Korean joke coming.  

A man is walking along in the mountains when he has to evacuate his bowels.  He covers up the excrement with a stone.  Another hiker comes along and has to evacuate her bowels as well.  She covers up the remainder with a stone.  After many years a hiker comes along and finds a large pile of stones.  It is a Korean tradition that when you come across a large pile of stones you kneel down and pray.

It's tough to see, but I thought this picture was hilarious.  It was inside a public washroom at the bottom of the mountain, on a condom dispenser.  Inside the condom are two small smiling children.

Perry thought I was very brave to come to Korea by myself.  He himself had traveled to Thailand and could understand how difficult it was for me.  He said that he liked my spirit and offered me free room and board at his house.  He also offered to show me around to places that are so traditional even most Koreans don't know about them.  Since I still have two weeks left at my gosiwon and I enjoy the free rice and kimchi (but not enough to stay another month), I told him that I would take him up on his offer at the beginning of April.

A final note on Korean hiking.  Korean hiking and DFM hiking are very different things.  Koreans like to take an entire day and commune with nature.  I like to take an entire hour and attempt to race to the top of the mountain.  I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I go hiking with Koreans.

When I arrived back in Itaewon I needed to go get some apples for my lunch the next day.  When I came up to ground level out of the subway station I was absolutely blown away by all the white people.  It was whitey central tonight.  I couldn't understand it.  I knew Itaewon was a tourist destination for some reason, but this was unreal.  Later I reckoned that it was just a typical Saturday night and all the English teachers and American soldiers had come out to get drunk, get in trouble and generally give foreigners a bad name... so, nothing out of the ordinary.

I did notice that while I can count on one hand the number of obese Koreans I've seen so far, I could only count on one hand the number of white people in Korea who weren't overweight this night.  It was unbelievable.  Besides raising the average bodyfat percentage of Seoul about 50%, white people partying in Itaewon are also loud and obnoxious.  It's no wonder racist Koreans hate us, we're a scourge on the planet.  I vow to never go out into Itaewon after 8:00 PM ever again so long as I can help it.

Episode 8: In Which DFM Hikes Suraksan And Breaks His Tooth

The big plan for today was to hike up a mountain.  I had ran up to the top of the hill in Namsan Park, but that was child's play compared to the real mountains surrounding Seoul.

I checked out a website about hiking in Seoul and the first mountain that came up was Surak-san (I think the suffix -san means mountain in Korean).  I probably should have researched its location a little more, but I decided to just head for the subway station entitled "Suraksan" on the map.

I wasn't sure how to get to the trail from the station though, but while traveling to Suraksan station I read in my Lonely Planet guide about a route up the mountain.  This route called for a quick transfer to a different line than the one I was currently on and heading to a different station.

My station was the last stop for my train and so it made it easy to find.  When I exited I found myself in the middle of a small market.  This market reminded me of Namdaemun market, but was nowhere even close to being as large.  The problem with exiting in a market was that I had absolutely no idea where I was or where to go.  Also, this market really stank, and that's saying a lot coming from a guy who can't smell.

I wondered around for a while and of course got myself stuck in wrong streets in dead ends, but eventually I found my way to this sign which looked positive.  I couldn't understand any of the directions on the sign, and I wasn't entirely sure which mountain was which or where I even was on the map, but at least I knew I was at the bottom of a mountain and that's all I needed to know.

Before I even made my way onto the trail I ran into an outdoor badminton court, an archery range, and of course a workout park (four in fact).  This one had some different equipment in it.  On the left is a spinning log that allows you to attempt your "Log Driver's Waltz," and the device in the middle is for working your obliques by standing on a platform hinged at the top and swinging your legs together from side to side while holding onto the handles.  The third object is just a big wheel you can spin around, but I'm not sure what good it would do you since it's very easy to spin.

 

I wasn't sure how to get up the mountain, but I took a road and it led me to this - some sort of Buddhist shrine I gather.  Unfortunately that was all that was there, and there was no road or trail leading any further up the mountain.  I had to turn back.

 

I went all the way back down to a fork in the road near the beginning of the trek and took the other road.  I decided to make up for lost time by sprinting up the trail.  It was hard work, but it soon brought me to another Buddhist Shrine type place, this one being guarded by a stone lion and a dog who kept barking at me and then running away when I came near.  I later found out that you are supposed to make a donation to the shrine... oops.

I looked up and still had no idea where I was going, but I figured that this mountain top was as good a mountain as any, and so I set a course for the peak.

 

The trail started to become treacherous, and then it became even more treacherous.  Still I headed on undaunted.

  

Eventually I came to a small clearing with a man in a business suit standing and gazing out at one of the most magnificent views I've ever seen.  I couldn't believe he was in a business suit with his leather shoes up here.  It just goes to show you how fit Koreans are that they would consider this hike easy enough to not warrant changing.  Actually, this man was in stark contrast to the first hikers I saw coming back off the mountain when I was just starting out.  There were two women who were wearing enough gear to scale the Matterhorn, and here this guy was in his work clothes, I chuckled as I made the comparison in my head.  I stopped to enjoy the view with him and he explained to me that I was indeed on Surak mountain and the mountain I just took a picture of was Bulamsan.  After I commented on how Seoul was so big you couldn't even see the other side (and not just because of my poor picture here), I bid him adieu and carried off to reach the summit.

The trail started to get really wild now.  If you look closely at the top of the picture you'll see that certain parts have a rope hanging from them to help you get up because they're too steep and/or there is not sufficient footing.  That's always a good sign.  I actually made it up this part without the rope, but it could have come in handy where I tried to go next.

I ran under the metal telephone cable tower and so I knew I was getting quite high up now.  I also knew that I was getting into a little more than simple hiking when I saw a sign signaling a gathering point for those in need of emergency rescue.  As if it were an omen, around the next corner I saw this rock face.  It's tough to tell from the picture but the grade on this rock face is probably about 70 degrees.  Actually the trail hadn't stopped, it went off to the side, but I decided to attempt to go up this rock anyways.  I used a combination of rock climbing and tree climbing to get myself half-way up, but eventually I ran out of tree and the only thing preventing me from falling and breaking my legs was the 1-inch diameter dead tree branch I was white-knuckling.

I eventually got my backpack unstuck from the tree branches and made my way back down.  The trail was easier, but I still managed to slip on some of the steep traverses and almost slid down the mountain on a couple of occasions.  The rock was covered in dead leaves/grass/pine needles, and every so often I'd wipe out and start sliding down the mountain.  Each time though I managed to hang on by my fingertips (literally) to a small irregularity in the otherwise smooth rock surface, and this saved me from a nasty ride.

After some close calls and some hard scrambling towards the end, I came to this clearing and these weird shapes in the dirt that the wind had formed.  I looked for the rest of the trail, but like the bear all I could see was the other side of the mountain and so I realized that I had made it.

All that remained was a 20 foot climb up the vertical face of this boulder structure.... Or the slightly less difficult scramble up the back side.  I went for plan B, but it was still a struggle.  Someone had chipped handholds into the boulder making it easier for which, at this point, I was very thankful.

Surprisingly, the view from the top of the mountain was not as good as where I had looked out before with the man in the suit.  Perhaps that was because I was actually quite scared up on the top of the boulder and so I couldn't enjoy it, or because I had now moved further away from the city?  Either way, one false move and I was a goner.  I did get this nice shot of a mountain on the other side though.

Pretty soon it would get too dark to see and it was now getting quite windy so I wanted to get down as quickly as possible.  Once I got past the really tricky pitches at the top, I opened up into a run.  It was quite fun and I got a good head of steam going.  With the winding sections you saw in the pictures before it almost felt like a bobsled run... except with roots, stumps, and tree trunks to knock you out or trip you up if you made a wrong step.  I almost ran into the power line structure, but luckily someone had already thought about this and had taped on some foam padding.

I managed to make a wrong turn somewhere and came out at yet another workout park.  I ate a dinner of rice and tuna I had prepared earlier and checked out the park.  This one had some different apparatus like angled monkey bars, wood stumps of varying heights to jump around on, a rope walking challenge (kind of like a spider's web made of rope you have to walk across), and this rolling log of death.  This is by far the hardest obstacle I've come across at a workout park yet.  The log has a groove on each end and it will roll from side to side in the depression cut out for it on the smaller, perpendicular log.  I tried three times to walk across it, but each time I could only make it a couple of steps before the log bucked me off like a mechanical bull.  If I had more time and light I would have taken off my backpack and really given it a go, but I had to keep moving.

It turned out I needn't have worried because I was right at the bottom of the mountain anyways.  I dragged my weary legs back into town (a fair hike on its own) and tried to find the station again.

This is one of the perks of getting on at the first/last station... empty seats.  This is a rare sight on a Seoul subway car indeed.

When I got off the train at Itaewon station I tried to find that truck with the jjinppang (giant steamed bun with sweet bean paste I ate last week and loved).  I couldn't find him though, so I settled for a dozen mandarin oranges (tangerines) for less than $3.00.

When I got home I set about doing my laundry and took a shower.  I was going to attempt to get to bed early, but long story short I broke a tooth trying to rip open some packaging, and I spent an hour or so trying to set up the appropriate files through my travel insurance to have the tooth repaired.  I found a reputable dentist in Seoul who speaks English and will attempt to make an appointment tomorrow as soon as possible.

Tomorrow will be a rest day since I'm out of money for the week.  I of course will go climbing.