Adventures from around the World

Mount Wolchul (or Wolchulsan in Korean) is located in Yeongam, about 45 minutes from Mokpo.  The mountain is only 809m high, but there is a very challenging obstacle that can make this relatively small mountain take the entire day to climb.  This obstacle is called the goat’s path, and I will later discover why this is so aptly named.

We met at the Mokpo Bus Terminal at 9am. “We” refers to me, Liz, Camino, Krista, and Camille.  We finally found everyone, bought our tickets, bought food and drink for the day, and jumped onto the bus at 9:50, which got us to Yeongam around 10:30.  So even before we headed out for the mountain, we decided to use the washroom.  This sounds like a mundane task, not worthy of entry, but it is actually far from it.  Basically if we didn’t use the facilities now, we would have to pee on the mountain, and there was no way I was going to do that!  So we walk into the festering bathroom, which really was only a small step up from peeing on the hill, and realise 2 things: 1. there are only squatters and 2. there is no toilet paper.  So we hunt for tissues in the station, find them and squat…the most awkward and uncomfortable thing I may have ever done.

The climb began just like any other, fairly simple trail through the forest.  It was a little steeper than most, but a nice climb nonetheless.  We stopped quite frequently as most of the group was not very fit.  But I didn’t complain, it was actually nice to stop as the weather was VERY hot and humid.  We discovered part way that Liz was actually afraid of heights, and needed to be coaxed to continue in areas where the path narrowed and looked out at the incredible view.  The path stops somewhat at these flat rocks, so we took this opportunity to stop for lunch.  While eating we met these 3 Korean men.  One was to be married in a few days, the other was his future brother-in-law, and the third was his father, who was celebrating his 75^th birthday.  He was celebrating by not only climbing this mountain, but by doing so in a mixture of socks and flip flops….It seems that climbing is in the Korean blood, or something…cos these people are absolutely crazy, and are in a way, like billy goats.

The climb became much more interesting after this.  The Koreans headed back the way they came, as this is technically, and legally the end of the path.  The path that we chose to take is “off limits.” Some highlights from this gruelling leg of the journey include clinging to boulders, climbing over, under, around, and in between boulders, and using ropes to climb up, down, and across crevasses.  This was a workout and a half, you worked every muscle in your body, and it was in many occasions very nerve wracking.  And if it was scary for me, think about poor Liz!  The problem for her was that she knew she had to continue, for it would be nearly impossible to go back the way we came once we were well into the path marked “off limits.”  I would say that the scariest part was using a rope to guide you down this huge boulder.  It was quite like real mountain climbing, except we had no gear, and there is no one sharing the path with us…if someone were to get hurt we would literally have to carry them out…and it was hard enough without.  But luckily no one was ‘seriously’ hurt.  Camino did slip while using the ropes and cut her leg, but she was able to continue.

After cutting through over-grown bushes we eventually make it to the real path, and to other Koreans.  The rest was incredibly gruelling, but mostly because we were so tired.  Eventually, after 4.5 hours we made it to the top…I felt almost sick, from the sun and the lack of food…in the 4.5 hours I had only eaten 1 hard boiled egg.  I ate another egg and an apple at the top, and this made me feel much better.  We took the real path down, and as anyone who has climbed a mountain knows, this can be as tedious if not more than going up.  But, 3 hours later we made it down, just before sunset!  It was incredibly gratifying…we all had such a sense of accomplishment and we rewarded ourselves with a cab ride back to the bus station—all 5 of us in one cab!

We took the bus home and had originally planned to change and go out for dinner, but we were so exhausted that that plan was cancelled quickly.  I instead ate a roll of Kimbab from 7-11, which looks similar to sushi.  This may have been a mistake, for I believe the combination of the heat, sun, and dodgy Kimbab caused my sickness the next day….for which I had to take a sick day from school.

So last week was Cheusok, or mid-autumn festival, or thanksgiving…however you want to put it, its a holiday.  So I had a 5 day weekend (yay me).  I decided to stay pretty local here in Mokpo, which surprisingly turned out to be a lot of fun.

On Saturday I went to Yeongam to see my vice principal who had invited me to lunch.  I took the bus, which was incredibly nerve wracking because I had no idea when I was supposed to get off, and I kept seeing signs for Yeongam and I thought that we had passed my stop, but luckily the bus driver let me know when we arrived. 
I arrived kinda early because I had no idea how long the bus ride would be or when the buses left.  When I got to the bus terminal in Mokpo the bus to Yeongam was waiting.  Also the ride was only 40 minutes.  So I got to Yeongam about an hour early.  But my VP was waiting when I arrived. So into his car and around Yeongam we went.  This did not take very long because, well Yeongam is very small ~10 000 poeple.  So we went up this hill and looked out at the town below, saw rice fields, and saw this rock climbing facility.  He then took me to where he lives and showed me around the facilities….2 pools and a norebong (aka Karaoke bar).  He wanted me to sing, but I refused, as it was just the two of us…so instead he sang for me, some Beatles track…it was fabulous (*sarcasm noted). 
After this he took me out to a restaurant to eat.  What did this restaurant serve? Eel! Oh I do not like eel.  But I ate it anyway ~ 2 eels each, why because my mom always taught me that it is rude to not eat what is given to you when you are a guest. Thanks Mom!
Afterwards, he wanted to take me on a hike up Wolchulsan, but it started raining, and besides I had plans for dinner with Mir-ah.  So instead he simply dropped me off at the bus station to go home.
At 5:30 I was to meet Mir-ah and her family outside the Pizza Hut (about 2 minutes from my house).  I was late…but it was not my fault.  You see the lights, which are already retarded and incredibly slow,  were super slow for Cheusok.  You see it is traditon for people to go to their parent’s house for the holiday.  This means that a ton of people are fleeing Seoul, Busan, and other cities and traveling to smaller cities like Mokpo.  Well traffic WAS insane, there were cops controlling movement, and the lights were running extra long.  So this meant that I had to wait at the light for literally 10 minutes….so I would’ve been on time, early infact, had it not been for these blasted lights!
Anyway, I met up with Mir-ah, her husband, 4 year old son, and her sister and we went to this little ITALIAN place near the water in Hadang (new Mokpo).  I think they did Italien for me The place was really nice, and the food was ok.  I had spaghetti and seafood, the spaghetti was slightly under-cooked and there actually wasn’t much of it…there was more seafood infact, and quite the variety at that….shrimp, mussels, crab, and clams.  Her family was super nice.  Her husband is an English teacher as well, and her sister is an administrator at another elementary school.  Her son was super adorable, and her was singing and laughing the whole time….he nick-named me Miss English.

On Sunday, I walked to Lotte Mart (about 30 mins from my house) to meet up with Liz, who lives in Mokpo, and Debbie and Ramona, who had made the trip for the weekend.  We started off looking around lotte mart, which has a much better selection of clothes than emart, and then had lunch at a Japanese Restaurant.  The food was pretty good, I had a soup with temura and random vegetables.  It was raining, so instead of hiking one of Mokpo’s mountains, we walked down to the museum area and checked out the culture centre.  There was a lot of art inside, a lot of landscapes (mostly seasides), some modern art, and for the most part it was pretty nice.  After the museum we decided to head down to the warf to check out the fish market in old Mokpo.  So we got in a cab and tried our best to tell him where we wanted to go, including showing him on a map!  But he took us in the complete opposite direction and dropped us off in front of a fish restaurant.  So we got out and flagged another cab…this time we told him to go to the ferry terminal, which is just down the road from the market.  This time we actually got there. *yay us*  So we spent some time wandering around the area.  It was pretty cool, the streets are very narrow and there are these little alleys that take you within the labryith of the fish market.  Some parts were … special.  There was a little boy peeing on the street and they were actually gutting the fish on the street…. but they had an amazing selection of sea food, including a bunch of stuff that I would never want to touch (though I probably already have).  We wandered further down the waterfront as dusk set in.  You could see some of the nearby islands, and as it became dark lights came on all over the islands illuminating them in multiple colours, it was beautiful!  Afterward we headed back to the lotte mart area, called peace square.  The whole square and water front was lit up, actually most of Mokpo is lit up at night, its kinda like a mini Las Vegas.  There are places along the boardwalk where you can rent bikes, rollerblades, scooters, etc.  We were walking here and almost got hit by several.  There was also a man playing the sax in the square, he was pretty good!  We ate dinner near the square at a chicken restaurant.  We wanted to have spicy chicken and made the mistake of asking 0the waitress, who only spoke broken english, to make it hot.  Well as soon as they brought the plate of chicken a crowd of wait staff began to form and they watch as we took our first excruciating bite.  Then came the laughter as we frantically grabbed for our water.  We had to order rice to help cool it down, Ramona and Liz resorted to washing the sauce off in the soup, but all of us were still having issues feeling our mouths….it was actually the hottest thing I have ever tasted in my entire life!!!  Afterwards we walked around peace square, had some coffee and then returned to our respective abodes for a well deserved night sleep.

Monday was raining, and so I stayed in my apartment, cleaned and watched movies….as such there is not much to write about.

Tuesday was the actual Cheusok…as it was the night of the full moon and the holiday is based on the lunar calendar.  So everything was closed.  But it was the first day of the holiday that was sunny, so I decided that I needed to take advantage of this good luck…so I went for a bike ride, ended up in Peace Square and read for a good chunk of the day.  I went to Paris Baguette to grab dinner.  I walk passed this bakery/carb shop everyday from school, but I never go in, so I decided why not, since it was the only thing open.   They have amazing baked goods and dinner items, that were especially scrumptious that evening while I watched Moulin Rouge!

Wednesday I went to Wolchulsan…this was a crazy adventure and requires its own post!