Hiking on 스리산

Today was unbelievable. Multiple times throughout today I thought -today's blog will be the best one yet.

I was committed to hiking up Surisan Mountain today. Yesterday I solved my money problem, now I can finally have some fun. I had read so many articles about different hikes and station to get off at that I figured it was better to just go suss it out for myself. I bought a snack and a bottle of water and headed off. I had a choice between two train stations to walk to in order to get to the trail head. I decided to walk to the one I hadn't been to since I ought to develop a better sense of place. But I got lost, which was a bad omen. Getting lost on the way to hiking in the mountains is a red flag.

Instead I wound up at the other station. Whatever, I'll still get to the right stop.

I loaded up my new transit card and got on the train. I was carefully decoding the Korean to find my stop when I noticed the English translations on everything -everything. So no problem getting to the right stop.

This was the map. Please note that based on my experience, the height of this mountain is obscenely exaggerated in this picture.

The trail began simply enough. Looked like it might even take me to the Wizard of Oz.

One of the first things I noticed was this trail was carpeted. That is a woven carpet on the right hand side, and it continued that way for most of my journey. Seems a little easy when there's carpeting, but it doesn't end there! Don't worry about bugs because many of the trees are wrapped in fly paper to take care of anything that wants to buzz in your face!

Better yet, take a look at the dangerous wild life. They were everywhere...

The first peak was supposed to have a Korean flag on it, and the second had a Buddhist shrine. I have no idea because I never made it to these peaks. Odd, since I hadn't seen a lot of other options for trails. Eventually I just started following the direction where most people were going to and from. It wasn't hard since the trail was actually quite busy.

Then I got to the bit that reminded me of the Grouse Grind. Already I was being to feel like the kind of hiker I used to shake my head at. I was new, I didn't speak the language, I read about this online, I probably wasn't following Korean hiker etiquette, and I wasn't reading the signs. Here is when the trail got steep.

And it was hot and humid. So I took a nap on a cold rock half way up to refresh myself. And I'm so glad I did because of what happened next.

I made it to a staircase. Feeling a little tired I stopped to let the woman behind me pass and figure I should take a photo. Seeing me, she offered to take my photo. Not in English, but in Korean with gestures. This is that photo.

Next flight of stairs she offers to take my photo again. Then starts talking to me. But in this mix of Korean, gestures, laughing and the occasional word of English. The message I got was "little girl", "Toronto" "3". I'm assuming she spent 3 years in Toronto as a little girl, it could've been 3 months, days, maybe even a 3 hour layover -no  idea. 

I follow her up past the stairs and the trail splits into two. She seems to be telling me something about where the go, but I have no idea I just keep laughing and miming. The only Korean I've been able to say to her so far is a half hearted 'kamsahamnida' (thank you) for taking my picture and a 'Nae' (yes) when she asked me to reposition myself for another photo.

Before the trail continues she passes me one of her two hiking poles. Now I have to follow her. At this point I'm a bit embarrassed about how little Korean I know, and I could seem to get across that I have only been here for ten days.

She continues on to take more photos...

With our broken communication I eventually learned she hikes in these mountains every week. Then I began to see her enthusiasm to guide me is kind of like many of the hikers I met at Grouse Mountain. There should be a stereotype about friendly hikers -because their just nice people.

She takes me off to the side to show me a place that -I think- she likes to have coffee and watch the sunrise. We take some pictures and she whips out the coffee, a peach, and some cooked purple potatoes! She invites me to share with her. So now were having a picnic.

I'm so thankful I brought along a Korean phrase book that we used to communication. Her name is Eun Hi, she grew up in the country and finds it boring, now she lives in Gunpo and hikes every week. She asked about where I lived, if I was a teacher, how long I would be staying in Korea, if I did much hiking in Canada and we talked about our favourite food and drinks.

Our communication had improved and she taught me little words along the way. I wish I had helped her a bit more, I'm pretty sure she was using the word 'kibble' to refer to all food, but I could be wrong. That peach was good kibble though.

She point out at the mountain range ahead of us and said "3" and pointed at her watch. "So it will take up three hours to get down?" At this point I was going to have to follow her. From out lunch spot we could see the peaks I was supposed to go and Ansan would be on the other side of that. I knew if I went down on any side the park was surrounded by the train tracks and I could easily get home from there. She was consistently nice to me, always laughing and smiling -finally I made a friend. 

I followed her down the mountain and she told about the Buddhist temple nearby and the different flowers. She kept pointing at her watch saying three. "How is it still three hours to go? The ground is almost flat!" I thought to myself. 

But then when we neared the bottom, a beautiful park setting with hikers resting on benches, she started to yell to her friend. She told me he was an "old woman" which had to be wrong so when I met him I used the phrasebook to ask "is this your husband?" ...after a lot of laughter, it appears no, that was not her husband. The were "mountain friends". He had been waiting, since they were supposed to meet at 3pm, duh.

I talked a bit to my new mountain friend, Ansunbu. He has a brother working as a dentist in Canada. I think, again, English is not so widely spoken here.

We got cleaned up from the hike. There were these spray guns that just sprayed air really fast that you could use to brush dirt of you, but also dry sweat -brilliant.

Then we bought some apples out of the back of a truck, and I asked Eun Hi about getting to the train station. She nodded her head after I showed her the sentence in the book. They walked over to Ansunbu's car and opened the door for me. Only looked back on it do I realize this could've been a very easy kidnapping. But these people were nothing but kind and wonderful to me.

Now you probably think that were going to the train station, but we're not.

They took me to a train museum! Not because of miscommunication but because there was a festival there! I remember mum once trying to explain 'those Korean dancers with the hats, you know' *rolls head*. Here they are...

From there we went around this beautiful lake, which I can't seem to locate on a map, taking even more photos. These are my favourites...

Eun Hi

Ansunbu

It gets better. We went for dinner in a traditional restaurant over looking the lake. Here's the view.

I can't begin to express how kind these two were to me given that I could only barely choke out a couple Korean sentences and probably only correctly answered a quarter of their questions. When Eun Hi wanted to look at my photos and sa my phone battery was dying, she actually got a charger from the restaurant staff.

In the phrasebook Ansunbu must've gone through every page trying to find the word for the food they had ordered. He said chicken at one point, in English. So when the dish came and I saw chicken in it, I asked "chicken", they both laughed and he said "No". Then Eun Hi begins to quack and I go "Oh duck!" or as I'm told 'ori'.

So we had duck and rice and kimchi. What I particuarily like is there was no salt on anything. Instead you were given a small bowl with salt so you could add as much as you like!

I thanked them profusely for the meal. We had a cup of coffee. Exchanged phone numbers (that could be a difficult call). And they dropped me off a the train station.

I was so delighted at the weirdity, the incredible experiences that come with going with the flow. So many of my favourite travel memories are made this way, by just trusting my instincts, seeing the good in people, and probably cashing in some of my good karma.

I thought back to that time I helped the German couple get on the right bus for Lynn Canyon and I ended up giving them a tour of the park, taking their photos, and helping them get back on the right bus. What goes around comes around.