just my mommy and me

As most of you know, my Mum came to visit for two weeks recently! It was an awesome visit –  she really got to experience a lot that Korea has to offer and we got to hang out a lot even though I was working during the week. Here are some highlights:

tofu salad and fish paste soup!

We eventually got to Andong over Chuseok (note: do NOT try to travel on the first day of Chuseok if you have not booked way in advanced). We loved the traditional villages, the mask festival, all the crafty things and of course the food! Mum was very adventurous with her food-trying and generally liked everything that wasn’t too spicy. She even tried kimchi once a day :)!

so handy!

We took a nice hike up Cheonggyesan with Alexis and her Dad. Mum loved the air pressure boot cleaners at the end of the trail :)! Such gorgeous weather!

we are officially a tourist attraction!

We took hilarious sticker photos and when we were at the top of Seoul tower we noticed a bunch of people had put pictures of themselves on the wall. So we are now at the top of Seoul tower for all to see!

story time!

Mum came into my class several times to read books and give out Canadian treats! The kids loved her but were concerned that she was going to take me back to Canada.

dalkgalbi and soju!

Mum was gung-ho (sp?) for coming out with us and participating in our regular hang-outs. She came to Friday night BBQ, the GS several times, a beer bang and of course chicken galbi. Things got a little crazy at the noraebang and she even did a shot of soju!

great way to top off the visit!

On her second weekend here, we took a trip up to Seoraksan, which has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful parts of Korea. Well, apparently the rest of Korea also thought it was the best weekend to go because it was absolutely packed! Now I know ‘peak season’ means ‘don’t even think about it’ season. We had a good time anyways!

So those are my highlights, maybe I will get Mum to write in with her votes because there’s a lot we did that I didn’t talk about. These are things I would definitely recommend if you/your family are coming to visit Korea!

the hike of a lifetime

It has now been 2 weeks since my trip to Seoraksan and I am feeling very uninspired to write a blog about it now…

So, here is a “brief” description of the trip through pictures:

Blessing the entrance

There were 3 different options on the first day – a 4 hour hike, a 2 hour hike or a cable car. Somehow I got coerced into doing the 4 hour hike. The starting point of all these was at the Big Buddah at the park entrance.

The view on Day 1!! Not too shabby!

It ended up to be a stellar hike, with nice weather and lots of time to catch up with Helen, my co-teacher who came on the same trip! What I didn’t love about that hike was the stairs. We had been hiking for about an hour and a half when we came to the bottom if the stairs. I was seriously about to turn around just looking at them, but I convinced myself that it wasn’t much further to the top. Wrong. Well, it only took half an hour, but 30 minutes of continuous stair-master is no easy feat. I was feeling very accomplished by the time I got to the top, but unfortunately the clouds had rolled in and we only had a view from one side of the mountain.

The cute town had Swiss-esq hotels and scenery!

We got back to our small town, checked into the hotel and checked out our surroundings. That night we had dinner with the rest of the group and I was so exhausted I took a bath and fell asleep around 9:30! I was so tired I thought I might not make it on the long (10 hour) hike the next day, but the next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and excited.

Our view after only about 45 mins of hiking.

After a few minutes of hiking I knew I had made the right choice!!! That being said… the first hour was a steep, steep climb and if it had been like that for much longer it would NOT have been enjoyable!

Stole this one.... awesome pic!!!

The most enjoyable part of the trip, hiking-wise, was from about the 2nd hour to the 6th. We were still in awe of the scenery and we were walking along the ridge of the mountain range, so we weren’t continuously climbing or descending. Of course we were in awe the whole time, but it’s easier to appreciate it when your kneecaps don’t feel like they’re stabbing you (sry Mom, no poles!).

After about 5ish hours. Loving it!

It took us about 6 hours to reach the rest area where we had our make-shift lunches of nuts, processed cheese and choco-pies. It was pretty cold, so we didn’t linger over lunch and climbed the next 20 mins to the highest point in Seoraksan – also the third highest point in Korea!

Big love for the highest peak at Seoraksan!

The trouble started when one of the girls I was walking with started having a lot of trouble with her knee. She was in quite a bit of pain and when we made it back down to the rest stop a man came up to us and gave her some freeze-spray and asprin. We knew we had a loooong way down, so we braced ourselves for the descent.

Our awesome little hiking group at the tip top! Notice Laura's cane :(!

The rest of the hike was spent playing games, telling stories, singing songs… anything to keep our minds off our knees and thighs! We basically didn’t stop to rest because we wanted to get down as quickly as possible… but we were still the last ones back to the bus!

For the last 3 hours we walked along a stream in with some gorgeous 'waterfalls'!!

We kept seeing sings that said “2 km”, and then we got to that point, and we would see another sign saying we still had further to go! Eventually we made it to the bottom, just as it was really getting dark.

The 11th hour – about 30 mins before we found the bus.

When I got back to the bus, Cate and Sarah had a cold beer waiting for me and I collapsed in the backseat. Amazingly, after dinner our hiking group plus a few others had enough energy to hit up a noraebang and stayed up pretty late. The next day we were all pooched though. It was really an amazing trip and I can’t wait to go back!!!