Soraksan

Last weekend I went on a Korean Adventure...with a company ironically called Adventure Korea. They packed 2 buses filled with foreigners and headed to the Eastern half of the country.

I experienced a strange sensation once I was in the mountains...

...breathing...

I guess I've gotten used to the air the way it is...I forgot the way it should feel like.

The mountains are nice..but not very tall. Two hikes were offered...one was to the National Park's namesake...or to go to a second...shorter mountain. Well Soraksan had a Gondola going to the top. THAT'S NOT HIKING!!!

So I settled for the second tallest mountain....but the better hike... The hiking trail itself was quintessentially Korean...by that I mean along the trail there were 3 minimarts, 4 restaurants, and a Buddhist monk at the top of the mountain selling beads.

The hike itself wasn't challenging until the last part...then came the stairs...lots of them...steep too. But even then...the air was so clean I practically flew up the stairs as my friends huffed and puffed away.

That night we wander around the tourist trap and entertained ourselves at the norebang (Korean Kareoke) and a jinjibang (Korean Spa)