Day 22 - Best Day Yet!!

Woah, this is gonna be a hard one to write I think, its so difficult to put it all into words, I will never justify it fully but you can always use your imaginations a bit!

So had a good 3 hours sleep, woke up late 8:40am. I was like shit, shit, shit I'm late for hiking trip, then I was like wait focus, how far do I have to get, checked the map as was gonna get the tube, but realised actually I was probably ok to get a taxi on time. I phoned Hijee to check if she was still going and awake, and she was on her way so off I went. Amazingly the taxi driver spoke English, and was quite funny. Anyways it was about 40 min drive, which is actually only about 7 pounds in a taxi in Korea. Anyways Hijee texted me on the way and said she had to get off the tube because she needed a rest because she was too Hijee Bijeed the night before, which was kind of my fault! So she was going to be 40 mins late, when I arrived I saw the rest of the hiking group, and usually I am always late, but I said I'd wait for Hijee, and we didnt really want them to know we were an item so I had to hide and run off. I texted Eric to say I was too late despite only being 20 yards away and 10 mins early! Then went to find a coffee shop in the sunshine, its often a challenge to find a coffee shop or pub where you can sit outside in Korea. They are not that into sitting outside, like in England, plus they don't like sun tans as pale skin is the preferred aesthetic ideal. Anyways found one, but it had a bloody no smoking sticker on the table, but I just put my tray over it by mistake and forgot! Anyways an hour later sweet Hijee arrived and we had more coffee and drinks and enjoyed the sunshine. Eric kept on texting to see where we were and we couldnt decide whether we wanted to try and catch up with the group, so we thought to toss a coin, but then decided we didnt want to be with the group anyways and we would just get a nice picnic, and go somewhere nice to eat it, as we were sort of in Mountain country. We got a taxi to the foot of the mountain and started walking up this wooden walk way covered with rubber, which ran alongside the road, it was really hot and up hill, this hot uphill wooden walk appeared to be never ending, and highly unpleasant with a hangover and I started to think 'I thought we were supposed to be having fun?' Anyways of 40 minutes we arrived at another car park and wondered why the taxi man didnt drop us off there. We then got onto the stone path witch was steep and winding, there was so many people walking up and down in covoy, that's one trouble, often hiking in Korea you dont feel like you can get away from anyone as its so busy, we kept on try to look off the path for an escape from the people and a nice place to have lunch but the path was fenced off either side, and so again we did not appear to be enjoying our hungover, hot hiking trip. Anyways we finally got to a coll where there was a cross roads, we flicked a coin to decide which way to go, and heads sent us up the narrower steeper path that appeared to have fewer people. Suddenly a gap appeared in the trees and Mount Bukansan looked amazing.

We kept on climbing still keeping an eye out for an ideal spot for luncheon, and soon enough that is exactly what we found. We had Kimbap (like rice roll sushi) and mandu with is like well nice filled dumplings. It was such a lovely spot we stayed for over an hour and it was out of sight from the path so we had it all to ourselves, we had some laughs, and listened to Simon and Garfunlkes Sound of Silence. Oh and we met a naughty Crow, who was very keen to meet us! 

I told Hijee I would give her a mark out of 10 for her picnic before we left as Koreans are famous for making the best picnics, well it would have been a 10 because it was so amazing but she lost a point because we didnt have any water, and a point for kicking the Makgoli over the cliff! (Wine made from rice and wheat, Koreans always take hiking, it reminds me very much of  something we drank on the Inca trail in Peru, although in Peru it would be drank out of a filthy container!) Anyways onwards and upwards, we did after all have a mountain to climb!

After a couple of hours or so and some quite steep sections and boulders with ropes, we made it to the summit, although we weren't sure what summit or whether the mountain had a name or not, we were meant to be going up Bukansan but thanks to the coin, we just got fabulous views of Bukansan from our mountains, which was better anyways and we pretty much had it all to ourselves. The valley had quite an echo from all the people going up the more popular mountain and all of a sudden we could hear Eric playing his clay flute, which is a beautiful instrument and we had no clue where he might be as it carries a long way.  The summit consisted of a huge boulder, seen here being ascended by Hijee, but opened out to a large tableau, it was like the top of the world! 

It was so beautiful and sunny and the whole afternoon was like some kind of beautiful dream. Hijee said 'Look at all the locks!' I said "what?" she said "look at all the locks, locks, locks, locks"

"locks"

"yes locks, is that right?"

"I don't know I don't know what you re talking about"

She pointed and said "Locks"

" Ohhh rocks!!" hahahaha

We sat down on a little lock on top of the big lock, and we wanted to stay there for ever we had lots of jokes, and were laughing so hard and the thought of going down the mountain was saddening. We both agreed that had we taken a bottle of water the day would have been too perfect! This comes from a man who nearly died once in Spain, hiking in the sun, with no water! These life lessons always seem to take a while to sink in! We sat on our lock and watched the sun go down beyond Bukansan, we said maybe we could come back in 5 years time, and then I sang 5 years time by Noah and the Whale, and she thought it was funny. I asked Hijee if she would be interested in having an English boyfriend, she said "I would like an English boyfriend Mr. Young" I said " I will ask around!! No, I'm only joking, I would love to be your boyfriend so we had a big kiss and life could not have been more beautiful. The last drops of sun disappeared behind the mountain, and we thought we d best head down, before it got dark.

We didnt really know where we going but assumed, down must be good, however we followed the only path, but it did not appear to be going down very much we appeared to be following along a ridge for at least an hour, and we were in good spirits and it was beautiful although it was getting towards 7pm and the light was fading fast!

We finally found some steps heading down which gave us a bit more confidence we may be heading back to civilization, the steps then turned into a very steep path, with lots of very slippery rock faces and was a bit hairy at times, Hijee taught me how to say be careful in Korean. Finally we started to hear voices and came across a Buddhist temple, we came across a little country pub, we were so thirsty as we hadn't had any water and lost our Makgoli. Hijee said she didnt like the place as it sold Dog meat, so we thought we d just have a drink, she said we should order a little snack just to be polite, I dont think Koreans really understand the concept of a little snack, and we got a huge spicy chicken hotpot with vegetables, which was actually well received after the long hike and the tatseless Korean Beer tasted so good.

Little Snack!

The restaurant was quite a feature as it was so rustic, and there were odd country folk, milling about. After dinner we walked down into the town, and it felt like being on holiday as it seemed so distant from Seoul, funny thing was we didnt even know where we were!  Anyways we got a taxi back, and the taxi driver drove like a mentalist, and made Hijee feel sick, I dont even get car sick but found it pretty upleasant, anyways we got back to my house and I showed Hijee that clip from Team America with Kim Jeong Il singing about being so 'Ronrey' as the 'locks' joke reminded me of it, and we watched Flight of the Conchords and had a laugh a drank green tea. Lovely end to a lovely day! So glad the coin sent us left and so glad we missed the hiking group! Oh I think I ended the day with a girlfriend as well! 

We are not restricted. No boundaries have been defined, no inhibitions imposed. We have, for the while, secured, or blundered into, our release, for the while. Spontaneity and whim are the order of the day. Other wheels are turning but they are not our concern. We can breathe. We can relax. We can do what we like and say what we like to whomever we like, without restriction.

— GUILDENSTERN (ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD)