the craziest weirdest and best weekend EVER!

OH MY GOSH!!! So this weekend was INCREDIBLE!! Let me give you the blow by blow. (You might want to cancel your plans for awhile, this is a long one) Woke up at 6 am on Saturday to catch a taxi to the KTX (bullet train) Station to the catch the 7:17 KTX to Seoul. On the train I got my first glimpse of exactly how polluted the air I'm breathing is! Man the visibility is super low! and it was a clear sunny day! Things just sort of fade away into a mist. but I passed some really great scenery while on the train. Here's some pictures from the train ride. This is what Korea looks like, at least the countryside version. I think you can shift click on them to open a new window with each of them super big if you want to look closer.

so after a 45 minute train ride I arrived in Seoul at Seoul station around 8. I transferred to the subway with plenty of time to spare. (I was supposed to meet the meetup group at 9:15) I took the subway to one of the last stops on the line, I figured was on the right train when lots of hiker looking people started getting on the train. We were supposed to meet right outside the subway station so I exited the station.... in the middle of a group of construction sites..... and wondered if I was in the right place. Wandered back and forth and looked lost for about two minutes till a girl came up to me and asked if I was here for the hiking meetup group... I said yes I was and she said Great! I've been here for 15 minutes already, I over estimated how long it would take to get here. So we both sat and talked until everyone else arrived. Then we all hopped on a bus to the trail head. When we got there, we all gathered in a circle and stretched out, I should have known right there it would be an advanced hike! So.. When I envision hiking, I envision flat! Or at least just hilly! NO no NO! This was mountain climbing! I said... Where's the trail? They said, "UP HERE!" And this was supposed to be afour or five hour hike!!! I can walk at a steady pace on flat ground for 5 hours easy, but this incline? For FIVE HOURS!!! OH well, Hakuna Matata! How bad can it be right? Sometimes you just have to GO FOR IT!!

Apparently it can be pretty bad!

I ended up being the last one in the group, I wanted to turn back so many times but the group had an official "end man" who would not let me. He also never left my side no matter how far behind I fell. I wasn't the only one so far behind, there were three other out of shape Americans with me. One of whom threw up from over exertion I assume. He didn't even let her go back, he said the only way down was up and had her sip water slowly, gave her some saltines and some mints told us all to sit and rest for 20 minutes and then continue at our own pace. Then he called the leader and had the rest of the group wait for us. That's what I love about Korea! Everyone is so nice, and there is cell phone service everywhere! The end guy's name was Alex, he was probably 35-40 and in way better shape than anyone I've seen, he was going up and down the trail, running ahead to deliver things to the head guy then coming back down to encourage us and end the group. So this is me at around 60 meters to the top, two hours into the "hike"

I was already so exhausted i could barely lift one foot in front of the other. But Somehow By God's grace I MADE IT!! The Top was SO beautiful, bar the pollution of course! And when we got up there we were able to relax and eat and socialize, or in my case collapse. For a good hour! Then we moved along the ridge to another peak, stayed there for a good 15 minutes, then moved on to another peak, etc. We must have visited 7 seperate paeaks as we moved along the ridge of mountains. the views from each peak were subtly different and all beautiful! I took so many pics I couldn't possibly post them all here. But here are some of the best!

We began the descent at around 3:00 after doing a big round of group yoga on the last peak. This helped to loosen our already cramping muscles. (BY THE WAY, I can't move.... at all, but more on that later) The way down was SO much easier then the way up but it was much scarier! There were places where we were clinging to those steel cables and decending almost vertical surfaces! with dropoffs at the bottom of course. But then our handy dandy climbing guides were always there (clinging to the sheer rock face with no gear.. of course. ) telling us exactly where to put our hands and feet. One thing is for sure, I am not going Hiking without an experienced guide! there are so many ways you could get hurt if you don't know what you are doing! It took over 2 hours to get down, so by the time we got there, most of us were starving and thirsty and all of us were DISGUSTING and hot and sticky and just UGH! Well guess what we found at the bottom of the trail!!

A wonderful SPRING!

needless to say, we all lost the socks and shoes, rolled up our pants (guys lost the shirts too) and jumped right in! It was reletively shallow and had a gravelly bottom that felt AMAZING on our tired feet. It was so cold and refreshing! We all felt super rejuvenated and sat down in the tent restaurant that is right next to the spring and had a wonderful Korean meal! They brought the main course food to the table and cooked it in front of us. Also there was rice and tons of side dishes and as much water as we could drink! It ended up being around fifteen per prson for pretty much all you can eat and drink! It was Such a wonderful ending to a great hike!! Oh and one of my fellow out of shape americans was named John and is a professional Opera Singer! he regaled with beautiful music while we dined on delicious food!
Then the wonderful organizers of our trip hired vans to take us the rest of the way down. by this timeit was around 7:30. So, I am seriously thinking of staying in the city for the night. I have heard that you can stay overnight in the Korean style spas. They are called Jim-Jae-Bongs I have had an amazing day so far, I might as well continue with an excursion into real Korean culture.

WOW!!!

Was it ever an excursion! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! I might even do it again! I am feeling so liberated!! LOL... let me elucidate... Ok, so first of all, the mens and womens spas are separate, but... completely nude!! No clothes allowed... and the towels are TINY, no coverage there. so you just have to be comfortable and just ... walk around... everyone else is... but that almost makes it worse. I would have skipped the spa part and gone right to sleep, but I was REALLY smelly! I REALLY needed a shower, but the only showers are a line of shower heads on the wall of the huge room that is the womens spa. It encompasses a full service dressing room with combs and brushes, hairdryers, lockers, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, and toothbrushes and various foods and other necessary goods for sale. The wet portion includes a warm pool, a cold pool, a massage table, ( closed due to the late hour) several shower heads, a sauna, a steam room and was very nice... its just the naked people.... but it was ok, I just kept my eyes on the floor and took my shower and tried to pretend I was in a private shower. Then I jumped into the provided bright orange PJs and headed to the sleeping room. It is just that, a sleeping room, you just collapse on the floor and sleep. you can use one of the funky asian wooden neck pillows or you can fold up some towels for a pillow. Then you just sleep. there were actually two sleeping rooms one was very warm, I think it was a semi-sauna, and the other was air conditioned. That part was co-ed, but everyone was clothed, and snoring, and I felt quite safe because most of (clothed) Korea is on closed circuit TV, including this sleeping room. So I just picked a corner and curled up. Yes, the floor was hard. Yes, I woke up several times. But... then again.... I only paid 8 dollars for a Great hot shower, amenities, and a place to sleep for the night! It was quite the experience!!

Anyway, today I woke up, went to a beautiful catholic mass, (food for the soul) starbucks, (food for the body) and then an amazing royal palace called Gyeong- Bok- Gung! (more soul food) It was GEORGEOUS!!! Making one of the best and most interesting weekends I've ever had! But I will tell you all about the palace tomorrow, because I am exhausted and I can't move! My muscles are SOOOO sore! Even though I drank water like a fish all weekend. I hate muscle soreness, but the views and the experiences coming down were so worth ALL the pain and agony going up the mountain and now!! I would do this weekend again in a heartbeat!

TA TA for now!
I love you all!!

Lauren the Adventurer