Yesterday I got high and then I got lost.  Sort of.

It all started innocently enough.  I was enjoying my morning coffee when Jee Yeun exclaimed “let’s go to the mountain!”  By mountain she was of course referring to her favorite place to hike–Bukhansan National Park.  I wasn’t exactly feeling it, but Jee Yeun had indulged me several hours of darts on Sunday so I figured it was wise to pretend to be enthusiastic.  So off we went.

It was about 10:00 a.m. when we reached our bus stop and the place was crawling with college-age kids.  The first bus to arrive was packed tighter than a can of sardines and I said “bullshit on this, you wanted to exercise, let’s walk!”  Which we did, at least as far as the next bus stop.  Jee Yeun had reminded me just how long the walk would be so I agreed to wait and see whether the next bus was filled beyond reasonable capacity.  It was.  But after consulting the bus schedule Jee said all of these are going to the university (she didn’t say which one).  She assured me that the bus we needed (the 110B) would not be crowded.  And she was 100% correct!  Just a few old folks dressed for a morning mountain hike.  I sadly noted to myself just how much I fit in with these elderly types.

Anyway, we arrived at our destination and began our climb.  This time I insisted we take a new path, as I was tired of the same one Jee Yeun preferred on each of our previous several visits.  I soon regretted not bringing along my camera.  The trees were in early flowering mode and there were several new and interesting vistas along the way.  And this trail took us straight to the top!  It’s the highest I’ve been in Korea (not counting my driving over Seroksan).

It was a tough climb and actually a little scary in places.  The footing was often difficult and in one place they had even secured ropes as a hand hold to assist in the prevention of plunging to serious injury or death at the bottom of the cliff.  It wasn’t the fall I was worried about, it was the sudden stop!  I was glad for my walking stick and the thought occurred that I ought to invest in some actual hiking boots.

After traversing the crest line trail for the better part of an hour, we began looking for a way back down to the place where we had started from.  Which as it turns out was on the other side of the mountain.  Not being one to back track (and not wanting to rely on ropes again to stay on the path) I decreed we’d take the first likely trail to down to wherever it led and taxi home from there if necessary.  That didn’t really go exactly as planned.

After a good long generally downward hike we did find an exit from the national park.  Which put us smack dab in the middle of an upscale residential area.  Well, upscale doesn’t do it justice.  These houses, or more aptly, mansions, were pert near the largest most opulent homes I’ve seen anywhere–including Beverly Hills.  Pyungchang-dong I guess neighborhood is called.  Again, I wish I’d had my camera!  We followed a meandering street for a good bit seeing nothing that looked like the Korea I know.  We eventually encountered some folk out for a walk and Jee Yeun asked where we might catch a bus.  Now, I’m language challenged, but I can read expressions.  And these were saying they’d never considered such a question.  They vaguely pointed down the road and off we walked.  And walked.  And walked.  Damn, who knew there were so many incredibly rich people in one place.

I finally spied some high rise apartments in the distance so we made for them.  It took awhile though because the road was neither straight nor narrow.  Eventually a cab stopped for us (I guess we were a bit of spectacle with our shabby attire and  walking sticks).  And so we finally made it back to the familiar environs of Gireum-dong in time for me to rest up for dart league.

And I was high again after turning in an 11-1 performance (regular readers may recall I went 1-8 the week before).  And I drank a lot of beer as well.

An adventure filled day to be sure!