Seonunsan and the rest of Korea
So after a day of hiking all over Seoul trying to find the correct bus station, I finally completed the 7:40 journey from Sokcho to Gochang-gun thanks to directions I found online. I arrived too late to catch a bus to Seonunsan for camping and climbing and the temp was in the 30s F anyway. So I once again played the walk around until I could find a wi-fi game until I learned that there were 2 jim jil bangs nearby. A Jim Jil Bang is essentially a spa/bathhouse for super cheap. When you arrive, the desk clerk gives you a set of pjs and a locker key. You take your things and put them in your respective locker, then you strip down naked, shower, and enjoy the different temperatures of many spa pools and saunas. Many have massage chairs, pc access, barber shops, and shoe shine stands as well. The only downside to this, if it is such, is everyone is completely nude and it's primarily elder Korean men and women. Not to mention if you are a foreigner you gather quite a few stares for your strangely colored skin. You may feel a bit out of place really. All of that aside, once you have enjoyed the relaxing waters, you put on the pjs issued to you and make your way to a common area that may be co-ed or segregated by sex. Here you sleep on a heated hardware floor and get a cushion of sorts for your head. The idea is that sleeping on the floor is good for your back if you are lying on it. If I didn't mention it already, yes all the spa rooms are segregated by sex. I have learned this the hard way a couple of times. On the first instance in Gochang, I did not read the sign and walked into the women's sleeping area, immediately after which a man came running down the hallway chasing after me to tell me I was in the wrong room The second time I took the wrong elevator to the women's spa room in Busan. when I walked into the room to try to change elevators, the desk clerks began yelling at me in Korean and ran to me to cover my eyes continuing to scream at me in Korean before shoving me back in the elevator and pointing upstairs. So embarrassing.
Next morn, I gather my things and step outside ready to catch a bus to the park for a great day of climbing with old cohorts of mine. One problem exists though, it's 40 degrees and raining -hard. All this and I have no idea if there is even anyone at the campsite. So I take the risk and jump on a bus hoping for the best. Fortunately, I happened to run into an Air Force guy who was taking the same route and he had a cell phone. So we were able to make it to the park, where he called for directions to Sonia, one of the head people of the Korea on the Rocks climbing group. She directed us to a campsite near the youth hostel I would stay in for the night. the rest of the day I just spet catching up with my buddy and making plenty of new friends. Met one guy who's an American working in Seoul as a design engineer of sorts. Also met Canadian couple who were awesome and fresh in Korea as well as a guy from Spain with whom I'm currently traveling. He's 24 working construction in Qatar visiting Korea with his Korean girlfriend. Meeting all these people working abroad away from their home country gives me a lot of inspiration and hope for my own future. I've just got a huge hurdle to get over called college. Aye yay that's a big one. At the moment I'm toying with the idea of attending a Japanese language school in Tokyo for a bit first then starting school the next semester.
Anyway, fast forward through the weekend. We hung out by the fire all day that was incredibly painstaking to get going with wet wood. Totally didn't expect or pack for weather this cold but I managed with a beanie and a pair of thermals. That night, about 20 of swapped stories and got a bit tipsy around the fire. Then the people I mentioned before and myself all retired to the youth hostel, where we crashed out. In the morning however, I was the first to wake up and to my unpleasant surprise, I noticed during the night someone had pooped on the floor of the bathroom. I thought it must have been there all along and the guys the night before had been playing a joke on me telling me to go in the bathroom and I had not noticed it. When I mentioned it in the morning however, this was news to everyone but we determined we had a pretty good idea about who had done it. That is not a conversation for this blog though. So much for taking a welcoming warm shower to greet the morning sun.
By the end of the day, for various reasons, much due to a particular individual, we were only able to get in about 2 climbs per person and left the crag by 3 pm. I got separated from my ride to Busan and decided to just hitch a bus with the Spanish guy who was also going to Busan the same night. 5 hours later we finally made it to Busan where I strangely ran into one of my good friends from 4 years ago who happened to be leaving Korea at the same time we were arriving in Busan. He called my name and approached me and I said "yeah, who are you" which was a bit rude but I was tired from the long day. He said his name and immediately my whole demeanor changed. I had been very disappointed that I was going to miss him before he left for Colorado with his new Korean wife so I was elated to catch him at this moment. It was great to chat despite our conversation only lasting about 30 seconds before he had to catch a subway. Hopefully I'll meet the guy in Colorado.
So Spanish guy and I luckily caught the last subway of the night to Haeundae Beach where we went to another Jim Jil Bang called Spa Center. Another night on the floor but I can't complain for getting all that for roughly USD$10. This one was much nicer and larger as well so it was a bit more fulfilling experience. This is also where I accidentally walked into the women's dressing room as well.
Next day Spanish guy said he had a cool hostel we could go to so we jumped on the subway once again and made way for L-zone language cafe near Kyuksung university. Here people come from all over the world to exchange languages with one another and they also set us up in a hostel nearby. Here I set my bags down, made the bed, and slept from 3 pm to 7 am the next morning- my first time on a bed in 4 days.
So majority of the day, we lazed around the hostel catching up on news and social life, before heading off for some Korean BBQ. I was stoked to FINALLY get to enjoy this delight especially because my Spanish friend is typically a vegetarian but made an exception for this trip and this meal. And it\s basically a pure red meat meal as well. Super unhealthy but utterly delicious. Afterward, another Korean delight- ice cream on Belgium Waffles. It doesn't get any better. All this followed by sweet bread in paris baguette, so naturally I felt like a fatty. I dragged myself to the climbing gym which just happened to be about a block away from our hostel and punished myself until I felt I had adequately made up for the food splurge. A little bit of yoga and a trump back to the hostel in the pouring rain, I am now here writing this blog.
I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited to see my friends/second family and practice the language again. I can hardly contain the excitement. Lots of people and lots of things to see, I should be able to stay busy and perhaps have a more fulfilling experience than that of this past week.
So that's it. Spanish guy has a girl he wants to hang with and I'm going to join in the language cafe. One more night in Busan and I'm outta here. It was nice to see you again Korea. Anyeonghi Kyeseyo!
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