Chuseok :)

Happy Chuseok everybody!

Chuseok is a harvest festival in Korea where people have Thanksgiving feasts with their kin. We got Monday and Tuesday off for this holiday so we were able to enjoy a long weekend. :)

On Friday afternoon we had lunch at a fancy shabu-shabu restaurant with the teachers. One of the teachers is betrothed so Friday was her last day before the wedding. We have all been invited and as I know very little about Korean nuptials I am sure to make many a faux-pas when the time comes. Eating at the restaurant was a very complicated affair as we had to craft intricate little rice-sheet tacos out of the array of colourful produce that was before us. My favourite part of the meal was the pink Barbie noodles. :)

That night we went out with some of the teachers and the other waygooks for another leaving-do. The night ended with fisticuffs when a man from Scotland insulted a lady's honour and was subsequently challenged to a duel by a man from South Africa. It did not end well... Other than that spot of drama though it was a nice night.

We decided to spend the weekend hiking in Seoraksan National Park in the Northernmost part of the country. As this park is a 9 hour drive from Jinju we resolved to break up the journey by spending a night in Seoul. We stayed in the area of Cheong-gye-cheon, my favourite part of the city. Most of Seoul is made up of a suffocating mass of high rise buildings that is why finding a green area in the midst of the urban jungle is refreshing. The river was lit up at night by brightly coloured lights and it was a very pleasant place for a stroll. We managed to catch one of the free laser light shows that are shown nightly by the riverside. The wizards behind the show used their sorcery to conjure up a graceful ballerina made up of blue light. They then compelled the dancer to trip lightly across the water’s surface for our amusement. 

The next morning we went to the National Museum of Korea and perused the treasures on display there. When we had finished being all cultural we got the bus to a place called Sokcho where we rested our weary bodies for the night in preparation for the big climb up Mount Seorak in the morning. Seoraksan National Park is full of craggy peaks, ghoulishly twisted rock formations and dense forests. On a clear day the views are supposed to be spectacular. However, when we arrived the park was surrounded by a grey haze and the mountains had just been washed by the rain. When standing at the bottom the mist shrouding the mountain gave it an eerie, ghostly quality. However, from the top the clouds stopped being atmospherically ominous and just became a royal pain in the ass as they enveloped all the surrounding mountains. When you have huffed and puffed your way up a steep cliff you expect to be rewarded with a bloody view! Nonetheless, the way to the peak had its highlights including a big bronze Buddha, an ancient Shilla-era temple, a massive 16 tonne boulder that tourists like to rock back and forth and a wee Buddhist grotto tucked neatly into a cave. The hike to the summit becomes more challenging near the peak where one most ascend into the heavens via an 808-step rusty red staircase that snakes up the sheer cliff face. Like I bemoaned earlier, there was no view awaiting us at the top but there was a bizarre little souvenir stall perched perilously at the peak that was amusing to behold. :) 

Well, that is all my news. I shall now cease to besmirch this page with ink. I shall leave you with this image from the elevator in our hotel warning guests of the dire consequences of letting a manic rabbit into a lift. It will only end in tears…