Venture

Yesterday I got back to Daegu after a great weekend visiting my friend from home, Tom, who lives in Busan.  It was Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, so we had a nice long weekend and an opportunity to explore.  I took the train down on Friday afternoon and met up with some friends for a few quiet drinks at the pub.  We took off early because we had a long day ahead of us travelling by bus to Wolchulsan National Park with Tom's friend Hillary.  It is Korea's smallest national park being only 8km across but it offers some of the best hiking in the country.  Since it was my first hike here I really had nothing to compare it to but it certainly wasn't a cake-walk.  Our transit there took a while given that we hadn't taken intercity buses before and compounded by the fact that everyone was travelling to visit family that day for Chuseok.  Every Korean we spoke to warned us that our travel times would double but it really wasn't that bad and we got in to Yeongam, the closest town to Wolchulsan, at a decent hour and found ourselves a motel for the night.  We hung out in a pagoda playing cards , sipping on beers and attracting the attention of locals curious as to what we were up to.
The next morning we got up early and made it to the trailhead just after 9 am and began what turned out to be  a 6-7 hour hike.  It wasn't raining but it was misty so everything was a little slick calling for extra attention to where our feet were being placed.  The hike was pretty relentless with climbing up and down the steep peaks aided by ropes and steel ladders.  We eventually came to a suspension bridge that was 150m in the air.  While the mist didn't allow for spectacular views, it served as a blessing in disguise as it did keep the air temperature bearable.  It was very eerie being on top of a mountain and not being able to see how high you actually were.

After the hike we made our way back to Busan, exhausted but satisfied that we actually did something with our long weekend.  That sense of accomplishment allowed us to treat ourselves to a day at the beach in Busan.  Why not, right?  The sky was blue , the sun was hot and the beach was empty which was fine by us.  All the more room to toss around the frisbee without knocking the sun-hat off a middle aged lady.

I traveled back to Daegu the next morning on the KTX train which cut my travel time significantly and allowed me to make it back in time for training with the Daegu Devils.  We met at a five-a-side pitch at a university on the other side of the city to me.  We played for over two hours in the sweltering heat which left me with a face like a slapped ass and an aching body in need of some rest.  I trekked home, looking forward to a quiet day today to catch up with everyone from home including my parents, my girlfriend and my two best friends James and Brock on Skype.  It was a cool feeling to come back to Daegu from Busan and already feel like I was coming home, although I've only been here a short time, I've already got that comfortable, easy feeling despite being so far from my actual home.

Much love,
D