Songisan Mountain Weekend

Hi all!

Hope the weekend was great. I thought I would write a quick post about mine...there will even be photos (mostly not mine haha). Above is the Golden Maitreya Statue from Beopjusa temple - a really beautiful and quite famous (according to my co-teacher) temple and National Park. The mountains around us are, I believe, called Songisan. This was a picture taken by my friend Sue during an "Instagram" competition between some of the hikers. How hipster of us, I know. It is a massive statue above a museum in the actual temple part of the park. Unfortunately the weather had decided to not be cooperative and it was cold, rainy and miserable. But that did not deter us! 

The statue in contrast to the surrounding area

David, Nicola, Meabh, Sue, Me, Esti, Estelle and Will

Here the group is (minus Kevin who was off somewhere and Leah who was taking the shot). Although I was initially a little apprehensive about walking in the cold rain, it was a special experience. Was nice to be out in nature and the trees really provided quite a bit of cover and protection from the rain. The path we chose was not too strenuous and we walked beside a river for quite some time which was beautiful. We were low on time so the hike was not what was originally planned but enjoyable none the less. Korea really has a peace and serenity about it which I think comes from the temples etc but it gives it such a special feel. When we reached the top of a hill we came across a small temple and Esti started singing "Don't stop believing" by Journey; Mother Nature was obviously not impressed as the wind started howling every time she started up. Was highly entertaining. We came back into the little town sopping wet and hungry but proud of ourselves for not letting the rain ruin our fun. We went to a local restaurant and had some yummy bulgogi and mushroom stew. We dragged our wet bodies through a Family Mart, collecting cookies, coffee, beer, chips, chocolate and anything else in our paths and headed back to the room where we spend the night talking rubbish and playing a Mafia game - something I highly recommend doing. 

Coming from someone who is not very athletic, the Korean hiking trails have hooked me. I will push myself to try and conquer as many as I can while I'm here. Again, learning new things about myself and trying new things all the time. We were back in time yesterday to chill out and get some dak galbi for dinner (my favourite Korean chicken dish) and although my legs feel tired today, I'm glad I accomplished something this weekend.