Monday, November 17, 2008

(Not) Climbing Trip


This weekend, Matt, our new friend and recent arrival to Korea- Shane, and I went to Seonusan Provincial Park to go climbing. Well, I didn't climb. I just tagged along to get outside and enjoy the end of fall while it's still not too cold and there are still a few colorful trees. Matt and I went to this park earlier this summer to try to find the climbing, but we failed to find it.  This time we found the cliffs and the other foreign climbers that Matt planned to meet online. He was really psyched to do some outdoor climbing. 
I spent most of the afternoon sitting on top of the rock that Matt and many other people were climbing. I ate my sandwich, worked on my embroidery, and even laid down and took a nap while sun was still warming the rock.  

We stayed overnight at the base of the park. Matt stayed in the park Sunday to climb more, but Shane and I headed back to Gwangju. But before we left, we decided to check out Gochangeupseong Fortress. It was just a short walk from the Gochang bus terminal. Gochang is the closest city to Seonusan Park. The inside of the fortress was full of your standard traditional Korean buildings, but the wall surrounding the fortress was pretty cool. This fortress was built mainly by women, but I haven't found out yet why. It is said that if a woman walks the wall three times during a leap month with a stone on her head her life will be prolonged and will probably go straight to heaven after death. I was going to walk it three  times, but I found out I need a stone and it needed to be a leap month once I got there. So we only went half-way around. 
Below is the wall with a view of the little city of Gochang, known for its bokbuncha, raspberry liquor, and watermelons. 

1 comment:

HPB said...

you look adorable in your little hat! and so surly.


the holidays really won't be the same without you.

are you guys gonna cook your own turkey over a tiny flame, like they do to meat there?