I'm at the bottom!

22.03.2013

Well I headed off to Yeosu today to see the Hyangiram temple. Needless to say, there were a lot of buses involved in the day trip. I went all the way to the very bottom of Korea. There's nothing left after that! Besides Jeju. I slept all the way to Gwangju, then I slept all the way to Yeosu. I must've been tired.

The temple is built into a cliff. So it's quite the climb up many stairs. But once you get to the top you can look off into the distance where there is only ocean. You can look to your left and right and see clusters of distant islands. You are on an island yourself, which is accessible (not easily!) by a one hour city bus ride from the city centre. The guide book said "almost any" bus goes to the roundabout where I was supposed to catch my island bus. Only I would have the luck to get on the one bus that doesn't. Once I figured that out, the bus driver helped me get onto the right one. When I got to the roundabout, I tried to read the fancy touch screen bus schedule, but it didnt make any sense. I had no idea if my bus stopped there or not, so I broke out the trail mix, had a snack and just waited, unsure of what my fate would be. My luck had apparently changed, because just as the bus was pulling up, I finished the last of my snack! Anyway, a large bridge was built from Yeosu to Dolsan island, so its a lot easier to get to than a ferry-only island, but it's relatively inaccessible nonetheless.

The windy road that led to the temple was amazing, so I stayed awake for that part of the trip. The bus dropped me off right at the foot of the mountain which was absolutely jam packed with tourists on this beautiful spring day. It was also a day of stairs. First there were the stairs to the actual temple. Then there were rocks you have to climb over and through which are pretty claustrophobic. Then, to see the little shrines and grottos there were more stairs. After that, to get to the peak of the mountain, guess what, stairs.

I was up for a little challenge so I climbed to the peak. The very first step that I took, I managed to brutally bash my knee against a huge rock. Resulting in a giant purple bruise the next day.

Once I got to the top, a couple tried to kidnap me (again). She had to talk to me about her son in Toronto and then she had to take a picture with me at the top. She was wearing high heels the whole time! Then, they tried to get me to go down the mountain with them. I knew for a fact that the trail was a loop but they kept asking me to follow them, back the same way down (it was probably about 600 stairs by then) so no, I wasn't about to do that. It took me a while to persuade them I actually knew where I was going. Finally they said goodbye and went on their way. I found the trail I was looking for and took the slope down instead of the stairs, that was a relief.

Meanwhile, I was constantly asked to pose for photos with hikers who were going in the opposite direction. I don't know why it is but Korean hikers love to take photos with foreigners.

When I got back to the bottom, I wanted to try some of the crab soup and the seafood noodles for sale in the little town at the bottom but I just wasn't hungry enough! It didnt make sense but I had zero appetite. My legs were aching and weak from all those stairs and I was thirsty, but not hungry. So, I slowwwwwly walked back to the bus stop, where there was a warm bus waiting for me, calling out my name.

Ohhh and I also got my favorite type of bus on the way back to Gwangju. The kind with the leg rests and the seats that lay back almost flat. Yessss.

Poor Dave's debit card was frozen so I went back to the base again after my big hike. Whenever he gets it working again, we'll go on more adventures. I think all the exercises are done for now, and there are some Air Force-organized trips to some cool places coming up. So we'll see.

About Hyangiram