Keep Moving

"When everything feels like an uphill struggle just think of the view from the top."

This weekend I agreed to do yet another mountain with my awesome buddies. This time it was a little closer to home. Still had to take a bus and a train but the journey there was quick quick  or quick as far as public transport goes. The journey didn't start until I got there and met up with my friends and we started to walk towards the mountain. 

But first we had to get some food incase our plan to eat at the temple failed. Our choice were Kimbap. It looks like a california sushi role except there is egg, ham and veggies inside. Its really nice. I topped up on some water and off we went to the mountain. I must say having an American, a Brit and a South African in one conversation can become really interesting. With so many stories to tell and completely different pasts it will never get boring. One thing is for certain, things can get really interesting especially when you start singing songs like Witch doctor and you do a little dance with the o- e- o - a- a- part. We wanted to catch it on camera but after the first attempt failed we gave it up. We kind of went down memory lane with the songs including Steps - 5,6,7,8, Vengaboys and queen of my castle etc. 

The mountain we climbed is in Dobongsan. In Korea "-san" means mountain so you will realise as I will continue hiking up some of the most beautiful mountains that they all end with "-san". The peak we did was Jaunbong peak (739,5m) which is the highest peak in the mountain range. We started our climb up to the top at 11:30am and finished around 5pm. We took about 4 rests in between just to look at the beautiful view, catch a breathe, rest our legs and chat a little. It was such a nice day with clear blue skies. There was a temple about 1/3 up that gave out food and you kind of pay with a donation. So we had a almost free lunch and the food was really great. It's super fresh and organic since its all grown on the temple grounds. 

The hike was quite rough with a lot of uneven stairs and a lot of inclines and declines and places where we had to use out monkey climbing skills to get over the rocks. Some places tend to be really slippery and some of us fell on our ass. Luckily no one got severely injured. The highest point was quite something to see. With a 360° view of the whole city and Seoul in panoramic you suddenly feel quite small. It was only then when I realised but the hike up and the pain in my legs was all worth the climb.

When we eventually ended the climb, that is up and down, we got ourselves a nice cold beer and sat on the sidewalk and just enjoyed the sensation. It also started raining so in the end nature was with us all the way providing shade and a shower to cool off.

I didn't count how many of these buddha statues there was but I can tell you
that each of them are different. 

Natural water is the best thing when it comes to cooling down.

Food at the temple.

A stop to have some Kimbap.

This was parts of the temple we saw on the way up.
The architecture was beautiful.

Beca is extremely afraid of heights but she made it to the very top
despite her fears.

Me just being crazy. 

Prayer room.

Beautiful cliffs creating a scenic view. 

City of Seoul in black and white.

Where there is a nice view there is normally some danger around the corner too.

The three ( ). We are still debating about the name. 

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it" - Buddha