ben is crazy...: Korean drama - day 15: Snowing at Gwangju (8.12.11)

My 4:40am bus ticket!

The platform at bus terminal

Just like a fellow foreign hiker I read on her blog, I was getting more like a Korean too. Crazy about hiking! Just 4 hours of sleep, I needed a couple of alarm calls and snoozes to wake up at 4am for a hiking trip! Beat me that on craziness!! =] Had a coffee and my 1000 biscuits for breakfast and headed off in 20min. The weather looked good! Very comfortable in my usual attire, except I had just a thinner thermal pant and my Goretex bottom instead of the heavy ski pant!

One of the two suspension
bridges...

Suspension Bridge View from far

Nice view from the Bridge

Rocky path

The terminal was just 10 minutes walk away. Just nice to get my earliest ticket at 4:40am!! There were some early birds too. The station was huge and beautiful. My bus was probably the earliest there. After just a short while, we took off.

"Hello! My name is Rocky!"

Strenuous downhill

Like the bus to the Phoenix Park ski resort the other day, it was really hot and uncomfortable in the bus. It felt like a sauna and I started to sweat!

"Don't you dare to wake me!"

"What a gloomy day!"

I arrived 20minutes earlier than expected. Luckily I asked the driver again. Yeongam was the 4th stop. After asking around, there wasn't any bus yet at 5:45am and hence I had to catch a cab. It was only a 5minute ride and hence not that expensive. I came to the Cheonhwang car park area and realized I forgotten something important! Didn't expect I would be so early, I did not have my headlight to start my hike. I walked until I reached a restaurant using my iPhone but could not go further because the path was too dark. Instead, I met four lively dogs at the restaurant and played with them. There were only two initially and were barking at me. When I declared that I’m an ally, they were overwhelmed and very playful!! Another brown one came! I fed them with my biscuits and they liked me more! Soon the 4th one came but that one was not so eager on the food. The two of them were especially energetic, one brown and one white in orange collar. They were playing, chasing and biting each other very earnestly. I walked back to the carpark to capture the Hangeul of my checkpoints. The white in orange collar came all the way to look for me. I love it very much. Wished I had a dog and run with him/her in the field and beach everyday!!

"Can't you see I'm grumpy?"

I ate one of my banana and was trying to look for a dustbin. Took me a while to find one eventually. Around 6:40am I started to do some stretching and got ready. By 6:52am, it was starting to get brighter and I set off. Bid the dogs farewell and soon came to the trail entrance.

I didn't say.. it's your dirty
mind!

Nothing fancy along the way but it was a strenuous uphill all the way. From the parking area, I took almost an hour to reach the next checkpoint, a bridge, at 7:42am. Had a 10min break for my second round breakfast. I looked at the watch. 8:12am. I moved on again. It was pretty windy but the sunrise really warmed me up.

I was there!

The quietness throughout the whole morning was all of a sudden startled by a guy from nowhere and gave me a goose bump. Around 8:30am, I reached Baram Fall. There was another 1.4km hike to the peak. There was nothing special at the top, but the path on the way down was more fun walking on the rocks. Were distracted by the various rock formations. It was getting windy and misty. My thumbs were even frozen. Surprisingly, it was colder than Sobaeksan!

Does it looks like a scene from
Lord of the Rings?

I cut through a forest and continued to see many “human faces” along the way. The rock formations were making them looked like a human facial expression.

Hike, hike and more hiking

After a 15min lunch break and after that was all down-hill. The path very well signed that even someone with no sense of direction like me would not go wrong.

Passed through a nice stream, but sad to see some rubbish lying around. Too bad, I wasn’t such an environmentalist or a person good enough to pick them up myself too.

Very nice scenery of the hiking path

I soon reached a shrine as depicted in the map. Some monks were chanting inside the temple. The voices made the surrounding very soothing in such a quiet and peaceful environment.

Finally, I arrived at the foot of the mountain around 12:35pm. There was still no one in sight yet, not to mention the bus! Probably not the best hiking option place for the locals. I asked the only guy at counter. He said the bus comes at 4:30pm! And the taxi cost W11000. Who would wait for 4 hours sitting face to face with a stranger guy!? I could only accept the cab offer. The guy was nice and invited me inside the hut with a hot coffee. He even wanted to treat me a cup noodle. I was tempted but declined politely. The taxi came shortly! Noticed it was running a meter at W3000 but the amount jumped pretty fast. I wondered if I would be charged lesser or more. The moment I reached the terminal, the meter showed W11000. Coincidence or great estimation?! As a Chinese, we cultivated this bad habit that everyone is trying to take advantage of you.

Fried food at the bus terminal

I walked to get my ticket back to Gwangju. 1:35pm was not a bad timing. There were many buses. Still half an hour more to wait, I got myself some very nice Korean fried snack. It was squids. I wanted one for each different type but she signaled a minimal of 3 pieces. For just W1000, I was a happy tourist.

There were only two other guys inside the bus. It was late for the first time and took off at 1:40 instead. Although 5 minutes was usually considered “early” in the country I grew up. Slept like a baby in the bus after a hectic hike. The journey back was the usual 1 hour and 20min.

Had my favourite Korean lunch at a restaurant inside the USquare before I head back to my hotel and had a great shower. Thought I could take a power nap. Instead, ending up in Facebook and backing up my photos. Around 5 plus, I got ready to go walk around the town.

Probably the oldest pub around

Definitely the best beer around

First snow of the year at
Gwangju

Suddenly the town snowed heavily around 6pm. I hid for a while inside the underground shops and saw many pirated stuffs too. Found an exit and dared the snow to explore the shopping area around. Window shopping in the snow is so cool. Saw many were taking pictures too.

Soon, nature’s called. The stomach one. Not the usual call of nature. I saw this small restaurant which looked pretty cool and hopped in. The food was not bad but the draft beer was the best and one pint was only W3000! I enjoyed a couple and noticed the place could be one of the oldest pub around in town.

The young me...

After a great meal, it was time for more night fun. Found the club Soul Train as suggested by Lonely Planet. The area was huge and I was the first customer at 8:23pm. Beers are damn cheap in Korea even at the pubs. The cost was not much difference from the convenient stores.

The 18-year old bar tender, Jin Hyung, told me weekend would be packed. In the end, I spent the whole night there as the only customer together with Ari (another bar tender at the club) and her foreign boyfriend, Zak as well. We had a lot of fun chatting and playing games, not to mention drinking of course. Zak said it was the first snow of the year at Gwangju. I brought snow to where I go just like Sobaeksan too! =] They also told me about the W1500000 watermelon in Korea. I picked up a very nice Korean drinking game called Strawberry, which even had an advance and beginner levels. The game was basically to clap in beats that follow up the previous player. It was especially impossible after a few drinks!

That night was also the first time I knew about the shuffling song, “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. It was so famous then and Jin Hyung was shuffling the whole night in the club! It was a great night and I could not remember how many drinks I had down, but I managed to find my way back to the hotel safely in one piece and slept with a big smile on the face.

Enjoy the rest of the photos below...