About a week and a half ago my coworker Jordan asked me if I wanted to go hiking that weekend with him. I was hesitant to say yes because I’d been so busy with Martha’s visit, then our trip to Busan. He had booked a trip with a friend through Adventure Korea, the same tour group that Samantha and I went to North Korea with. Unfortunately though, his friend was unable to go last minuet so the trip would be free for me. I couldn’t pass up a free weekend away! My daddy taught me better than that.
Mt. Soraksan is located about four hours north of Seoul. We left early in the morning on Saturday. I was dozing uncomfortably on the bus (the guy behind me had a loud voice, and I am not used to having to block out english, plus my neck had nowhere to rest….you know, one of those rests). Anyways, the point being that I kept waking up slightly irritated, but whenever I would take a look out the window I would see the Korean countryside and be struck by its beauty. I’d soak it in for a minute then find my heavy eyes closing again.
The mountain was absolutely beautiful. The hiking was challenging, but in a much better way then Bukhansan. When I hiked Mt. Bukhan in the fall I was out of practice and mentally unprepared. The hike was just as tough mentally as it was physically. I kept wanting to turn back, but my friend kept telling me I couldn’t. Both my body and mind were calling for an end. Last weekend, though, there were no thoughts of turning back. It wasn’t even an option, I would reach the peak. Physically, though, it was tough. But I would take that any day over the mental challenge! Well worth it when we got to the top, the view was spectacular!
There were lots of Buddhist temples at the base of the mountain, and on the way up.
with all the temples, does that mean Buddha climbed to the top too? cool.