Visit to Taedunsan Provincial Park
Saturday morning, I got up bright and early. Okay, it wasn't so bright, but it was early. Headed off to meet some other people to take a day hiking trip off to Taedunsan. Prior to this trip I had never heard of Taedunsan, and most likely you haven't either. A little more information is available
here.
There are several ways to getting there. One is to take the KTX (bullet train) to Daejon, then several busses before reaching the park. The other is to drive. We opted to drive, pool our funds to rent a large enough vehicle to transport everyone. This proved to be the best and cheapest option.
The lonely planet Travel Survival Kit - Korea has this to say:
... Calm nerves are required here since the ascent involves crossing a hair-raising steel rope bridge stretched precariously between two rock pinnacles followed by an incredibly steep and long steel stairway. Those in search of a thrill have struck gold. Vertigo sufferers should go somewhere else for the day... On those precarious slopes you'll even meet amazing old grandfathers and grandmothers ascending the heights so rapidly that it makes the younger folks lose face...
We got there right before 10am and were able to take the first cable car up. While hiking from the bottom was an option we just wanted to get the experience. As it was, I am a little stiff today from all the stairs/rocks on the way up and down.
If you went to the Korea website, it was true. There were large groups of Koreans that were there. We got there early enough to avoid them on the way up, but of course ran into them on the way down. But, aside from ourselves we only saw one other person of European descent and a four-person family of Indians during the entire trip.
In all, it was a great day. As you can see from the pictures the weather cooperated fully.
No real camera trickery here, but I am looking up at the top of the bridge. I guess technically, it is a suspension bridge, but it is more like stairs.
Before crossing the first bridge. Yes, it was a long way down.
Looking back at the suspension bridge after crossing. There was no real reason to cross these bridges other than they are there!
Another warning sign - not sure if you saw it on the first sign, but remember, "No passing the old, the weak, the drunken and the children." Not sure if I'd want to be drunk crossing these bridges anyway. Would you?
Me after getting off the cable car and before starting the climb up the rest of the mountain. It started off a little chilly, but warmed up fairly nicely.
A view from the top looking back down to the valley floor (878m down). If you look hard you can see the first suspension bridge and the white structure in the middle right of the picture is the top of the second bridge.
Change of foilage on the unique topography of the area.
More foilage changing colors. Sun was off to the right so probably not the best lighting.
Tree canopy changing colors - this was taken looking straight up.
Cable Car - Okay we cheated any took the cable car up a 2/3s of the way.
Warning Sign at the first Iron Brigde.
Me at the top.
Taedun Mountain (Taedunsan) - the destination
Weekend plans...
So I have plans this weekend to go hiking. I could provide a bunch of information and give ya'll a clue as to where I am going, but I'd rather not.. He, he, he...
Fall has official hit Korea. It took longer this year, but then again, 2005 is apparently going down as the hottest year on record for the entire world. I remember attending Oktoberfest last year wearing a jacket and that was in early October. I didn't need to bring out the jacket until a couple of days ago.
With fall comes the change in the color of the foliage on the various mountain ranges. Last year DVN2RCKR, rnrB and trkr headed to Soraksan over Veterans Day weekend. Of course last year by then all the foliage had turned and fallen off the trees.
The place that I am heading to tomorrow is probably just as well known to Koreans, but not necessarily to Westerners. So, I guess I'll be in for a treat.
Photos will definitely be posted...
Interesting Weekend
Okay, so it is really Thursday, but I had an interesting weekend over Columbus Day. (Hmm, never quite remember how to spell that, is it like the jacket or the country?) Anyway, first two days of it were pretty much spent sleeping, not sure why, but I was exhausted. Of course over here, the four day weekends start on Saturday and finish on Tuesday so instead of two four day weeks we get a five day week and a three day week. Takes a while to get used to it.
Monday, I didn't do much either, in fact I really can't remember what I did, obviously it wasn't very interesting. Now on Tuesday, that is when I started to actually get some stuff done. I wake up early, talk on the phone and then go for a nice little run. Finish that, take my shower and get ready to complete the last errand I need to complete for the day, which was get a haircut. Mission complete and I still have half the day left.
DVN2RCKR has been suggesting that I check on some of the letterboxing that were placed here in Korea. A couple that I have not been on when they were placed is located very near to where I reside. So, after everything on Tuesday was done that needed to get done, I printed the clues and proceded to locate the box.
First thing that I did was start heading up the stair to reach the summit of Namsan, home of Seoul tower. Of course, Seoul Tower is currently closed (should open 1 DEC after eight months of renovations). Once at the summit, I opened the clues only to realize that I didn't have a need to climb to the top, no big deal and headed back on down.
Got back down to the bottom, right were I had passed a bench that rnrB had posed on her last visit following the clues. I think I did pretty good considering I didn't have a compass and wasn't sure of my cardinal directions at that point either. I eventually found the box, althought I had to do a bit of interpretation before I located it, but I was in the right place to start looking for it.
Bottom line was that nobody else had been to the box - sorry; I guess letterboxing just isn't that big in Korea as Geocaching.
After that I headed to Namdemun, a large "shopping" district not too far from where the box is located to look for a certain type of pencil sharpener for rnrB's schoolwork. Looked all over the place, but was unable to locate one. By then I was pretty tired and headed home for dinner, a quiet even and bed as work was fast approaching on Wednesday.
So much to do...So little time
Well. (and the joke goes, "That's a deep subject.")
Anyway, looks like I'll be trading an "East" for another "East". Instead of the Far East, I'll be heading to the East coast of the United States. DNV2RCKR will be trading Washingtons. Nothing like trading locations to be with the family again. It has been a LONG 19 months.
The grueling part will be finding a place to live that is economically feasible, within a respectible commuting distance and something else that I can't think of at the moment. Anyway, the last house we bought I was 3000 miles away - so what is another 4000 miles to find a place...
Since I finished the correspondence course, I've been busy playing with Open Source software - webserver, mailserver, content management system, etc. It has been an educational experience.
Fall has officially hit Korea - while the leaves haven't started to change yet, the mornings are cool and the days are extremely warm. Sometimes I wish it would just decide to be warm or cold. Of course the change in the weather caused me to come down with a pretty severe cold. I'm over it (mostly) now.
More later...
