The great outdoors

One of my favourite things to do here in Seoul is to rent a mountain bike and bike up the Han river. There is a shop about a 15 minute walk from my apartment that rents them for free! Since I don't have to be at work until 2:00 p.m., biking up the Han river is a perfect way to start the day (I can sleep in and still get a few hours of biking in). The river is about a 15 minute bike ride from the bike shop, and there is a nice bike path along a stream most of the way.

On one Saturday around the end of September I decided on a whim to see how far I could bike. I biked for over an hour heading east down the Han river, going all out and biking as fast as I could. Then I decided to explore, so I went south for awhile to see where I was. I figured if I got lost, I could always find the river back and get back home. Unfortunately, my sense of direction failed me (as it usually does), and I got completely lost. About four hours later, I found a subway stop in the southeast corner of Seoul (I live in the west part of Seoul) and it took me an hour and a half to get home on the subway (with my bike, which is actually not allowed, but I didn't really have a choice). I was exhausted.  

Last weekend I left Seoul for the first time since I arrived here over two months ago. I went with three friends to Seoraksan National Park, which is on the east coast of South Korea. It took an hour on the subway to get to the bus terminal, and then a 3-4 hour bus ride to Seoraksan. We left Friday night, and we actually missed the bus, but Aron was able to find a taxi van that was willing to drive us the whole way! 

The four of us crammed into a minivan with five other people in it. The cabbie drove about 150 km/h (95 mph) most of the way and got us there in two and a half hours. Amazingly, it only cost about $6 more per person than the bus would have been. Cab fares are quite cheap in Korea. This is a shot of the four of us: myself, Travis, Gabe, and Aron in the Park. It was pretty warm for November - I was in a t-shirt for much of the hiking.

The four of us stayed in a pretty nice hotel for about 60 bucks a night. This is the view of the city and the mountains from the hotel room balcony:

On Saturday we didn't get too far up the mountain. Instead, we went up the stream by the mountains, hopping from rock to rock. It was technically off limits, but it was a lot of fun.Jumping from rock to rock reminded me of the river in my backyard back in Woodbridge. We used to make a dam and jump across on the rocks.Gabe perhaps didn't have as much fun. He took a spill after he dropped his water bottle and went after it. We rested for a bit to let his clothes dry
On Sunday we made it up one of the mountains. This is a view from halfway up.

And this is the view from the top. It was spectacular.