Lost in the hills

If there was any theme to our time in Korea it was being lost. We got lost on the metro, lost on the streets, lost in the mountains, and once we even got lost in the bathroom! I really think that getting lost has gotten a bad reputation though...I've always been rather fond of it. I've had some of the best times of my life while being lost! (Okay, so I've had some pretty frustrating times too—but those ones don't tend to stick and if they do, they tend to turn into great stories!) :)

Lost in the mountains, part one

The first weekend we were in Korea, Rita joined us on a trip south in search of a tea plantation Amanda wanted to see. The plantation was supposed to be located in a mountain park close to the town of Gwangju. We arrived at the base of the mountain in the early afternoon and Rita masterfully used her Korean to try and get directions. Instead, she found two older Korean gentlemen, one of whom spoke English.

This meeting caused a slight detour to a small roadside “restaurant,” where we had snacks and tea. Thirty minutes later, though, we headed up the hill following our new friends' reluctantly-given, but thorough, instructions. (Reluctantly given because they didn't think the tea plantation was worth seeing.) We started out energetically, but the heat and the incline soon slowed us down, especially when we realized that none of us actually knew what a tea plantation looked like! Perhaps, we theorized, we'd already passed the tea plantation without recognizing it...or perhaps it was just around the corner.

Just around the corner was the grave of the eccentric painter who had started the tea plantation—but no actual plantation. Perhaps it was around the next corner...

Or not. Around that corner, the trail seemed to peter out and turn into a dry creek bed. We decided the creek bed must double as a trail so we thought we'd check around just one more corner.

After fighting vertically upwards through spider webs and underbrush, our “trail” finally brought us to a destination, but unless the tea plantation was disguised as a graveyard, it wasn't the destination we were looking for. There was, however, a real trail leading up around yet more corners...

We eventually ran out of corners when we reached the peak of the mountain, where the view was amazing. Part of that view was the tea plantation right near the bottom of the mountain...but we never did figure out how to get there!

Lost in the mountains, part two

After heading south from Gwangju and actually finding a tea plantation, Rita had to head back to Seoul. The intrepid backpackers, however, continued on to the coastal city of Busan. One of Busan's main tourist attractions is the remains of the fortress on Geumjeongsan Mountain. Not much remains of the fortress, though, except the four gates and some of the walls, but the hike and the scenery were highly recommended.

We planned to head out early, but due to several complications involving the lack of banks and ATM's, we didn't arrive at the mountain until almost noon. We had transportation as far as our first stop, a Buddhist temple about half way up the mountain, but after that we got to walk. The beginning of the trail was extremely well-marked though, even if it was a bit strenuous, so we arrived at the North Gate in just under an hour. It seemed important to climb the wall upon arriving, but even though we had the cameras posed and ready, no one fell off while climbing!

The North Gate and surrounding walls were suitably impressive, and we were definitely looking forward to finding the other three gates. So, after a short rest, we optimistically headed out to find them.

Three hours later we'd found some friendly Korean women, several roads, a small rural village, far too many steep inclines, a few maps, lots of signs in Korean, several unlabeled trails, and a town. We didn't, however, find a west, east, or south gate! Eventually, we did find a bus stop...and decided to use it. The bus drove down the mountain—right past the East Gate! But by that time it was almost five and we decided we'd had quite enough of the mountain for one day.

Funnily enough, when we were swapping stories with another backpacker later that day, we found out that she had also spent the day on the mountain—lost! Then, when we arrived back in Seoul, Rita informed us that when she had visited the mountain, yes, you guessed it, she had also gotten lost (and, now that I think about it, she didn't bother warning us either; thanks a lot Rita! :). Ah well, it's all part of the experience, I guess. Besides, now we'll just have to come back and see the remaining gates another time!