one mountain, two mountain, three mountain, four?

i finally got a decent nights' sleep last night. i woke up at a reasonable hour, cleaned the house, and headed to the hills.

i was planning on following a different route this time - one that would take me to the top of mount sino... but i ended up going the other way again... i just can't figure out where the path is. i think i'm going to have to walk up the road and that just sucks. after figuring out where i was going i was thinking i'd just get to the top of the first mountain and head back down. it takes about an hour to get up and i thought i'd been there before. well, i hadn't, but i did today.

the 'top' of mountain one.

when i got to the top i wasn't ready to turn back, i still had the rest of the day ahead, and figured that while i was up there i might as well see where the path goes... so i kept going, and saw this ahead:

it looks more daunting than it is...

so i just kept going. and going. and going.
it got pretty steep for a bit. i kept imagining what this would look like in the rainy season... it's probably a river!

that is the 'top' of mountain one as seen from the top of mountain two.

when i got to the top again, i was faced with a choice:
i went right - mostly becuase it was going down instead of up! i didn't know how long it would take me to get down or if i'd have to go back the way i came... but going to the right looked like it would somehow get me down.

the view on the other side of mountain two...

after going down and down and down i decided to stop for a little rest. i found a little outcropping of rocks and hunkered down. as i looked on the ground around me i was inspired. so i built a little inukshuk. i've never done this before... and i don't know exactly why i did it, but i like that i did. i wondered what the koreans would make of it if they happened upon it... it's like a little peice of canada in the mountains of gimhae!

my inukshuk.

it's kind of small, and not very pretty... i wonder if it'll still be there the next time i go up... after building it i kept heading down the mountain... i wasn't sure where i'd end up but knew it would be somewhere on the other side of my neighbourhood... it was still a long way down. then i came upon more strange korean mountain things:
looks like a collapseable garage that people put in their driveways in canada... there were a bunch of koreans hunkered down eating lunch inside. it's just so odd that it would be up in the mountain in the middle of nowhere... i wonder who built it.

and just as i was out of water i found this:
i asked a korean who was standing there if this was potable and she nodded, so i filled up my water bottle. hopefully i haven't contracted some kind of parasite! but if i do, a bunch of koreans will too, as they were all drinking from it as i was leaving. ahh, fresh mountain spring water!

then i came upon this:
it seems that koreans have their own version of the inukshuk... i didn't feel so smart about my little guy after seeing this monster... just means i'll have to build another bigger one next time.

i still had a long way down, and it was rough on my knees, but my new shoes held up great. my toes got a bit sore, maybe the shoes are a half size too small... either way, i wasn't slipping and slidingdown the mountain like i usually do. at least the new ones have some grip to them! when i was near the bottom, but not quite there i came across this:

an ad for columbia! advertising up the mountain!!!

i did finally get down off the mountain and was indeed on the other side of my neighbourhood, which meant a nice walk through the outdoor market and a trip to the 1000 won shop (where things actually cost 5-10,000 - maybe that's just the waegook price...).

all in all it was a great afternoon... it took just over three hours from my front door to my front door... which is about twice as long as i've been before. good on me! i still can't believe that i've turned into this weird hiking-type of person... change is a good thing right?