Seoraksan Hiking Trip

This past weekend I went on another Adventure Korea trip with Jennifer. It was an overnight trip. On Saturday, we went hiking on Seoraksan and Sunday we went trekking through another mountain to see a waterfall. It was raining, so I didn't take out my camera for that. Here are some shots from Seoraksan:

These are wishing stones. If your pile is wobbly and falls, your wish doesn't come true.

Unsteady Rock. It did actually move a bit when we pushed it.

This was at the top, we were supposed to be able to see the ocean, but it was too foggy that day (as you can see). It was still a great feeling making it to the top after climbing straight up for 2 and half hours.

A tree I liked.

This giant buddha was at the bottom of the mountain.

Dobongsan Hiking

There are a couple of mountains really close to where I live. I went hiking on Dobongsan with Jennifer. It's just two subway stops away from us. It was a beautiful day and the hikers were so friendly. When we were looking at our map, this couple came by and showed us how to get to the peak. At the temple, some guys gave us tangerines and another guy offered to take photos of us (he also didn't leave us alone after that). He left then came back to get a photo of us on his phone, then he left and came back to give us his business card, then he left and came back to see if we were going to hike to the peak. He did this quite a few times. We decided we'd better leave the temple before he came back for a 6th time. It was pretty funny though. 

View of the top from the temple. I don't know if you can tell but there are some serious rock climbers on that peak going straight up. It looked extremely difficult.

Lanterns in preparation for Buddha's birthday. The guy who kept leaving and coming back said that people  buy cards to write their names on and put them in the appropriate lantern. 

A bunch of buddha dolls. It was kind of creepy. 

Food stalls and market at the bottom of the mountain.

Caving

After the ferry ride, we went to Gosu Cave. It was pretty neat. There were a lot of cool rock formations and the sound of water dripping/trickling down he walls made me feel like I was in the Goonies. Before we entered the cave, there were a bunch of photos of these huge spiders and bats that supposedly live in the cave. They definitely made it seem like we'd be dodging bat shit and getting stuck in spider webs, but I didn't see any creatures in there. 

There were little stations throughout the cave where you could get professional cave photo. I can't imagine working in a cave all day. Although I'm sure a lot of people feel like they do sometimes.

Ferry Riding

Today, Jennifer (a friend from work) and I went on an Adventure Korea trip. Adventure Korea organizes a bunch of different group trips throughout Korea. Anyone can sign up for the trips on their website.  On this trip, we went took a ferry ride through Chungju Lake and then went caving at Gosu caves. The lake was beautiful and it was a sunny, clear day-perfect for taking photos. It felt great to get out of the city for a day. 

Here are some highlights from the ferry ride: