Hiking Geumosan

"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory." -- Ghandi 

The last few weekends have come & gone so quickly! Rewind to 3 weekends ago...I went to Daegu to do a bit of shopping & hang out with some friends who live there. 2 weekends ago, similar story...met up with a big group of people to hang out in Daegu. Both those weekends ended up with me getting back to my apartment in Gumi around 7 a.m. Crazy nights to say the least. 

THURSDAY PARTY BAR IN DAEGU

JEEEP BAR IN DAEGU

This weekend I decided to do something different with my weekend & enjoy other things that Korea has to offer. Well, I did go out Friday night to hang out with my friend Tracy for a couple drinks. Thought I didn't drink much...I mean we only shared two pitchers of flavored soju lol. Needless to say waking up at 8 a.m. was not the easiest thing to do. Considering I drank on an empty stomach the night before...it all caught up to me the next day.

TRACY & I @ CORONA BAR

Saturday's Adventure:
Hiking! Doing this with a slight hangover...hmmm...not the brightest idea!! BUT, I managed to survive! Just took a few extra breaks & got endlessly teased for my excuses along the way. As far as the scenery was concerned...it was AMAZING! The views from different areas of the hike were so beautiful. We left my apartment around 10 a.m. and walked to the base of the mountain. Not sure exactly what time we started up the mountain...but we made it back to my place around 6 p.m. Talk about a full day of working out!! My body is letting me know how out of shape I am today, lol. Looks like I need to increase my workout routine...running & biking isn't doing enough!

BEGINNING OF THE HIKE

One of the lessons I learned is that if I plan to continue hiking, I should invest in some hiking shoes. Nike's don't quite do the trick in the mountains. Especially with how steep Geumosan is!! There were parts where I just stared up in amazement, thinking..."How the hell am I going to make it up there?" But with encouragement from other hikers (mostly Koreans & a couple foreigners) coming down the mountain saying "fighting!" (which is Korea's term for "be happy" or "you can do it!" lol) and patience from Jürgen...we made it to the summit! I felt sorry for him during most of the hike...being an experienced hiker & having a newbie to deal with can be a bit annoying I'm sure, haha! Thanks friend! :) Of course the top was our main goal, but we took many detours along the way which turned out to be worth the extra hiking. I really loved the temple & the music they played as you walked around it. I also liked the cave & the path you had to take to get to it. 

PATH TO THE CAVE

 WATERFALL

 BUDDHA

 

Master your words.
Master your thoughts.
Never allow your body to do harm.
Follow these three roads with purity
And you will find yourself upon the one way,
The way of wisdom.
-- Buddha

BRIDGE @ THE TEMPLE

 VIEW OF GUMI-SI

 A BLOCKED OFF PART OF THE TEMPLE AREA

 STATUES ON THE MOUNTAIN

 ON THE HELICOPTER LANDING SPOT

AND THE TOP...I MADE IT!!

All in all, I'd say it was a successful weekend! Now it's nearly Sunday evening and I should be working on lesson planning for the upcoming weeks of work. Looks like break time's over! Hopefully I will be blogging about more hikes in the future!


XOXO,
Amanda