This photo was taken on our hiking tour at Mt. Seoraksan few weeks ago,  Seoraksan is the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range  in the Gangwon province in eastern South Korea. It is located in a national park near the city of Sokcho. After the Hallasan volcano on Jeju Island and Jirisan in the south, Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in South Korea. The Daechongbong Peak  of Seoraksan reaches 1,708 metres (5,603 feet). The Taebaek mountain chain is often considered the backbone of the Korean peninsula.

We didn’t reach the peak as we just hike for 6 hours and we need to return to the park and it will take us another 6 hours again and then travel back home. Well at least for beginners like us reaching Yangpok Shelter which is already 4.5 kilometers more to the peak is already a nice try.

I feel like a crippled right now, I was not able to blog yesterday as I am dead tired. We finally did the hiking tour yesterday, we wake up at five o`clock in the morning, eat breakfast and headed to the bus station, we reached Seoul at around 7:00 AM and took another bus to Sokcho. Then took another bus (7-1) to Seoraksan National Park. We purchased ticket entrance and we started our hiking journey, along the way up to Biseondae there’s a lot of students in group keep saying hi and hello to Pookie Bear, he is so kind not to response to few he said if he did everybody will do the same, imagine how tiring is it. Haha!

When we reached Biseondae and started walking in the trail we’ve seen only few people mostly are old couple which is a great relief to be away from the group of students. I have experience to climb on rocks, which is sometimes very tiring as it feels like I am going to crawl already. My legs are sore and so thirsty too, we just bought one small bottle water each as we thought we can buy more water at the end of our trail.

After three hours we reached Yangpok Shelter, we just stayed for five minutes while the other hikers are preparing their lunch, then we move out to return to Seorak-dong (Park entrance)  where we begin our hike.  We hike around 13 kilometers in almost six hours which is already good for first timer hiker like us according to me. Hehe, we didn’t continue to the peak anymore as we need to go home, we need to catch a bus much better if not the last trip.

Well I thought I can’t see the park entrance anymore as my feet, legs and shoulder are already sore, I walked like crippled already, it is really painful to walk. I keep asking rest time but Pookie bear says we need to hurry so we can get a bus and take a rest, when we reached the third shelter from the entrance we bought water and I one waffle for me as I am already hungry I never eaten anything aside from my breakfast and one piece of cookie.  We had a rest for few minutes while watching the mountain climbers, then when we reached the second shelter I bought a milk shake ice cream, Pookie bear asked me if how many times I am going to eat.  Well I am really hungry plus I believed eating something while walking will help my feet to walk, so my attention is not on my aching legs but into my food, isn’t it?

After one kilometer and so, we finally reached the park entrance but we need to walk more to go to the bus stop. We took the bus for 40 minutes and took another bus to Seoul for around 2 hours and another bus going here in our place for 1 hour. Actually Pookie bear is kinda angry with me because when we are in Seoul, the lady in the ticket office gave us a 9:30 PM (last trip) bus so he asked me to ask her if there is an early bus but I am too hard headed to follow as I can’t speak Korean so he did it, the lady in the window I purchased can’t really speak English so the lady in the next window was the one who answered. I didn’t hear what she says all I know we still got the same bus ticket, when we reached the platform we found out there’s a bus that will left right this time, 7:30 PM. So I told Pookie bear maybe he could ask the driver if we can get inside as it looks like it is not full, that’s the way I see in another bus station where the driver allowed other passenger with another schedule, he asked me again if I can do it but again I said I don’t know what to say, in short I did not follow him so he did it again and voila we are allowed to take the bus as it is already leaving and there’s a vacant seat at the back.

When we reached home I just take a bath and eat my dinner while my foot is soaked in hot water with little salt then sleep with a wet hair. I am really sleepy and dead tired as we just sleep three(3) hours before our hiking tour. Pookie bear wake me up though he asked if I cooked rice for his breakfast as I didn’t I have to wake up and cook with a sleepy head.

So right now my lower body is sore,  oh yeah if I forgot to say I had a fever last night, I walked like a zombie (lol) and  Pookie bear is angry with me, I had a cold treatment from him, as what he said last night, much better if he left me in the bus station (lol) he will took the bus and I will wait for the bus scheduled in our ticket.