Our most excellent adventures contiue, albeit at slightly higher altitude. On wednesday we said goodbye to our very kind hosts and travelled to the north-east of the country to explore the Seoraksan National Park - a mountainous costal region well known for its stunning beauty.
We managed to find a motel in Seorak-dong, near to the nature reserve area, which was pretty much empty, cheap, and run by the Korean version of Norman Bates (although any unpleasant shower incidents were successfully avoided).
We had a couple of days of walking in this incredibly gorgeous area full of steep mountain peaks, tumbling streams and rivers, lush mixed woodland and views all the way to the Pacific which I cannot really do justice in words: pictures in the gallery (coming soon) may do better though. Sufficed to say that a good time was had by all, and the highlights for me involved a hike to a couple of stunnig waterfalls (Yukdam and Biryeong) and a walk to a truely incredible rock platorm (Biseondae) above a stream that lazily tumbled miles from one clear green pool to the next. Each day we found it hard to turn back and only just made it back before the darkness came; we were very lucky to have many places to ourselves as although this is a big domestic tourist draw the peak times are July/August when it is hottest and Mid October when the autumnal colours are at their best: September is a lull between the 2 despite being the least rainy month of the year, and perfectly mild for walking.
Even luckier we think this year autumn is early as fantastic reds and golds have already started to show themselves in the hills. We are now heading south where we hope to attend the Andong mask festival on Sunday before making our way down to Busan where we have a ferry booked for 3rd Oct to the local slice of paradise Jeju Island. This seems like the ideal retreat for the first week in October, as at this time the country celebrates Chuseok, a lunar harvest festival which sends the entire nation on the move, uniting families while simultaneously gridlocking the transport network.
On a more personal note this seems to be a time for anniversaries: 3 days ago I celebrated 100 smoke-free days, and in 3 days time we mark the 6 month point on the journey. I was delighted to reach 100 days without tobacco and although I cannot say that the cravings have subsided in any way, I can taste and smell more subtleties, am much healthier and fitter, and can concentrate on the same thing for longer than half an hour without needing a 'break'. All good stuff. The 6 month point is also a nice milestone: although time seems increasingly irrelevant to me it does serve as a point of reflection on how far we've come and how much we've changed. That, coupled with some much-needed days in the countryside have really made me appreciate what an incredible thing it is that we are doing, and how many terrific things there are still to come. Hurrah for life on the open road!