Fear Factor Weekend (Day 2)

Round Three --Climbing Mt. Daedunsan 

The Facts:
* the highest peak of Mt. Daedunsan is Macheondae, at 878 meters above sea level
* there is a cable car up to the mountain for 7,000 won (round trip)
* after getting of the cable car, you have ascended 610 metres above sea level –there is the platform which serves as a great look-out point
* 200 metres up, there is a Geumgang Gureum (aka Cloud Bridge) which is 50 meters long and straddles mountain peaks 81 meters high
* the Samseon Stairway is composed of 127 steel stairs ascending up the face of a cliff at a 50 degree angle –so it’s better described as a ladder, which felt both death-defying and unnatural for a person with a fear of heights, or rather a fear of falling from such heights.

“The mountain is not very high, with its highest peak Macheondae rising only 878 meters above sea level. However, the rocky crags and cliffs, which offer spectacular views, make for an arduous hike.” –taken from a hiker’s website I checked out in preparation for Mt. Daedunsan 

After getting off the cable car, this is the view from the platform.

In the left background, you can see the Samseon Stairway and, even higher up, Macheondae peak.

I turned around for a photo op of climbing up the Samseon Stairway and immediately became shaky when I realized how high up I was and how easily I could fall and/or be blown off of the cliff.

This was the view from Samseon Stairway that made my heart leap into my throat.

Bonus Round --Eating Silkworms

The Facts:
* silk worms are apparently a wonderful post-hike treat in Korea
* a cup of silkworms costs 1,000 -2,000 won
* I don’t usually eat bugs for a mid-afternoon snack
* you can convince yourself that the less juicy ones taste like almonds, the more juicy ones taste exactly as they smell –nasty. 

Yummy, yummy.

Jason and I showing off our silkworm snack.

Fear Factor Weekend (Day 1)

Round One --Parting the Sea

The Facts:
* in Jindo (in Jeollanam-do Province), there is a Jindo Miracle Sea Festival
* the seas part which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width
* visitors can walk through the sea from the mainland to a nearby island
* legitimate rain boots are hard to come by, but Hilary and Andrea managed to snag 6 pairs of waterproof boots for 12,000 won each
* being near the front of the pack is ideal; although your boots might flood, it is worth being able to walk the full distance (and back) in the fairly short amount of time that the sea part

Welcome to Jindo!

Jason, Andrea, myself, Hilary and Chantelle after crossing the sea.

The crowd coming back to Jindo's shore.  Special shout out for the guy just above this comment with his hands raised high in victory. It was a pretty victorious moment.

Round Two --Staying in a Pension

The Facts:
* a pension is the Korean equivalent of renting a cabin
*each pension is designed to lodge as many bodies as possible; for example, our pension had two bedrooms (6 people in one, 4 people in another), the loft space (4 people) and the living room (6 people) for a grand total of 20 foreigners in one pension
*while the kitchen and living room were completed equipped with furniture, the designated sleeping areas were absolutely bare –no beds, no sheets, no air mattresses –just one blanket and one itty-bitty pillow per person
*the control for the ondool (floor heating) is hidden in the first-level bedroom, so it won’t be found until you sweat it out overnight on your fiery-floor bedstead
*if you luck out with a pension on the water, you wake up to the sounds of a birds happily chirping and a beautiful view of the sun rising over the lake

Chantelle and I dans le loft of our pension.

Packed up and ready to go.  Our room with all of it amenities: four walls, one floor, one blanket, one pillow.

The beautiful view from our pension, accompanied by sounds of birds singing and water lapping at the shore.