Ganghyeon!!!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but I've been really busy. I went out of town last weekend and this is the first chance I've had to sit and write. I am going to be very honest and detailed in this post. Also, there is a part about dog meat, but I'll give you a warning before so you can skip it if you want.

Before I came here, I talked to Rhett on the phone. It was an interview of sort. Besides asking me the basic interview questions, he attempted to get to know me. I mentioned that I enjoyed climbing. He seemed excited and told me that he and another teacher (Joel) tried to go out and climb from time to time. This excited me, so I planned on packing my shoes and other gear to bring here. When I arrived I couldn't find my shoes. Turns out that I left them in the States. So, for the last two months we've been trying to get a trip going and last weekend we finally went. We were going to a place called Gangyheon.

Ganghyeon is about two and half hours away by subway and train. On Friday we got all packed up and bought our supplies. It wasn't a camping trip because they have rooms you can stay in, but people can and were camping there. I have all my camping gear, but we didn't have a large enough tent to fit me, Joel and big Rhett. So I got a bottle of Whisky at the store. It was very cheap and gross. Of course, it still cost 25000 won. I also picked up some lettuce and bacon for dinner. I know it sounds weird, but you'd be surprised how much fatty bacon is consumed here. I don't really care for it, but it's easy to cook so why not.

Rhett and I live south of the Han in an area called Kangnam. I live in Daechi which is within Kangnam which is within Seoul. So we walked to the subway and just barely missed it. We had to wait for a few minutes, so we busted out the badmitton rackets and shuttle cocks and played a little game. The Koreans around us seemed a bit perplexed, but I've gotten used to being somewhat of a spectacle here. It's not hard. The train pulled up and we put down the rackets and jumped on the subway. We got seats which isn't that rare. There was a baby sitting next to be that just wouldn't stop staring. It made me quite uncomfortable actually. He was probably just confused by my lighter hair and large European nose. Our stop was called and we exited the subway to start our little adventure. I was excited. I've been here for two months and haven't really left the city.

I haven't traveled by train in many years and I love doing new things, so this was all so neat for me. We entered the train station, went up to the ticket booth and bought three tickets to Ganghyeon. They cost 5000 won a piece.

"Do you want to buy return tickets?" they asked Rhett in Korean.

He looked at me and we both decided not to get them yet. He shook his head and they handed us our tickets. We looked at the departure time. It said 22:00. We looked at the clock. It was only 7:30pm. What were we going to do for two and half hours? Guess...

So we met Joel at the McDonalds and ate there. I was hoping to avoid eating there while I was here, but there was something about the Big Mac that was just too enticing. I ordered first and I guess didn't understand something that was said to me and the whole staff erupted in laughter. I smiled and let it go. It's a lot easier that way, especially because I tend to embarrass myself in many situations here. Isn't that part of the fun though? So we ate and cracked the bottle of Whisky right there in the McDonalds.

"What kind did you get?" Joel asked, I glanced down at the label.

"Sir Francis."

He was not happy with my purchase. Apparentely it was the worst selection I could of made. I didn't care. We finished eating and went outside. A drunk woman approached us and very abruptly sat down in front us with her Soju bottle in hand. She said something and then started throwing her stuff around and laughing. We tried to humor her a bit, but she was so annoying. We lost her and sat down on the other side of the parking lot. We debated for awhile about why Koreans think that Korean culture is homogeneous and very unique when all the evidence points the other way. I guess it was more of a discussion rather than a debate.

Before we knew it the big hand was approaching the 10 and it was time for us to board the train. I got the solo ticket, so I knew I was going to be sitting next to some Korean. I was hoping for a nice young and sexy Korean woman. We found our car and climbed the stairs. I found my seat and looked at my new neighbor. She was about 75 and asleep. She had that old woman hair growing off her chin and a quiet but obnoxious snore. Joel and Rhett laughed at me. Luckily, they were right across the aisle. The train started to move and we poured some shots of Sir Francis. Boy was it gross! A few minutes into the ride a foreign couple approached us and asked where we were going. We told them and they said they were headed there as well. They were nice and we would actually hang out with them a lot later on. They left and the three of us carried on.

As time and shots passed we were noticeably getting a little loud.

"I thought I was loud, but you are loud as shit." Joel told me with a laugh.

"Am I being loud? I don't think I'm being loud!" I snapped back.

Within one minute the train guy walked down the aisle and told me to be quiet. We all laughed and quieted down. After we were quiet for a few, we all noticed how quiet it was in there. It was like a library. Live and learn I guess. The train started to slow down and we gathered our stuff and ourselves. We stepped off the train and we were there.

The cool mountain air was so fresh. The smell was wonderful -pines; furs; grass; mountain water and no polluted city air. It was all dark except for the dim light spilling out from the train station office. We were all excited and started the twenty minute walk to the area. We walked through a small town. All the stores were closed and nobody was outside. It was so great to feel some sort of seclusion again. We crossed bridges over rivers and land. We walked through dark tunnels and finally spotted our destination. It was 12:30am.

We arrived at our pseudo-hotel. It was a room with a toilet, sink and blankets. No beds or anything else. We started cooking our dinner and had a few more drinks. After debating about anything and everything with Joel, we went down the meet some people. There were tons of foreigners there. As we started talking to some of them we discovered that a climbing group, "Korea on the Rocks" had planned to same thing we had. I was happy about it though. I got to meat all sorts of people from all over the world. Rhett and Joel were not as excited and actually kept to themselves a lot. We were up until maybe 4am or so.

The next morning Joel and I woke up at 8:30 and headed for the wall. There weren't many people on the rocks yet so we had plenty of routes to choose from. We climbed for a couple hours and then decided that Rhett had gotten enough beauty sleep. He finally made his way to the rocks and got into his harness. I opted out of belaying him. He's about 250 plus pounds and I just wasn't too excited or confident in my abilities to safely do it. So Joel did it after he was tied into the rock on the ground and I was holding him down. Rhett climbed about 60 feet of the 110 foot route Joel and I had done a couple times. I was impressed, but he was upset with his performance. At least he did it though. In an earlier post, I wrote that Koreans don't do much for recreation. I was wrong. They do and I saw some of it this weekend. They were all out there on those rocks and they were so great. I wish you could see some of these people on those rocks. I was blown away. The most shocking thing was that there were older men and older women out there on the rocks. I'm talking women over 55 making me look like I was 85. I tried to imagine Mom up there on those rocks, but unless Emmie could be there with her she wouldn't dream of it. It was time for some lunch, so we ate some noodles and just basked for awhile.

The surrounding area was beautiful and I had heard that there were some good trails around. We started walking to where we thought one was. We found the trail head and started the ascent. I had my Chacos on, but Rhett an Joel were both wearing crappy sandals. They complained and I told them I'd go on and they could go back and climb. They stayed. It had been way to long since I had been on a trail. It was great. The flora is similar to that at home: deciduous woods. We hiked the 7km trail passing all sorts of older people the whole way. It was so great up there.

We finished after awhile and decided we were pretty tired, so we just chilled out the rest of the afternoon. Night came and the party started. We met all sorts of people and had a little beach party on the banks of the river. Rhett decided to go in early, so Joel and I continued on. It was very cold, but felt great. Around midnight or so, Joel and I returned to the beach and started socializing. He was pretty drunk as I was, but I was still rocking it. We sat down and joined the circle around the fire. After ten minutes or so I noticed Joel hadn't been talking to anyone. He was fine, but just quiet. Then all of sudden he shouted.

"This sucks!"

The whole group stopped talking, looked at Joel, looked at me and then back at Joel. It was a show-stopper to say the least. He calmly stood up and walked up the hill. I said good-bye to everyone and followed him. We drank up there for awhile and then staggered home. I told Joel what he said the next morning. He laughed although he didn't remember.

We left the area and went into town. We stopped to eat at a small restaurant and this is where you might want to skip ahead. We didn't eat dog. I couldn't do that, but when I went to use the bathroom I heard a lot of barking. I followed the sound and came across what looked like a kennel. It was not a kennel, but a dog farm. There were lots of dogs in very small cages. I thought they might be used for meat, but I wasn't sure. I tried to pet them and show them a little human compassion, but they were very mean. I returned to the table and Rhett told me that he's assumed that some dogs he's seen have been used for that, but he knew that those poor dogs were used for their meat. How awful! He said I should take a picture of it because it's rare sight. I said no. I did not want to make the memory any more vivid. I asked them how the dogs were killed and they told me. This is gross, but perhaps some of you are interested. They either slit their throats or beat them to death so the meat will have a sort of adrenaline flavor. It's so horrible and I'm glad that it's not practiced too much in Seoul. I know I eat meat, but I don't have a relationship with cows and pigs. I do have several relationships with dogs.

So we got on the train at 450 and went home. This time we didn't have seats so we had to stand. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back. Maybe next time I'll free those dogs...