This weekend was a three day weekend and me with my recent desire for cleanliness decided that I needed to leave the pollution filled city and give my lungs some clean mountain air. After a tiny bit of research Heather and I found a cheap, yet cool looking hostel in the mountains on the east coast about three hours from Seoul. We decided that was where we would spend our weekend.
Since we had Friday off we slept in, took our time getting ready and were finally at the bus station in East Seoul at about 2pm. We semi-figured out where we would need to go, bought our bus tickets and then realized that the bus didn't leave for another three and a half hours. Since we were already there, we figured there was no point in going back home so we found some chairs and camped out near our bus for the next few hours. After many people staring at us and a few men even trying to speak English to us we boarded our bus. As the bus left Seoul it immediately started climbing into some misty mountains. I already felt like I could breathe easier and soon I was in the deepest sleep that I've been in for a long time.
After what seemed no time at all we arrived in Sukcho, a city in the mountains on the east coast of Korea. It was dark and about 9:30pm. When we stepped out of the bus we soon discovered that we had no idea how to find our hostel. We knew the name of the hostel and we knew that it was off in the mountains somewhere. We also had a phone number but it didn't seem to be working. So Heather and I found ourselves in a situation that we often somehow find ourselves in when traveling...we were lost and had no idea how to get to our destination. Right then as we were standing in the middle of the sidewalk looking into space hoping an answer would come to us, it did! A drunk man almost hit us on his bicycle and in the process screamed a bunch of Korean words at us. (profanities I'm sure) So this onlooker came over to us and in good English said, 'don't worry about him, he's a crazy man'. First we were shocked by his English and then we asked him if he knew how we could get to our unknown hostel in the middle of nowhere. He had no idea, but said he would try calling the number for us. After a few tries, he realized that we were dialing the number wrong (haha, oops!) and was able to dial it right and get through. He still didn't know where we were supposed to go, but got us a taxi and after much arguing with the taxi driver in Korean we were off.
Once the taxi driver started driving he asked me for my phone so that he could talk to the people at the hostel and get directions. This was all in Korean of course, so that was just what I was guessing was going on. After the taxi driver talked, and argued and talked and argued on my phone we were officially off and driving out of the city. The time was quickly getting later and Heather and I now found ourselves in some random taxi driving out into the dark mountains where there were no other cars. Most other people probably would have been freaked out, but Heather and I just exchanged glances and shrugged our shoulders. I began thinking 'and all of this for some fresh air, geesh...'. So after about 20 minutes into the dark mountains, the taxi driver slows down, then speeds up again. Then once again, he slows, pulls onto the shoulder of the road, then pulls back onto the road and speeds up. By this time Heather and I are freaking out thinking ok, is he going to rape and kill us or not?!? Finally he takes an exit off of the highway, pulls into a parking lot and asks for my phone. I shakily give him my phone, he calls the hostel again (at least thats what I think he's doing) and then gives me my phone back and drives down the road. Soon he slows down, hesitates and then turns down a little dirt road. By this time Heather and I are doing everything that we can not to desperately hold each other for dear life in the back seat of the taxi. After going down the dirt road for a little while he pulls into this lit up parking lot and Heather and I realize that it's our hostel!! We just about jumped out of the taxi and hugged the people waiting for us at the hostel. Phew man, I haven't been that scared in a while. :)
So the hostel ended up being really out there, but it was a great place. Heather and I were given our own mud cabin complete with a kitchen, a bathroom and an extra bedroom which is way more room than we even have in our tiny one room apartment in Seoul. We spent our days exploring, enjoying the river, reading in hammocks, taking in the fresh mountain air and just relaxing to the fullest after our little adventure getting there. It was definitely worth it!
When it came time to come home we realized that the little fishing village near by actually had a bus stop where we could catch the bus straight back to Seoul. It was so much easier to get back to Seoul. Unfortunately though, the little girl who sat behind us puked her guts out the whole three and half hour ride back. Ick.
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