Korea - Seoraksan National Park - 19 - 21 Sep

19 Sep 

am always proud and glad by how we manage to keep in touch despite our physical distance from shirleen. was not easy coordinating all our busy schedules to make this extraordinary hens trip happen. hazel was the last amongst us 4 to touch down at 0845am and we set off for our much anticipated get together after 5 long years. the car ride from incheon international airport was estimated to be 3 hours long. due to the festive season, it took us almost 6 hours to get to our destination - seoraksan national park.

the accommodation was better than expected given the good rates we had. hotel was dated but well maintained and clean. 
room type : twin room
room rate per night : 165000won

Seoraksan Tourist Hotel

our 1st trail for the trip is to the biryeong falls - 2.4km. did not pay much notice to the time taken but i did not break a sweat upon reaching the falls.

Biryeong Falls 2.4km in 1 hour

the only decent photo of the 4 of us =P

one of the main aims of this hens trip was to stay in shape for the upcoming weddings. dinner has to be healthy which we sort of regretted as the platter was almost untouched except for the mushroom. nevertheless, we enjoyed the seafood soup which was really good and all agreed that the soup alone would have be sufficient.

healthy dinner - mushrooms and vegetables

20 Sep

the hike to daecheongbong was tough - 10.3km elevation 1708m. charlie, our friendly hotel coordinator advised that it would take 7 hours to reach daecheongbong peak and 4 hours to get back. much as i was mentally prepared for the task, my body do not seem to quite agree. the initial stages to biseondae and oryeon falls were easy to manage which explains the amount of photos that were taken comparatively to the later stages.

shirleen and i at the start of the longest 13 hours of my life till date

i thought this flight of steps was bad and did not know there were much worse to come

all was fine till we parted with grace and hazel slightly after yangpok shelter where the 2 girls decided to head back to base. grace had major issues with her hiking boots which was not a surprise as she did not break into them at all and hazel's usual knees problems started to surface after 3 hours. shirleen and myself started to feel the inclination on the rocky way to huiungak shelter. 

the worst 1.3km from Huiungak to Socheong in 2 hours

the last 0.6km from Jungcheongbong to Daecheongbong in 1/2 hour

the happiness upon reaching the peak

we were wondering how it would be possible for the return journey to be 3 hours less than the hike up and we got our answer on our way down. the locals must have been so trained and familiar with the terrains that it seemed almost effortless for them, regardless of age. we took 6 hours to reach the hotel restaurant and was totally drained both physically and mentally by then. good thing is, we got back to flat grounds before darkness fell. takeaway for this hike is to get enough carbohydrates intake in order to generate sufficient energy to push on. we each had 4 energy bars, 3 cans of gatorade and a small slice of bak kwa that shirleen brought along which was not enough, especially when our previous night dinner had minimal carbohydrates. 

21 Sep

decided a morning walk would do our sore muscles good and it proved us right. took a 2.1km trail to heundeulbawl in less than an hour. it was a great workout for the morning and a good one to end this hiking trip.

 

our final shot at hotel lobby - donned in basic colours food tees from threadless - with compliments from hazel

countdown to wedding day : 50