Climbed Some Mountains and Swam in the Sea of Japan, oh and turned 22. (cue the Taylor Swift)
So, it's been a while since my last post, but in that time I've been all over the place. Still haven't been able to see Pyongyang in the North though. Heard it's nice. Not too crowded.
A couple weeks ago I went on a trip with some friends to the East Coast of Korea. It involved a lot of seafood, some beaches, and a hungover hike where I thought I was going to die. We ventured up to Sokcho on the first day, which was actually a cool place. There, I hopped into the Sea of Japan and got sand all in my pants- you could've called me Sandy Cheeks, that's for sure. Side note- sea crab is super expensive, like $110 a pound. I did not eat that but tried some whole fish, some squid, oysters, and a whole lot more. Plus plenty of the usual soju. That was just the first night, and you can bet I kept up a significant pace for most of the week/ weekend.
The next day I woke up with a pretty bad hangover and decided to have some milk. Well, after that milk and some cereal we went for a hike. That hike was pretty long and also hot. I #milkboyz'd myself- did not feel great during that hike. Actually felt pretty bad. Luckily made it through it without dying and climbed one of the tallest mountains in Korea. Tbh they're all pretty short, the tallest mountain is like 6,000ft. I heard that you're suppose to see North Korea from the top but that's still not confirmed. I can definitely confirm how terrible I felt during most of that hike. There were some cool points too, a Buddhist temple carved into the side of a mountain was probably the coolest. I also attempted to push over a boulder, one that people have been trying to push down the mountain for years. They made it halfway down, but not any further. I can attest that this is a heavy rock, I can usually lift a lot but not that much.
Well, got done with that hike, then had some nice chicken on a stick an some ice cream as a snack. Yes a snack, I'm a pretty big guy. The hangover started to go away a little bit, then had some mad sashimi, hangover gone. The rice wine also helped the hangover go away a little bit. Honestly, the rice wine tastes great and I could easily drink it with every meal. After dinner we headed down to a couple more costal cities, and saw a lake that use to be clear but the Japanese diverted a canal to make it muddy. What assholes. Like what was the point in doing that? Apparently, it use to be beautiful, pristine, and clear.
Outside of the natural wonders, I sang so much karaoke that my throat got sore and I thought I was losing my voice. Karaoke is a huge fan favorite. One of the places the karaoke jam session went down was a small, interesting little town, that was basically the complete opposite of Seoul- very small and some old, old buildings. That town was honestly pretty awesome, and had some great seafood. The beach was great for a few night beers and sending some lanterns out over the sea. If they ended up going north I bet it freaked out the Kimjung Un family across the border. Like seriously, he probably thought it was an eminent attack.
Overall, great week. The week after got even more wild cause now I'm #feeling22. It was also the weekend of games between Korea University and Yonsei, where the schools play each other in five sports. I caught a baseball game. The pitcher was throwing some sick 50 mile an hour fast balls- probably on his way to the majors. I mean I can barely get a ball over home plate and this dude is rocking 50mph fast balls!! You don't see that everyday!! After the games were over I got to participate in what has been one of my favorite tradition so far, a train/ conga line that went through the local neighborhood. In that line you would go from store to store and yell chants, then you'd get some free beer and maybe some soju. Absolutely fantastic.
I also had a huge meal of Korean BBQ and Pork Belly- a little word to the wise, the small hidden shops are definitely the best. Birthday night was a challenge, one that I gladly accepted. It was filled with tons of soju and beer, karaoke, and some drunken ice cream cones and Korean chow.
On the flip side, school has been interesting. I've made it through a month of class and it's still going strong. Not having a student ID to get into any reading spaces or the library has been incredibly frustrating, but hopefully that get resolved before I actually leave. Until next time, everyone!