Chuncheon Getaway

Last weekend I hiked with some members of my hiking club on Mt. Samak, close to Chuncheon. I love this city simply because I always have fun there and the mountains surrounding it are gorgeous. The only downside, as Gabrielle, another hiker, claims: it always rains when I come to Chuncheon. This time was no exception. The hike was very wet and, in Clare's words, not too hard, and not too easy. Dong-dong ju was not the best, though. It tasted like puddle water - maybe it was, 'cause the colour was about the same, and the taste probably not much different - can't know for sure for not having drunk from a puddle - yet!
Our member Glenn had a birthday party and a housewarming party all in one. His girlfriend cooked up a storm. It was nice, mingling with different homo sapienses, although I had a splitting headache (must be that puddle water I drank earlier) and kept popping a deadly combo of Advils and prescription Tylenol that Debbie graciously shared with me.
Chris, Clare and I spent the night at a motel called Star and Sund (or Sun and Star). It was a pleasant little room with a wonderful view of - a garbage dump right outside the window. But, I have to say that in the midst of all that junk a beautiful cherry tree in full blossom was doing its darnest to prove "my" claim that there is a lot of beauty in Korea if you are willing to look hard for it and not allow garbage and stench to deter you from your dedicated detective work.
The day was gorgeous. CCB (Chris, Clare, Bianca), unsuccessfully hunted for a decent breakfast in downtown Chuncheon. Realising that it was close to 1:00 p.m. we didn't see anything wrong with having a chicken whopper in the local Burger King. A perfect brunch. We were goofing around, trying on bizzare sunglasses, and wondering at the admiration a group of Japanese tourist was showing for "Winter Sonata" memorabilia in the midst of the main street. WS is a Korean soap, tremendously popular among Japanese housewives. We followed suit, and soon, Chris and I were deep into our roles of star-eyed lovers (see photos below; btw., all Chuncheon pix are courtesy of Clare, my favorite mad photographer woman). Not long after our merry downtown doings, we met Debbie, hopped into a taxi and were on our way to Ouido, an island, were supposedly a "sports event" was taking place. The event turned out to be represented by a handful of sporadic marathon runners who would ocassionally stop traffic. The island was not very interesting, except for very beautiful and suggestive bathroom signs: a flower for "woman" and a butterfly for "man." You know who lands on what and why? O.K., O.K., getting my mind out of the gutter, but still think this is no coincedence. Leaving the boring island behind we hopped into another taxi and went to see th Soyang Dam where we took a short ferry ride to the dam and a temple. Now, this was the best part of our chuncheon stay. We walked up to the temple following a road that ran parallel to a wild, white-water creek, swollen with melted mountain snow and the rain of the previous night. It was so beautiful. I realized that I was in the temple last November when we descended from Obongsan, after a killer, ropes and slide on bottoms hike. On our way back from the temple to the ferry we decided to have a bit of a late lunch at a perfect little "restaurant" that had low tables planted right next to the water. I wish I had words to describe how serene and satisfying sitting by the creek was. Drinking perfect dong-dong ju, wiht sun caressing our cheecks and chatting pleasantly with pleasant people... What can be better? Perhaps, Clare said it best, claiming at one perfect moment: "there isn't a place on earth where I'd rather be now." We didn't care that our train to Seoul was leaving at about this perfect moment. There are many trains to catch but too few perfect moments...
The friendly ajumma who was serving us literally chased us away with a warning that we'd miss the last ferry. Again, a case of deja vu. On a previous hike, in November, our leader CD ordered dong-dong-ju, telling us that we have 20 minutes to get it, down it and run to the ferry. AFter a wild run to the ferry we enjoyed a short ride to the taxis on the other side. The train was crowded and we only had standing tickets. It was painful to stand for a long time after such eventful 2 days, but we didn't really care. It was one of those perfect weekends that one stores in memory for future reference whenever life seems too much.

Samak-san hike close to Chuncheon. Clare loved this hike because "it was not too easy and too hard." I guess this was the hard part. The cute multicolored pony tail in the foreground belongs to me.  

A mug shot of a Miguk-saram (American) and his snakey shades.  

Snakes on heads! Good for you health, as everything else in Korea usually is.  

Glamorous girls! Such style, such poise, complete with take-out "Starbucks-look-alike" coffee. Two divas on vacation in Chuncheon? You bet! Having fun while trying on weird sunglasses.  

I wanted to see how manly Bae, Yong-jun, akka Yon-sama in Japan, really is. He sets many a Japanese housewife's heart aflutter. Alas, his hands are tiny! Only his thumb is bigger than mine. The rest is pathetically short... 

Guess who are the famous Korean soap opera stars: the big couple with the blue star separating them, or the small couple pictured on the smaller star?  

..and more of it.  

The beauty of water...  

I got closer to the water to listen to its merry "aquatic" song.  

What better way to end a perfect day than by lunching at low tables positioned next to the mountain brook. Here Chris and I (my arms) enjoying life with dong-dong-ju... 

...and good food. Chris enjoying lunch of potato pancakes and acorn jelly salad.