Right now I’m sitting in my cozy Korean guesthouse loving the simple life. I checked out of my modern, fancy hotel and traded it for something a little more relaxing.
There’s no furniture, no heat and no indoor bathroom but I’m a happy camper. It’s kind of like camping actually; I’ll be sleeping on the floor bundled up in a pile of blankets to stay warm. Good night!
After a couple hours of slipping around the mountain it was time for lunch. Sang in brought me to a cozy little hole in the wall place deep in a busy alleyway. We sat traditional style on the floor and ordered spicy Tofu soup. This was the best tasting meal I’ve had so far in Korea! The pot came out sizzling like a plate of Fajitas and it went down like a bowl of ice cream, so smooth.
Today is January 15th but you’d think we were right in the middle of Christmas season. The decorations are still up everywhere! So in honor of it still being Christmas in Korea, we went ice-skating.
It was fun but very difficult to avoid running over little children. There were probably about 200 school kids swarming the ice. It was like rush hour traffic without any order to the chaos. We moved on quickly.
A heat wave has hit Seoul; it’s a whopping 10 degrees warmer today than yesterday, bringing up the temperature to a comfortable 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
To celebrate this moment I headed outside for a little hiking at Buk Ak Mountain. My buddy James from Seoul City met me and we headed to a beautiful trail on the northern outskirts of town.
The trail follows the fortress walls constructed by the Joseon dynasty in the early 1700’s. They actually built four gates around the city to protect the king from invaders. It’s looks something like the Great Wall, but I don’t think you can see this wall from space :)
We wandered the trail until we came to a sign that broke my heart, ‘Closed.’ The main section was blocked off due to slippery conditions, bummer. We turned back and luckily found another inviting trail that led off into the woods.
We quickly learned why they closed the trail though. Our new path was as slippery as an ice skating rink. We gingerly made our way down, grasping desperately onto the side rail to stay on our feet. It didn’t help though; first James took a spill, quickly followed by Sang in. We must have looked like a crew of drunken monkeys clumsily bobbling down that hill.
Once we reached the bottom, we came upon a tall column of small pebbles stacked about 6 feet high. Sang in explained to me that people stack these stones while making a wish for each rock.
I like making wishes and eagerly uncovered a pile of snow to find a rock. Once I found my winner, I eagerly placed it on the pile. However, in the process of adding my stone, I accidently knocked off about five rocks in the process, oops, five wishes down the drain!
After dinner it was time for more Taekgyen. This time I was invited into their warm practice facility. This was a good thing since I still couldn't feel my toes from the earlier session.
They suited me up in a traditional Hanbok and quickly began to kick my butt. It's almost impossible for me to be aggressive with a human so it was a little uncomfortable when it was time for sparing.
"Kick! Kick him hard!"
I resorted to my only weapon, humor, and instead decided to have a hug of war with my partner. He turned out to be a pretty good hugger, so we called it a draw.
Although I'm a lover not a fighter I really enjoyed learning Taekgyen. They may be complete ass kicking machines but were super gentle and sweet human beings when they weren't kicking me to the ground
After dinner it was time for more Taekgyen. This time I was invited into their warm practice facility. This was a good thing since I still couldn't feel my toes from the earlier session.
They suited me up in a traditional Hanbok and quickly began to kick my butt. It's almost impossible for me to be aggressive with a human so it was a little uncomfortable when it was time for sparing.
"Kick! Kick him hard!"
I resorted to my only weapon, humor, and instead decided to have a hug of war with my partner. He turned out to be a pretty good hugger, so we called it a draw.
Although I'm a lover not a fighter I really enjoyed learning Taekgyen. They may be complete ass kicking machines but were super gentle and sweet human beings when they weren't kicking me to the ground
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